The New Russian Dostoevsky: Readings for the Twenty-First Century

Holy Foolishness and Madness, Death and Resurrection, Being and Non-Being in The Idiot

Holy Foolishness and Madness, Death and Resurrection, Being and Non-Being in The Idiot Karen Stepanian "Iurodstvo i bezumie, smert' i voskresenie, bytie i nebytie v romane Idiot," in "Sozl1at' i skazat"': "Realizm V vysshem smys/e" kak tvorcheskii metod F. M. Dostoevskogo (Moscow: Raritet, 2005), 148-68. Although the phenomena of il/rodstvo (holy foolishness) and insanity resemble each other on the surface, internally they are completely different.! The only way to distinguish them is to probe into their spiritual essences: the one represents service to God's will, with complete renunciation of the self; the other-subservience to the demon (in the Gospels, insanity is equated with demonism, for example, in Matthew 17: 14-21, Mark 5: 1-13 and 9: 14- 29, and Luke 9: 37-43). The New Testament records the application of both terms to Christ himself: "For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness [iurodstvo] of preaching to save them that believe" (1 Corinthians 1: 21); meanwhile, those who could not understand Christ's true vision said: "Thou hast a devil" (John 7: 20; 8: 48; see also Matthew 9: 34; 12: 24; Mark 3: 21-22; Luke 11: 15; John 10: 20). In subsequent years, many iurodivye were to have similar experiences2 Duality of per1 I retain the noun iurodstvo and its related adjective form iurodivyi; in English they are commonly translated as "holy foolishness" and "holy fooL" The article has been somewhat condensed; deletions from the original text of the article are marked with bracketed ellipses ([...]). - Trans. 2Cf. IoaIUl Kovalevskii, Iurodstvo 0 Khriste i Khrista rad; iurodivye vostoclUloi i rtlsskoi tserkvi: Istoricheskii ocherk i zhitiia sikh podvizhnikov blagochestiia, 3rd ed. (Moscow: Izdanie knigoprodavtsa Alekseia Dmitrievicha Stupina, 1902; repr., Moscow: Donskoi monastyr', Izdat. Otdel Moskovskogo Patriarkhata, 1992); loann Kologrivov, "Iurodivye Khrista radi," in Ocherki po istorii russkoi 5viatosti, compo Ioann Kologrivov (Brussels: Izd-vo "Zhizn' s Bogom," 1961), 239-50; V. V. Ivanov, Bezobrazie krasoty: Dostoevskij j russkoe iurodstvo (Petrozavodsk: Izd-vo Petrozavodskogo universiteta, 1993); V. V. Ivanov, "Iurodivyi geroi v dialoge ierarkhii Dostoevskogo," in Evangel'skii tekst v russkoi literature XVIII-XX vekov (Petrozavodsk: Izd-vo Petrozavodskogo universiteta , 1994), 201-09; s. A. Ivanov, Vizantiiskoe iurodstvo (Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia, 1994); Harriet Murav, Holy Foolishness: Dostoevsky's Novels and the Poetics of Cultural Critique, (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1992). Caro l Apo llonio, ed., The New Russian Dostoevsky: Readings for the Twenty-First Century, Bloomington, IN: Siavica Publishers, 2010, 165-85. 166 KAREN STEPANIAN spective inheres in the very language. Initially the Greek word salos denoted a person who was simply insane; similarly, the word moros was also used to refer to holy fools; the word iurodivyi - iurod (urodivyi 'monstrous,' 'ugly,' or simply urod -ourod) initially could refer to a cripple or an insane person [bezumets ]3 The Greek word idiot in the Gospel or in the works of the holy fathers can also denote "one who does not know" or "simpleton" [prostets]; the holy Apostle Paul uses it in that same First Epistle to the Corinthians when he speaks about the gift of prophecy and speaking in tongues- "If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in [those that are] unlearned [idiota], or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? [besnuetes,]" (1 Corinthians 14: 23)-whereas the church fathers "liked to use the word (idiot, simpleton) to refer to Christians and particularly the apostles.,,4 The iurodivyi and the bezumnyi, though, stand on opposite sides of the boundary of being and mark that boundary. The iurodivyi is located between the celestial and terrestrial worlds, for the body, earthly flesh no longer exists for him in any practical sense; he is already poised to cross over into eternal life. As Father Dmitry of Rostov wrote, describing iurodivye: "That one will be the first to be granted resurrection of the soul; will be the first to inherit eternallife ... ." 5 The iurodivyi also stands on tl1e boundary between the church and the secular world; between sanctity and sin; between humility and pride; between individualism and religious community [sobornost']; between life and death; and, ultimately, between being and non-being6 As for the bezumnyi, he is located witl1in this life on tl1e side of the darkness of eternal death and non-being. From ancient times insanity was understood as a falling away from God: "The fool [bezumets] hath said...