ABSTRACT
This is the biographical portrait of an imaginary Russian fool for Christ, Dunia, whose life is set in late sixteenth-century Moscow. In Russia holy fools, traditionally called iurodivye (singular iurodivyi, feminine iurodivaia), are persons whose assumed simplicity or insanity puts them outside the normal range of commonplace ethics, discourse, and etiquette. Most typically they behave outrageously, challenge all social norms publicly, shake average people out of their complacency, and reveal deeper truths, generally in the name of difficult Christian ideals. Often the role was assumed purposefully in order to achieve a deeper purpose.
