Wednesday, August 2, 2023

It is the 2nd of August, 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

See if you can get a picture of Moscow’s Red Square- or maybe the starting screen for Tetris on the original Nintendo. Either way, you might have a picture of one of the more famous churches in terms of architecture, with its bright colors and bulbous spires. It was a church built in the 16th century by Ivan the Terrible in honor of his defeat of the Khanates. It is perhaps ironic then that the church has taken the name of the Cathedral of St. Basil after St. Basil the Fool (or Blessed) and an enemy of Ivan and someone who quite literally acted like a madman. Today this saint is remembered amongst our Russian Orthodox brothers and sisters, and that gives us the opportunity to tell his story and that of the peculiar tradition of Russian Holy Fools.  

The Holy Fool tradition has its origin in the Eastern church but is more common in Russian than in Greek Orthodox churches. There are more than two dozen Russian holy fools and half a dozen Greeks. These were men and women who became quite literally “fools for Christ”. Following the prophetic example of Hosea marrying a prostitute, Isaiah walking around naked, or Ezekiel baking bread by means of human excrement. These men and women scandalized society by flouting society's conventions. Holy Folly, or Idiocy, was a kind of asceticism- that is, the man or woman deprived themselves of any kind of luxury and esteem in the eyes of others. Historian Jaroslav Pelikan wrote that their “insanity” “help[ing] them to insights of which the normal and balanced mind is rarely capable”. In cutting themselves off from society, they were able to criticize it. Their role was somewhat parallel to the jester in court culture- the madman who, through absurdity and humor, could tell the truth in ways that others couldn’t.

Basil was born in 1464 to peasant parents outside of Moscow. He was apprenticed as a cobbler, various versions of a story circulating about a man who wanted a pair of shoes- and made some statement about them lasting more than a year, or him picking them up in a year when Basil responded that the man would not live that long. The man died soon after, and his career as a Holy Fool began. He would walk the streets naked, slept amongst dogs, and was generally derided as mad. But he would also act prophetically, destroying an icon that people were praying to, which, afterward, was revealed to be demonic. He destroyed a baker's batch of loaves, which afterward were found to be poisoned.

Another tale is told of him confronting Tsar Ivan after church, recounting the Tsar’s daydreaming about his palace during prayers. The story goes that he recounted the exact daydreams and thus earned the respect of the Tsar. Another story is of the Tsar’s procession stopped by Basil, naked in the snow with a bloody hand. He reached out to offer a handful of raw beef to the Tsar, who said that it wasn’t appropriate to eat, as it was the season on Lent. Basil responded, “God prefers that you devour meat instead of innocents,” a reference to the many who died under Ivan’s reign of terror.

The stories of Basil, like the other Holy Fools, are exaggerated. Like all, hagiography (or idealized, sometimes fanciful writings) tell us about the ideals of a people and whom they perceive to be prophetic and blessed. The Holy Fool, such as Basil, serves as a criticism of a culture that has become decadent, power-hungry, and despite being officially “Christian,” more anti-christ than Christ-like. The Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky would employ similar characters in his stories- the madman or the idiot that revealed the corruption of the so-called Christian civilization. The stories of Basil in the 16th century reveal a similar distaste for the Tsars- in the various tales, Basil is often rebuking Ivan, and it was said that when Basil died, it was Ivan who carried his body to the cathedral that would bear his name. Basil died on the 2nd of August in 1552. Born in 1468, he was 83 years old.

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Mark 4:

30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 2nd of August 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who wouldn’t play Tetris growing up-it was obviously communist propaganda. He is  Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who claimed he was a holy fool when I would receive less than stellar grades in school- “I got them wrong on purpose… for Jesus.”  I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.