Holy Foolishness in Russia: New Perspectives

The Absence of Holy Fools from Medieval Bulgarian Calendars

The Absence of Holy Fools from Medieval Bulgarian Calendars I. Introduction Cynthia M. Vakareliyska Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. - Alexander Pope The role of holy fools in the Russian Orthodox hagiographic tradition has been studied closely since the nineteenth century, and specialists, including my colleagues contributing to this volume, have offered eloquent and compelling explanations for their popularity and influence on Russian culture1 Byzantine salai and the later Russian iuradivye also appear frequently in medieval East Slavic calendars of saints, and Byzantine and later Serbian salai can also be found in some medieval Serbian calendars. With the exceptions, however , of Symeon of Emesa/ and, to some extent Theodore,3 holy fools rarely appear in medieval Bulgarian calendars of any genre.4 Since Bulgaria differs significantly from Russia in its attitude toward holy fools, it does not seem amiss to examine why they did not become a part of the general calendar tradition in Bulgaria as they did in Russia (and possibly, to a much lesser extent, in Serbia)5 1 See the overview of the scholarly literature in this volume, pp. 15-40. I use the term "Russian" in this paper rather than "East Slavic" with respect to holy fools because the role, or lack thereof, of holy fools in medieval Ruthenia has not yet been analyzed in the scholarly literature. 2 Chronologically the first of the "classic" urban Byzantine holy fools, Symeon of Emesa, lived in the first half of the sixth century. For an analysis of the events from his vitae, see S. A. Ivanov, Holy Fools il1 Byzal1tium al1d Beyol1d, trans. Simon Franklin ~Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 104-23. There is no extant vita of this Byzantine saint, who is known only from calendars; see Ivanov, Holy Fools, 148. On Theodore's identity, see Svitlana Kobets, "The Holy Fool in Russian Literature and Culture," chap. 6 (unpublished manu script). 4 In this paper, the term "Bulgarian calendar" refers to a calendar composed within the territory of the medieval Bulgarian state. Since there was no independent Macedonian state at that time, this term as used here includes calendars from manuscripts that can be identified as Macedonian on the basis of their orthographic or other features. 5 The role of holy fools in the Serbian hagiographic tradition appears to remain an open question also. Holy Foolishness in Russia : New Perspectives. Priscilla Hunt and Svitlana Kobets, eds. Bloomington, IN: Siavica Publi shers, 201 1,225-44. 226 CYNTHIA M. VAKARELlYSKA A major explanation for this situation, which Lazarova set forth in her 2004 article, was the lack of appeal in Bulgaria of the typical jarring holy fool figure, with his outrageous viola tions of social mores6 Indeed, Lazarova notes that the vitae of the major Byzantine saloi Symeon of Emesa and Andrew of Constantinople? were translated in Bulgaria only in the fourteenth century, during a period of flurried literary activity, and were incorporated into miscellanies rather than appearing as independent literary texts8 Few copies of these translations appear to have been made in the first place, and the practice of copying Symeon's vita appears to have lasted only about half a century or less9 Andrew was more popular in Bulgaria than Symeon, and Lazarova suggests this is because the Bulgarian version of his vita omitted his holy fool behavior and presented him solely as a spiritual instructor.lO Moreover, it appears to be no accident, if Lazarova is correct, that in contrast to the situation in Russia and Serbia, no Bulgarian holy fools are recorded in extant Bulgarian writings of any period.l1 Lazarova's analysis of the vitae of Symeon and Andrew demonstrates that the concept of the Byzantine holy fool held no special interest in medieval Bulgaria. Ivanov observes that although the vitae of Symeon and several other saints associated with holy fool status were translated in Bulgaria, no original Bulgarian hagiographies exist of these saints.12 On the 6 On the negative official Byzantine attitude towards holy foolishness at the Council of Trullo, see Ivanov, Holy Fools, 131,213. ? For discussion of Andrew's popularity, see ibid., 202-03. 8 N. Lazarova, "Holy Fools in an Age of Hesychasm: A Comparison between Byzantine and Bulgarian Vitae," Scripta & e-scripta, no. 2 (2004): 355-89, here 364. 9 Ibid., 382. 10 Ibid., 379. Note also that in his discussion of Andrew's vita, Lennart Ryden states that Andrew's holy foolishness is much milder than Symeon's, and not indecent; Lennart Ryden, "The Holy...