Symeon the Holy Fool: Leontius's Life and the Late Antique CityThis first English translation of Leontius of Neapolis's Life of Symeon the Fool brings alive one of the most colorful of early Christian saints. In this study of a major hagiographer at work, Krueger fleshes out a broad picture of the religious, intellectual, and social environment in which the Life was created and opens a window onto the Christian religious imagination at the end of Late Antiquity. He explores the concept of holy folly by relating Symeon's life to the gospels, to earlier hagiography, and to anecdotes about Diogenes the Cynic. The Life is one of the strangest works of the Late Antique hagiography. Symeon seemed a bizarre choice for sanctification, since it was through very peculiar antics that he converted heretics and reformed sinners. Symeon acted like a fool, walked about naked, ate enormous quantities of beans, and defecated in the streets. When he arrived in Emesa, Symeon tied a dead dog he found on a dunghill to his belt and entered the city gate, dragging the dog behind him. Krueger presents a provocative interpretation of how these bizarre antics came to be instructive examples to everyday Christians. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1996. Many titles in the Voices Revived program are also newly available as ebooks, offered at a discounted price to support wider access to scholarly work. |
Contents
I Leontius of Neapolis and SeventhCentury Cyprus | 1 |
II Leontius and His Sources | 19 |
III Symeon and Late Antique Hagiography | 36 |
IV Holy Fools and Secret Saints | 57 |
V Diogenes in Late Antiquity | 72 |
VI Symeon and the Cynics | 90 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abba Abba Symeon Alexandria anecdotes Antony appears ascetic asceticism audience brother Byzantine Byzantine Hagiographer Byzantine Saint Byzantium Cambridge chreiai Christ Christian church concerning Cynic Cypriot Cyprus demons desert Dio Chrysostom Diogenes of Sinope divine eating Emesa episode Evagrius Evagrius's father Festugière Greek Gregory Hagiographer heiligen Narren Symeon holy folly holy fool Jerusalem Jesus Jews John Chrysostom John Moschus John of Ephesus John the deacon Julian Late Ancient Late Antiquity Leben des heiligen Leontius Leontius of Neapolis Leontius's lest literary lives Lord lupines Mango Maximus Maximus the Confessor miracles monastery monk Monophysite narrated narrative Nikon Origen pagan Palladius's Paris philosopher pray prostitutes Rydén salos Sarapion second half seventh century sixth century soul sources story Stylite Syméon le Fou Symeon the Fool Symeon's behavior Symeon's shamelessness Syriac tavern things tion tradition trans translation University Press urban Vie de Syméon virtue vita