What do these three have in common? Find out here: http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com/2012/05/you-damned-fool.html

You're going to get in trouble with people who think holy fools have no business interjecting their opinions into the regime of Tsar Vladimir, who, as one person here has said, is not a thug, but "probably the greatest Christian leader of the 21st century".

I have no doubt that Putin himself would be immune to the blandishments of a holy fool, unlike Tsar Boris Godunov, in Mussorgsky's opera of the same name: Boris and the Fool

"You Damned Fool!": that could very well be the title of my biography (as if anyone would ever want to write it).

There was nothing holy about the pussy riot.

Holy people do not go AGAINST anyone--theirs is the quiet spiritual prayer of the humble ascetic deep within their soul.

Their outbursts are always FOR something positive--a prayer, a foresight, a warning...

Holy people do not interrupt church services.

Holy fools for Christ are a spiritual phenomenon of profound humility and grace which a secular and scholarly person or author can know nothing about or understand fully.

Alice, I agree.

The statement made in the interview, by the book's author, that the young women of Pussy Riot are "holy fools" is just beyond belief. With that statement, she lost all credibility in my opinion.

She reminds me of so many dissident Roman Catholics (McBrien, Chittister, Rohr, etc) who write about the Roman Catholic Church and demonstrate that they really don't get it and are likely not persons of true faith themselves. Instead I like to call these folks "religious professionals." They love to write, talk and argue about the Church but they almost completely miss the message of the Gospel!

Time to read the hagiographies of some of the holy fools. They are no respecters either of persons or institutions, but, through their audacity and guilelessness expose the venality and hypocrisy that is always to be found, both in the world and the Church.

I know that your hatred of Vladimir Putin wants to justify their act, but I disagree with you Stuart.



(Forgive me for reprinting this profanity, which I have edited a bit because I found it so disturbing, but Stuart needs to face the facts before he or anyone else compares these despicable and disrespectful women to 'holy fools'!)

I know the lives of holy fools very, very well, thank you, and I contend that they would NOT ever mock a hymn to the blessed Virgin Mary, profane the name of our Lord and Saviour, nor would they disturb or carry on in *such* a manner during a Church service. Period!!

I strongly suggest that we put an end to conversation about this disgraceful comparison.

Alice, Moderator