St Andrew, Fool for Christ

Who was this Andrew, this blessed chosen one, to who the Mother of God manifested herself? In the great city of imperial Byzantium, St Andrew seemed to be the most miserable, poor, and lowborn man. Beneath the appearance of voluntary holy foolishness he had hidden from men his radiant spirit and gracious wisdom.... Following the inner call, reinforced by a miraculous vision, he laid all his gifts at the foot of the cross and clothed himself with a strange and laughter-provoking madness. But the poor man's rags concealed rich robes; the sores and filfth concealed spiritual beauty. He accepted the ascesis of holy foolishness together with the disciplines of fasting, poverty, homelessness, and unceasing prayer. And it was this mad and strange holy fool to whom the Mother of God chose to reveal herself in the church at Blachernae. She did not choose the patriarch or anyone of the rank of bishop, priest, or monk; she did not choose the emperor or his court; she did not choose any of the wise and learned men who were so abundant in Byzantium; she did not choose any of the notables of the imperial city. Instead, the Mother of God chose this Andrew, who had abased himself beneath all other men, who had made himself more foolish than all other men.

- Adapted from Fr Sergius Bulgakov, The Radiant Protection over the World ( in Churchly Joy: Orthodox Devotions for the Church Year, translated by Boris Jakim; William B. Eerdmans, 2008)