The St Basil's Cathedral is a familiar Russian landmark. Basil was a saint who bullied passers-by and brawled in the market-place. Saints such as him overturn t... » 

The St Basil's Cathedral is a familiar Russian landmark. Basil was a saint who bullied passers-by and brawled in the market-place. Saints such as him overturn the conventional concept of sainthood. So what is saintly about them? This book aims to solve the mystery by exploring the figure of the holy fool in Byzantium and in later Russian history. «