Xenia the Servant of God, or Andrey Fyodorovich the Holy Fool

Bulgakovsky, D. and Mayhew, N. (2020) Xenia the Servant of God, or Andrey Fyodorovich the Holy Fool. TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 7(1), pp. 114-120. (doi: 10.1215/23289252-7914570)

Abstract

Xenia the Servant of God, or Andrey Fyodorovich the Holy Fool is a hagiography written by Russian Orthodox priest and publicist Dmitry Bulgakovsy (1843–ca. 1918). Published in Russia in 1890, it is one of the first full accounts of the life of a saint variably referred to by two names: one feminine, Xenia, and the other masculine, Andrey. The saint ostensibly lived in St. Petersburg in the eighteenth century. Identified female at birth and named Xenia, after the death of their husband Andrey, at the age of twenty-six the saint took on the identity of their deceased husband. The saint is popular in Russia today, and stories about their life are disseminated widely. Although they were canonized in 1988 as St. Xenia and are now venerated as a holy woman, accounts of their life always include the story of their gender transformation. In twenty-first-century narratives, this episode tends to be glossed over briefly as proof of the saint's extraordinary love for their husband, serving to embellish their role as a devoted wife. However, in the original nineteenth-century stories of the saint's life—such as the one translated below—there is greater ambiguity in the depiction of their gender.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Translation.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mayhew, Dr Nick
• Authors: Bulgakovsky, D., and Mayhew, N.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures
• Journal Name: TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• ISSN: 2328-9252
• ISSN (Online): 2328-9260