Holy Fools tradition and Restorationist discussion

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The question was raised about the validity and value of the Holy Fools tradition in the post at http://jeff-martin-reposted.signedon.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6454&start=100, Universalism + Free Will = One Very Strange Bird. So rather than confuse the conversation over there I created this new post to consider the question.

Prerequisite reading is this wiki post https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foolishness_for_Christ.


Highlights from the wiki article include...

1. The Biblical basis is found in 1 Corinthians 4:10, which famously says, "We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honorable, but we are despised."

2. The term implies behavior "which is caused neither by mistake nor by feeble-mindedness, but is deliberate, irritating, even provocative."

3. The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that holy fools voluntarily take up the guise of insanity in order to conceal their perfection from the world, and thus avoid praise.

4. "holy fool" as a term for a person who "feigns insanity, pretends to be silly, or who provokes shock or outrage by his deliberate unruliness."


So the questions for consideration in this post are...

1. What did Paul mean by the expression "fools for Christ's sake"?

2. Are the various historical expressions of Holy Foolery all in keeping with Paul's meaning?

3. How can useful foolishness be properly used to advance Restorationism and confront tradition?

4. Is there a step beyond Paul's foolishness, into silliness that is counter productive, even sinful because of being unloving, inconsiderate, or irreverent?

[Holy-Fool-P-Zombie]

The question was raised about the validity and value of the Holy Fools tradition in the post at http://jeff-martin-reposted.signedon.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6454&start=100, Universalism + Free Will = One Very Strange Bird. So rather than confuse the conversation over there I created this new post to consider the question.

Prerequisite reading is this wiki post https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foolishness_for_Christ.


Highlights from the wiki article include...

1. The Biblical basis is found in 1 Corinthians 4:10, which famously says, "We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honorable, but we are despised."

2. The term implies behavior "which is caused neither by mistake nor by feeble-mindedness, but is deliberate, irritating, even provocative."

3. The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that holy fools voluntarily take up the guise of insanity in order to conceal their perfection from the world, and thus avoid praise.

4. "holy fool" as a term for a person who "feigns insanity, pretends to be silly, or who provokes shock or outrage by his deliberate unruliness."


So the questions for consideration in this post are...

1. What did Paul mean by the expression "fools for Christ's sake"?

2. Are the various historical expressions of Holy Foolery all in keeping with Paul's meaning?

3. How can useful foolishness be properly used to advance Restorationism and confront tradition?

4. Is there a step beyond Paul's foolishness, into silliness that is counter productive, even sinful because of being unloving, inconsiderate, or irreverent?

Great, Jeff. I am happy you read the article and have decided to raise some interesting questions, on this interesting Christian tradition.

But you won't only find this in the Eastern Orthodox Church circles. It's talked about in Roman Catholic Church circles also - just not emulated. Look at the article in the National Catholic Reporter entitled More about the 'holy fool'

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Yes me too.

I hope I can be a holy fool myself in the most Biblical sense. I am also especially interested in the thoughts of others on question #3

3. How can useful foolishness be properly used to advance Restorationism and confront tradition?

If anyone has anecdotal stories of actual conversations that illustrate using foolishness to point people to the truth please post.

[Holy-Fool-P-Zombie]

Yes me too.

I hope I can be a holy fool myself in the most Biblical sense. I am also especially interested in the thoughts of others on question #3

3. How can useful foolishness be properly used to advance Restorationism and confront tradition?

If anyone has anecdotal stories of actual conversations that illustrate using foolishness to point people to the truth please post.

Well, Jeff., the fool or clown is a key figure in the plays of Shakespeare. While he sometimes wrote comedies, most of his works were tragedies. So what was the purpose served by them in the plays of Shakespeare? What do the writers out there think?

They are also found in other spiritual traditions. There's the Heyoka in the Lakota tribal spiritual culture. He or she did everything backwards or contrary. Or sometimes the Zen master in Zen stories (a tradition the Catholic writer Thomas Merton was familiar with). Or the Sufi stories of Nasreddin.

But I prefer the language of psychology (which I have a masters in). We put on a persona in everyday life, whether we realize it or not (i.e. where do you think the word "personality" comes from?). This in in part from the wiki article:

A persona (plural personae or personas), in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask.[1] The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον (prosōpon). Its meaning in the latter Roman period changed to indicate a "character" of a theatrical performance or court of law...

So let me pose this question. Why is the fool or clown such an important element in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the various world spiritual traditions, and the literary works of Shakespeare and other writers

[Geoffrey]

I'm a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church. We have a great many glorified saints. The Holy Fools are not among my favorites. They simply do not resonate with me.

[pilgrim]

If anyone has anecdotal stories of actual conversations that illustrate using foolishness to point people to the truth please post.

That's a great request Jeff and one which also interests me.
From what I can tell, a 'holy fool' is an ascetic and a non-conformist in the most extreme and broadest sense of the word. From what I've read they always pay a cost for their ministry. The last thing they would wish is to draw attention to themselves as 'holy fools' ie as something in which they can take pride. Rather, they bear much scorn and ridicule on a personal level and their 'foolish' behaviour always has this purpose of drawing people to the truth.
I think the last thing they would appreciate is the person who jokes around or irritates for the sheer sake of it or simply as a way to gain attention to him/herself.

I'm grateful to you Randy for pointing out this tradition and I can imagine there may be some rare occasion where we have been 'blessed' by such ministry in our lives without recognising what was going on but much more frequent might be the 'unholy fool' who quenches the Spirit and tends to lead us astray. Do you have any anecdotal stories?

My own take on the genuine would have to include the likes of eg 'The society of Friends' in their early days. After all, they were ridiculed as 'quakers' (crazies!) because they were so overcome by the Holy Spirit, but it is by their fruit that we can now acknowledge their holiness.

[Holy-Fool-P-Zombie]

I thought I would share a few Sufi stories from the Wiki Nasreddin article. He's a Holy Fool of Islamic Sufism. Do these stories teach anything to you?

Whom do you believe?

A neighbour came to the gate of Mulla Nasreddin's yard. The Mulla went to meet him outside.

"Would you mind, Mulla," the neighbour asked, "lending me your donkey today? I have some goods to transport to the next town."

The Mulla didn't feel inclined to lend out the animal to that particular man, however. So, not to seem rude, he answered:

"I'm sorry, but I've already lent him to somebody else."

All of a sudden the donkey could be heard braying loudly behind the wall of the yard.

"But Mulla," the neighbour exclaimed. "I can hear it behind that wall!"

"Whom do you believe," the Mulla replied indignantly, "the donkey or your Mulla?"

Taste the same

Some children saw Nasreddin coming from the vineyard with two baskets full of grapes loaded on his donkey. They gathered around him and asked him to give them a taste.

Nasreddin picked up a bunch of grapes and gave each child a grape.

"You have so much, but you gave us so little," the children whined.

"There is no difference whether you have a basketful or a small piece. They all taste the same," Nasreddin answered, and continued on his way.

Reaching enlightenment

Nasreddin was walking in the bazaar with a large group of followers. Whatever Nasreddin did, his followers immediately copied. Every few steps Nasreddin would stop and shake his hands in the air, touch his feet and jump up yelling "Hu Hu Hu!". So his followers would also stop and do exactly the same thing.

One of the merchants, who knew Nasreddin, quietly asked him: "What are you doing my old friend? Why are these people imitating you?"

"I have become a Sufi Sheikh," replied Nasreddin. "These are my Murids [spiritual seekers]; I am helping them reach enlightenment!"

"How do you know when they reach enlightenment?"

"That’s the easy part! Every morning I count them. The ones who have left – have reached enlightenment!"


Nasreddin's keys

One late evening Nasreddin found himself walking home. It was only a very short way and upon arrival he can be seen to be upset about something. Alas, just then a young man comes along and sees the Mullah's distress.

"Mullah, please tell me: What is wrong?"

"Ah, my friend, I seem to have lost my keys. Would you help me search them? I know I had them when I left the tea house."

So, he helps Nasreddin with the search for the keys. For quite a while the man is searching here and there but no keys are to be found. He looks over to Nasreddin and finds him searching only a small area around a street lamp.

"Mullah, why are you only searching there?"

"Why would I search where there is no light?"

[Eaglesway]

I think Paul was speaking ironically about immature and false brethren being "wise in their own eyes" and regarding paul and other's like him as fool's- he therefore willingly becoming a fool for Christ, disdaining the reputation seeking of the wise/fools who were dividing the body in the pursuit of recognition and influence.

I think, in a way his mode of expression kind of fits the "holy fool" concept, like , "bear with a little more of my foolishness- I have been stoned and raised from the dead, carried to the third heaven, received a sovereign revelation of the whole counsel of God, supported myself by my own hands",- who am I among these giant charismatic men who know so much and demand so much?

But What do I know?

[Holy-Fool-P-Zombie]

I thought it might be interesting, to share a couple of stories from Simeon the Holy Fool:

Simeon entered the gate of Emesa (after spending many years in desert) dragging a dead dog. Schoolchildren saw him and shouted (κράζειν) "Hey, a crazy abba...". The next day, a Sunday, he entered the church, extinguished the lights and threw nuts at women. On the way out of the church, Simeon overturned (έστρεψεν) the tables of the pastry chefs (πλακουντάριοι).[5] Such playing the fool was subject to insults, abuse and beatings, which Simeon endured with patience. In spite of his seemingly strange behaviour, Simeon the Holy Fool healed many possessed people by his prayer, fed the hungry, preached the Gospel, and helped needy citizens of the town. Many of Simeon’s saintly deeds were done secretly.

His ministry also included trying to save a man whose eyes suffered from leucoma. Jesus had previously used saliva and clay to cure a man of blindness, and when the man with eye disease approached Simeon, he anointed the man's eyes with mustard, burning him and aggravating the condition to the extent that he reportedly went blind. Later the eyes were healed by the advice of Simeon, who used such way to explain the man's sins and bring him to correction.