Isidora the Fool

Venerable Isidora the Fool, the fool for Christ, struggled in the Tabenna monastery (of the Tabennisiotes) in Egypt in the fourth century and took upon herself the heavy cross of foolishness for Christ. She is commemorated on 1 May.

She pretended to be mad and possessed by evil spirits, and the other nuns despised her so much that they would not eat with her. Remaining in the kitchen, she did all the work there and was the monastery's dishcloth, fulfilling the word: "If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may be wise" (1 Corinthians 3:18). She wore a ragged cloth on her head, while all the others were adorned with the nun's cap. Of the 400 nuns in the monastery, none ever saw her eating; she did not sit at table or take a piece of bread, but was content to wipe the crumbs from the tables and wash off the dirt. She never reviled anyone, never grumbled, nor spoke much or little, even when struck, mocked or abused.

An angel appeared to Venerable Pitirim, the tried hermit of Mount Porphyrites (29 November), and said: "Do you wish to see a woman more pious than you? Go to the monastery of the Tabennisiote women and you will find one wearing a diadem on her head. She is better than you, for, struggling among so great a crowd, she has never separated her heart from God." Pitirim went there and was allowed in, as one famous and old, and asked to see all the nuns. Since one was missing, they told him there was one mad woman in the kitchen. When she was brought, the venerable man saw the ragged cloth on her forehead, fell at her feet and begged: "Bless me." The nuns marvelled and told him not to bear the insult, since she was mad. Pitirim said: "You are the mad ones. This is both my mother and yours. I pray that I may be found worthy of her on the day of judgment." Hearing this, they fell at his feet and confessed their faults: one that she had thrown water on her back, another that she had hit her with fists, another that she had blown her nose on her. After praying for them, Pitirim left. A few days later Isidora, unable to bear the glory and honour of her sisters and feeling weighed down by praise, left the monastery, and no one knew where she went or how she ended.

The Romanian and Greek Orthodox Churches commemorate her on 1 May, and the Russian Church on 10 May.