Download or read book Holy Fools in Byzantium and Beyond written by Sergey A. Ivanov and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2006-04-06 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The image of St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow's Red Square is a familar Russian landmark. Yet few people know what made Basil so famous. He was a saint who wandered about naked, bullied passers-by, brawled in the market-place, and once even smashed a revered icon. Saints such as Basil overturn the conventional concept of sainthood - what, we may ask, is saintly about them? This book aims to solve the mystery by exploring the figure of the holy fool in Byzantium and in later Russianhistory.