Fools for Christ

“Saint Basil (The Prayer)” by Sergei Kirillov (1994), Source/Author Sergei Kirillov, (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)

There has historically been a strand of asceticism in Christianity [1].  This is perhaps best exemplified by the Desert Fathers who practiced severe self-discipline, the avoidance of any sensual indulgence, and the abandonment of possessions in pursuit of holiness [2A].

Desert Fathers

The Desert Fathers were early Christian hermits living principally in the Scetes desert of Egypt during the 3rd Century.  The first of these was Paul of Thebes [3].  But the best known is Anthony the Great, considered the founder of desert monasticism [4].

Anthony viewed the isolation, starkness, and self-sacrifice of the desert environment as an alternative to martyrdom [2B].  Time was spent on “interior silence” and continual prayer — augmented by fasting, psalms, manual labor, and care for the poor — the goal being to exemplify love in the name of Christ in all actions [2C][5].

Eventually, thousands of monks and nuns were drawn to the desert.   Their communities became the model for the Christian monastic movement, influencing both the eastern tradition at Mount Athos and the western Rule of St. Benedict [6][7].  Their insights are collected in the Apophthegmata Patrum (Sayings of the Desert Fathers)[8].

Fools for Christ

^“For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles…as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.  We are fools for Christ’s sake…we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless...Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure...” (1 Cor. 4: 9-12).

Those who pursue this radical lifestyle have often been termed “fools for Christ”, based on the Apostle Paul’s writings.  St. Francis of Assisi is an illustration.

The Apostle Paul did warn against asceticism as a potential source of false humility (Col. 2: 18).  But he knew that the wisdom of the world is foolishness in the eyes of God, and the wisdom of God foolishness in the eyes of the world (1 Cor. 3: 19).  The Apostle Paul’s only boast was in the cross of Christ, not his own achievements (Gal. 6: 14).

So, also, with the Desert Fathers.

Yurodivy

The Russian term for a holy fool is “yurodivy”.  The historian Sergey Ivanov in Holy Fools in Byzantium and Beyond described the holy fool as one who “feigns insanity, pretends to be foolish, or who provokes shock or outrage by his deliberate unruliness.”

This self-abasing behavior is not undertaken to garner attention.  Rather, it is in the pattern of Old Testament prophets like Isaiah and Ezekiel.

The concept has not died.

Modern holy fools roamed the gulags or forced labor camps of the Soviet Union, sharing in the suffering of prisoners there and offering themselves in place of those prisoners scheduled for punishment as proof that love is stronger than hate [9][10].

The only question is whether we, too, are willing to be fools for Christ.

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[1]  Wikipedia, “Foolishness for Christ”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foolishness_for_Christ.

[2A, 2B, and 2C]  Wikipedia, “Desert Fathers”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Fathers.

[3]  Wikipedia, “Paul of Thebes”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_of_Thebes.

[4]  Wikipedia, “Anthony the Great”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_the_Great.

[5]  Wikipedia, “Basil of Caesarea”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_of_Caesarea.

[6]  Wikipedia, “Mount Athos”,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastic_community_of_Mount_Athos.

[7]  Wikipedia, “Rule of Saint Benedict”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_Saint_Benedict.

[8]  Wikipedia, “Sayings of the Desert Fathers”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayings_of_the_Desert_Fathers.

[9]  Encyclopedia Britannica, “Gulag”, https://www.britannica.com/place/Gulag.

[10]  Youtube, Life Is Worth Living, Episode 18, “He Always Tunes Me Out” by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AffbMEI03IQ.

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