當真相被愚昧蒙蔽，污名於焉而生。污名的指涉之所以成立，是因其處於相對於正常的類別及歸屬。當污名的特徵超出常人的理解時，它的殊異或被視為天賜之福，或成為社會竭力排除的禁忌。俄羅斯的聖愚被東正教視為具神性的異常個體，他的存在透露出一種類別建構的機制，刻劃出如聖愚之類的異常人在歷史文化中的步履。本文透過梳理聖愚的身份變化、瞭解帝俄晚期安置異常人的決策、觀察異教徒的田野紀錄等，探查聖愚不等同其他「患者」的原因，並以此反思當下區辨異常的機制。污名總是處於相對的、動態的關係。儘管異常的人、事對於穩定的社會秩序可能構成威脅，卻無法否定其之於革新生態系統的助益。無論聖愚的言行是否符合彼時社會對於「正常」的期待，評判的機制與其背後累積的文化底蘊，展現俄羅斯獨有的特色，一種處於二元兩極狀態下的矛盾，及各類族群交融後的共存共生。

Stigma emerges when the truth is blinded by ignorance. The stigma reveals itself with a given meaning only when it is placed in a relative position to an anticipated normal category. The visibility of a certain distinctiveness can be emphasized as a divine gift which is beyond our general understanding or as a taboo which should be avoided for the benefit of social order. The holy fool in Russia bears a stigma which has been defined in various ways and has been explained as the condition when there is a necessity. The aim of this paper is to initiate a conceptual discourse about the question of abnormality in a society requiring the least differentiation through the study of the holy fool amongst the non-Russian natives of diverse habitus within the Russian Empire in the late nineteenth century. The objective is to take the holy fool as a figure to examine the rules for distinction and to question the issue of different others in an atmosphere where every individual （bearing more or less a stigma） should have his/her right of survival. Stigma happens in fluid and relative situations. Abnormality may be a threat to the stability of system, but can be an alternative to new invention.