Fol-en-Christ – Wikipedia

The fol-and-Christ is a person who abandons his material goods and leads a life of transgression of social conventions in a religious spirit. This provocative attitude makes it possible to question the standards of an era, to launch prophecies or to hide your piety ^{[ first ]} . The term mad for Christ is attributed to Saint Paul. In the West, Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan beggar order, other religious or even laity like Saint Benoît-Joseph Labre, adopted this attitude of life. In the Orthodox world, this tradition has had a very great impact in Russia, under the name of Iurodstvo ^{[ 2 ]} .

Some prophets of the Old Testament, which showed signs of strange behavior, are considered the precursors of the Fols-en-Christ ^{[ 3 ]} ; Thus the prophet Isaiah walked barefoot, for three years, by prophesying the upcoming captivity in Egypt ^{[ 4 ]} ; The prophet Ezekiel stayed in front of a stone, which symbolized Jerusalem besieged, and, under the command of God who orders that he cook his bread among human excrement, will finally do it among cows of cows ^{[ 5 ]} . The prophets are however not counted among the Fols-en-Christ because their actions aim only to attract attention and to awaken repentance in the people ^{[ 6 ]} .

According to Christian conceptions, madness in Christ is an imitation of Christ in several of his aspects: abandonment of material goods and confrontation of mockery and humiliations of the crowd sometimes shocked by the message delivered. The “madness” in the first centuries of Christianity was close to the non-acceptance of the common rules of social hypocrisy, brutality and thirst for power and gain ^{[ 6 ]} .

Saint Antoine the Great says: “Here is the time, when people behave like madmen, and if they see someone who does not behave like that, they will rebel against him and say:” You are crazy , – because he is not like them. »» ^{[ 7 ]} .
Saint Paul pronounces famous sentences on madness: “We are crazy at the love of Christ, but you are wise in Christ; We are weak, but you are strong; You are honest, but we are despised. »» ^{[ 8 ]} , and also :
“For the wisdom of this world is madness before God. As it is written: “He takes the wise in their cunning. »» ^{[ 9 ]} “Because the preaching of the cross is madness for those who perish, but for us who are saved, it is the power of God. »» ^{[ ten ]} “Since the world, with his wisdom, did not recognize God in the wisdom of God, it pleased God to save believers by the madness of the message. »» ^{[ 11 ]}

The most famous example in the Catholic Church is Saint Francis of Assisi, as well as those who will draw inspiration from her example: Angèle de Foligno at XIII ^{It is} century or XVIII ^{It is} century Benoît-Joseph Labre. Let us also quote Romuald de Ravenna to X ^{It is} And XI ^{It is} centuries.
The Latin term of the times designates a beatific madness close to madness-in-Christ, but passive ^{[ twelfth ]} .

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  Saint Francis of Assisi.

The ISIDORA BARANKIS L’Egyptian class Orthodox Church († 369) or Bessarion de Scété among the first Fols-en-Christ. However, the term was only popularized at the arrival of Syméon d’Emese which is considered to be the patron saint of Fols-en-Christ ^{[ first ] , [ 13 ]} . In Greek, the term to designate a fol-en-christ is Islands ( Christ ).

The Iourodivy (In Russian: юродивый) is the Russian adaptation of madness in Christ (in Russian: юродство, ouourodstvo), a particular form of monacheism of orthodoxy. The Iourodivy is the one who acts deliberately in a mad manner with regard to men. He leads a wandering life, often half-naked, sometimes entirely, homeless, speaks in an enigmatic way and may seem to act immorally.

The practice has been recognized in Byzantine hagiography of IN ^{It is} century, and has been largely adopted in Moscow Russia, probably XIV ^{It is} century.

The madness of the Iourodivy is ambiguous, and could be real or simulated. He believes he is inspired by God, and therefore being able to say truths that others could not say, normally in the form of indirect allusions or parables. He had a special status with regard to the Tsars, as a figure not subject to the authority and judgment of the world.

The first Fol-en-Christ in Russia is Procope d’Oustioug, from the lands of the German Roman Empire in Novgorod. He moved to Oustioug, pretending to be a fool and leading an ascetic life, sleeping naked under the porches of the churches, praying all night, receiving food only poor. Mistreated and defeated, he finally gained respect for his contemporaries and was venerated after his death ^{[ 14 ]} .

One of the best known modern examples in the Russian Orthodox Church is perhaps that of Saint Xenia in Saint Petersburg in XVIII ^{It is} century.

The Russian Orthodox Church has thirty-six Iourodivye among its saints, and above all Basile the Blessed, which gave its name to the Saint-Basile Cathedral of Moscow. Fols-en-Christ often have the title of blessed (блаженного).

There are also many Fols-en-Christ in Greek Orthodoxy, such as Charalambis de Kalamata, La Moniale Tarso or Father Léontios de Samos.

The Iourodivye in art and literature [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

After the XVII ^{It is} A century, Iourodivy exists more as a literary figure than as a social specimen. The main examples are the madman in Boris Godounov , Paul’s mother and father theraponte in The Karamazov brothers and Prince Mychkin in The idiot . We also find another Fol-en-Christ character, Semion Iacovlévitch in demons of the same author Fiodor Dostoevski. Another Fol-en-Christ, Gricha, was described in the book of Léon Tolstoy Childhood. Adolescence. Youth ^{[ 14 ]} .

List of Fols-en-Christ recognized by the Orthodox Church [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Most of the behavioral characteristics of Fol-en-Christ very frequently reported by the literature and other testimonies (“irrational and eccentric behaviors”, social isolation, mutism, echolalia, insensitivity to cold or pain, candor, indifference to hierarchies and other social conventions, interest in details, stereotypical and repetitive discourse and discourse or unsuitable for the situation, etc.) evoke those of autism spectrum disorders and autistic isolation, which seems to have been co -fed with idiocy in Case of Fols-en-Christ. This is the hypothesis proposed and argued on numerous examples by Uta Frith in the second chapter of his work Autism enigma ^{[ 17 ]} .

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