April 30 is the feast-day (repose) of St. Paisiy of Kiev, a “Fool-for-Christ” (†1893).
St. Paisiy of Kiev, a “Fool-for-Christ” The future saint (secular name: Prokopy Grigorievich Yarotsky) was born on July 8, 1821 in the town of Lubny of the Poltava province in what is now Ukraine. His parents were wealthy middle-class people. Their family had many children. Prokopy’s mother had deep faith in God, was kind and pious. She raised her children in reverence for the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos, and was very fond of giving pilgrims a night’s lodging in her home.
Prokopy was the youngest child in the family. His mother had a special love for him. This love was manifested in the way that she tried to enlighten her youngest son and instruct him in the Orthodox faith, always taking him to church with her. And Prokopy was drawn to God from a young age. When the boy turned ten, his parents sent him to study at the Kiev Orthodox School (then called bursa) in the Podol district.
The boy Prokopy began his studies, but he would often absent himself from school, going to the Kiev Caves Lavra and praying there for a long time. The school administration constantly reprimanded Prokopy for missing classes. However, the boy continued to go to the Lavra often instead of attending lessons, so eventually he was expelled.
The young man got a job as a clerk at the city council of Kiev where his older brother worked as a secretary. But secular life was not to the liking of the quiet and God-loving Prokopy. He still dreamed of the Kiev Caves Lavra.
Finally, in 1838, he was allowed to perform temporary obediences at the Lavra, which lasted almost three years. All that time he was collecting the necessary papers for admission to the Lavra.
Suddenly, Prokopy fell seriously ill, and he was treated at the Lavra’s monastic infirmary. For his humility and persistent desire to become a monk, he was vouchsafed a vision in which the Mother of God told Prokopy about his future monastic feats.
The miracle of Prokopy’s vision became known to the entire brotherhood and to Archimandrite Lavrenty (Laurence), the Abbot of the Kiev Caves Lavra. And the archimandrite blessed him to stay at the Lavra.
On March 23, 1850, Prokopy Yarotsky became a novice of the Kiev Caves Lavra, his spiritual father being St. Parthenius of the Kiev Caves (according to other sources, Elder Porfiry). Blessed Feofil (Theophilus) had a great influence on the spiritual growth of Novice Prokopy as well.
Having an obedience in the choir, Prokopy did not always do everything properly, and his companions in obedience laughed at him, but Prokopy did not take offense at them, devoting even more time to prayer. Although he was still very young, he was already wise enough not to be offended by the ridicule of others, but, on the contrary, to rejoice that the prevailing circumstances were conducive to the growth of his humility.
At a young age, Prokopy took upon himself the podvig of feigned madness. For example, he read in church from memory, not from a book, and addressed the Holy Trinity and the Most Holy Theotokos by the personal pronoun “Vy” (instead of “Ty”—both are “you” in English), which conveys special reverence but is never used in prayers. Sometimes he would strangely start wiping the banisters of the stairs leading to the choir with his own cassock.
Then he was transferred to the Goloseyev Hermitage, a skete of the Kiev Caves Lavra, where he performed the obedience of clerk and reader of the prayer rule to St. Philaret (Amfiteatrov), Metropolitan of Kiev.
In 1854, Prokopy was tonsured a riassaphore monk with the name Paisiy. Soon after, Riassaphore Monk Paisiy returned to the Kiev Caves Lavra. There he continued his feat of feigned “foolishness” for Christ’s sake. Thus, he would walk through the monasteries of Kiev, sleeping anywhere—often on the street, dressing shabbily, wearing worn–out felt boots in winter and boots without soles in summer, and praying for a long time on his knees in the snow. St. Paisiy would come for church services to the Lavra.
Whenever he was given alms on the street, he bowed to the ground, praying for all his donors. He ate very little; he would take leftovers from the monastic table, immediately mix all the food up, put the leftovers in a small bowl, and later, when it had all gone bad, he consumed it.
The Kiev Caves Lavra. Our days
Monk Paisiy humbly endured mocking and malicious insults from others. He was often beaten on the streets of Kiev. But the saint forgave everybody and prayed for his offenders. For his patience and humility, the Lord endowed St. Paisiy with the gifts of clairvoyance, healing, miraculous prayer, and great love for people, which the monk hid under the veil of his feigned madness.
Monk Paisiy addressed every person with the words “dearest”, or “beloved”. He told everyone who approached him to talk about all their actions, thoughts, intentions, and sins. However, he did not do it directly, but pretended to be speaking about himself, as if he, a monk, had committed those sins. At first people listened to St. Paisiy with surprise. “For some reason the fool is talking about himself!”, they said, and then realized with amazement that he was telling them the story of their own lives!
In late 1854, Monk Paisiy asked for a two-month leave from the monastery administration to see his mother, who had not seen her son for fourteen years, since the day he entered the monastery. Her youngest son’s coming brightened up the last days of his mother’s life.
On St. Paisiy’s return to the Kiev Caves Lavra, he was assigned a new obedience—in the monastery bakery. But since there was a shortage of singers in the choir at that time, in November 1855 he was transferred to the Near (St. Anthony’s) Caves for obediences in the choir, where for several months he also practiced the prayer of the heart to strengthen himself in the Holy Spirit. And the ascetic decided to move away from people.
Monk Paisiy began to live in the attic of one of the Lavra buildings where he suffered from cold in winter and scorching heat in summer. He devoted much time to prayer. He would go around the churches of Kiev and the surrounding monasteries. When he came back to the Kiev Caves Lavra for services, he would stand near the choir, muttering some unintelligible words.
St. Paisiy of Kiev, a “Fool-for-Christ” The Kiev Caves Lavra administration realized that all the actions of Monk Paisiy were a manifestation of a podvig of feigned madness of a true ascetic, but in 1867 he was sent to the Holy Trinity Kitaev Monastery in the former Kitaev district of Kiev. Here Monk Paisiy performed an obedience in the kitchen, “playing the fool” again, and performing acts of kindness and love secretly. For example, he would come to the kitchen early in the morning, carrying water alone and chopping firewood to heat the stoves, and then, when the cooks had come, he would help them prepare meals for many people: monks, parishioners, pilgrims and those in need. At night, Monk Paisiy fervently prayed for a long time.
Many people from other cities, towns and villages flocked to Monk Paisiy, a “fool-for-Christ’s sake”. People turned to him for help because he had already become famous for his clairvoyance and spiritual help to all those in need. In communicating with people who came to him, Monk Paisiy firmly denounced many, but at the same time comforted and encouraged them and reconciled those quarreling.
Monk Paisiy foresaw many events. For instance, he knew that an assassination attempt would be made on Emperor Alexander II, which would end in his death. He predicted the appointment of Vladyka Ioanniky (Rudnev) to the Kiev Metropolis. There were many examples of Blessed Paisiy’s clairvoyance.
In 1879, Monk Paisiy fell ill and was placed in the Kitaev Almshouses in Kiev, where, despite his illness, he helped take care of other patients.
Blessed Paisiy knew the day of his death in advance, so he left the almshouse and relocated to the brethren’s infirmary of the Kiev Caves Lavra.
On April 17, 1893, after receiving Communion of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Elder Paisiy departed to the Lord. The whole of Kiev came to bid farewell to Blessed Paisiy. He was buried in the brethren’s cemetery of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery that was attached to the Kiev Caves Lavra.
On November 30, 2017, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to canonize St. Paisiy of Kiev for Churchwide veneration.
Holy Father Paisiy of Kiev, “Fool-for-Christ”, pray to God for us!
