Venerable Isidora the Fool for Christ (IV)

The Venerable Isidora the Fool for Christ (IV) laboured in Egypt, in the monastery of Tabennisi. The virgin Isidora took on the labour of foolishness for Christ; she behaved like a simpleton and did not take food with the sisters. Many treated Saint Isidora with contempt, but she bore everything with wonderful obedience and humility and gave thanks to the Lord.

Once an angel of the Lord appeared to a desert-dwelling monk, the Venerable Pitirim, and said to him: “Go to the monastery of Tabennisi. There thou wilt see a sister who wears a rag on her head. She serves everyone with love and obediently bears their scorn. Her heart and mind are ever with God, while thou, dwelling in solitude, wanderest in thought over the whole world.”

The monk went to the monastery of Tabennisi, but among the sisters assembled he did not find the ascetic shown him in the divine vision. When Isidora was brought, the fool fell on her knees before him and asked his blessing. The Venerable Pitirim himself knelt before her and said: “First do thou bless me, holy mother!” To the questions of the astonished sisters the venerable father answered: “Isidora is higher than we before God!” The sisters repented and asked the Venerable Isidora’s forgiveness. Troubled by the unexpected glory, the saint secretly left the monastery. Her later life is unknown. It is supposed that the venerable mother died no earlier than 365.