Юродство как феномен средневекового города: юродство в свете исихазма
The Phenomenon of Yurodstvo and Its Relationship to the Ascetic Practice of Hesychasm

Author(s): Stanislav Oplatek
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, 13th to 14th Centuries, 15th Century, Eastern Orthodoxy, History of Religion
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: Yurodstvo; Ascetic practice of Hesychasm; 14th century; yurods;
Summary/Abstract: Stanislav Oplatek’s contribution covers the phenomenon of yurodstvo and its relationship to the ascetic practice of hesychasm. There are proofs of the Rus people’s familiarity with hesychasm starting from the 14th century, under Metropolitan Theognostus. One of the important common traits among the yurods (“fools for Christ”) and among hesychasts in Rus are their mutual connections with the monastic environment (to name one example: the link between Kirill of White Lake and Sergius of Radonezh, i.e. a link between student and spiritual teacher). Besides these facts, one can also see evidence of knowledge of hesychastic practices in the hagiographies of holy yurods, which frequently describe physical and mental states corresponding to the states achieved through hesychastic practice (feeling heat, seeing lights, spiritual bliss tied to resignation from the world, and tears), as well as the so-called “Jesus Prayer.”

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