The English expression “holy fool” is a somewhat misleading translation of the Russian phenomenon of iurodstvo. The word “fool” suggests that antirationalism was an essential element of this traditional folk spirituality. However, in the Orthodox understanding, asceticism, in the shape of struggle against the passions and a strive for moral perfection, was a far more important aspect of this piety. This corresponds also to Tolstoi’s understanding of “holy foolishness.” The holy fools preached their moral and social message indirectly, in a hidden and symbolic way, through actions and not by proclamations. They broke the social norms of society, and thereby incurred people’s contempt and derision. The fools renounced not only the security of home, hearth and material security but even cleanliness. In his debut novel Childhood, Tolstoi portrayed with great sympathy the holy fool Grisha, modeled on several fools who visited their home. To Tolstoi the outer form of holy foolishness, however, was far less important than the inner attitude of breaking with the world. In his diaries, he several times referred to holy fool as an example of holiness to emulate, but never explicitly identified with it. Many of his contemporaries, however, did exactly that, usually to scorn him.