Only a small handful of pre-seventh-century texts shed light on the early tradiiton of holy foolery, an ascetic practice in which a holy man or woman conceals his or her true identity by feigning madness. This paper explores how the sanctity of an anonymous monk who plays the fool is discovered in one of the least studied texts from this period (APanon N 408 / APsys VIII 32 of the Apophthegmata Patrum). The analysis of this brief narrative text reveals that a nuanced understanding of holy foolery existed at a very early date.
