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being constrained, I hesitated to make these things known to you, although they are true and entirely beyond dispute, but respecting the preeminence of your glory, lest I might seem too troublesome to you; if then you command your servant to remind you hereafter concerning these things, I will be serving your command. Yes, said the king, not only daily, but even at every hour, continually renew the memory of these things; for one must not attend to these things neglectfully, but very fervently and earnestly. We have heard, therefore, said Barlaam, that this king lived piously thereafter, and having passed through the present life untroubled, did not fail to obtain the blessedness to come. if, then, someone reminds your father of such things at an opportune time, perhaps he will understand and know by how many evils he has been constrained, and turning away from these, he will choose the good; since for the present he is blind, being short-sighted, having deprived himself of the true light, and deserting to the darkness of impiety. 236 And Joasaph said to him: As for the things of my father, may the Lord lead them as he commands; for with him, as you indeed said, all things that are impossible with men have become possible; but I, through your unsurpassed words, having condemned the vanity of present things, have resolved to depart from them completely, and to spend the rest of my life with you, so that through these temporary and fleeting things I may not fall from the enjoyment of the eternal and incorruptible things. To whom the old man answered: If you do this, you will be like a certain most prudent young man, of whom I have heard that he was born of wealthy and glorious parents; to whom his father, having betrothed the exceedingly beautiful daughter of one distinguished for nobility and wealth, and having spoken with his son about the marriage, and having reported what was being planned for him, he, having heard, and having rejected the matter as something discordant and strange, went away as a fugitive, leaving his father. And as he was traveling, he was lodged in the house of a certain poor old man, resting himself from the heat of the day. And the daughter of the poor man, being an only-begotten child and a virgin, sitting before the doors, was working with her hands, but with her mouth she was unceasingly blessing God, giving thanks to him from the depths of her soul; and the young man, having heard her hymns, said: What is your pursuit, woman? And for what reason, being so humble and poor, do you give thanks as if for some great gifts, praising the giver? And she answered him: Do you not 238 know that, just as a small medicine often delivers a man from great diseases, so also giving thanks to God for small things becomes the cause of great ones? I therefore, being the daughter of a poor old man, give thanks for these small things and I bless God, knowing that he who gave these things is also able to give greater things. And these things are about external things and not our own, from which neither is any profit added to those who possess much (not to mention that it is often a loss), nor does any harm come to those who have received less, since both travel the same road and hasten to the same end; but in the most necessary and opportune things I have enjoyed many and the greatest gifts of my Lord, which indeed have no number nor can be submitted to conjecture. For I have been made in the image of God and have been deemed worthy of the knowledge of him, and I have been adorned with reason beyond all the animals, and I have been called back from death to life through the tender mercy of our God, and I have received the power to partake of his mysteries, and the gate of paradise has been opened, offering me unhindered entrance, if I should wish it. Therefore, for so many and such gifts, in which both rich and poor equally partake, it is altogether impossible for me to give thanks worthily, but if I do not also offer this small hymn of praise to the one who bestowed them, what defense shall I have? The

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συνεχόμενος, περὶ τούτων ὤκνησά σοι γνωρίσαι, ἀληθῆ περ ὄντα καὶ πάντη ἀναμφίλεκτα, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον αἰδούμενος τῆς σῆς δόξης, μή ποτε ὀχληρότερός σοι φανείην· εἰ οὖν προστάσσεις τῷ σῷ οἰκέτῃ ὑπομιμνήσκειν σοι εἰς τὸ ἑξῆς περὶ τούτων τῷ σῷ ἔσομαι καθυπηρετῶν προστάγματι. Ναί, φησὶν ὁ βασιλεύς, μὴ καθ' ἡμέραν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐφ' ἑκάστης ὥρας τὴν τούτων μνήμην διηνεκῶς ἀνακαίνιζε· οὐκ ἀμελῶς γὰρ χρὴ τούτοις προσέχειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν θερμῶς καὶ σπουδαίως. Ἀκηκόαμεν οὖν, φησὶν ὁ Βαρλαάμ, εὐσεβῶς τὸν βασιλέα τοῦτον ζῆσαι τὸ ἑξῆς, καὶ ἀκυμάντως τὸν παρόντα διανύσαντα βίον, τῆς μελλούσης μὴ ἀποτυχεῖν μακαριότητος. εἰ τοίνυν καὶ τῷ σῷ πατρὶ τοιαῦτά τις ἐν ἐπιτηδείῳ προσυπομνήσει καιρῷ, τάχα συνήσει καὶ γνώσεται ὅσοις συνεσχέθη κακοῖς, καὶ τούτων ἐκκλίνας ἐκλέξεται τὸ ἀγαθόν· ἐπεὶ τό γε νῦν ἔχον τυφλός ἐστι, μυωπάζων, τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀποστερήσας, αὐτομολῶν δὲ πρὸς τὸ τῆς ἀσεβείας σκότος. 236 Εἶπε δὲ ὁ Ἰωάσαφ πρὸς αὐτόν· Τὰ μὲν τοῦ ἐμοῦ πατρὸς ἄγοιτο Κύριος καθὼς κελεύει· αὐτῷ γάρ, καθὰ δὴ καὶ εἶπας, πάντα δυνατὰ καθέστηκε τὰ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἀδύνατα· ἐγὼ δέ, διὰ τῶν σῶν ἀνυπερβλήτων ῥημάτων, τῆς τῶν παρόντων καταγνοὺς ματαιότητος, ἀποστῆναι μὲν τούτων πάντη διανενόημαι, καὶ μετὰ σοῦ τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς ζωῆς μου διανύσαι, ἵνα μὴ διὰ τῶν προσκαίρων τούτων καὶ ῥευστῶν τῆς τῶν αἰωνίων καὶ ἀφθάρτων ἐκπέσω ἀπολαύσεως. Πρὸς ὃν ὁ γέρων ἀπεκρίνατο· Εἰ τοῦτο ποιήσεις, ὅμοιος ἔσῃ νεανίσκῳ τινὶ φρονιμωτάτῳ, περὶ οὗ ἀκήκοα πλουσίων γεγονέναι καὶ ἐνδόξων γονέων· ᾧτινι ὁ πατὴρ μνηστευσάμενος τὴν θυγατέρα τινὸς τῶν εὐγενείᾳ καὶ πλούτῳ διαφερόντων λίαν ὡραιοτάτην, κοινολογησάμενος δὲ πρὸς τὸν παῖδα περὶ τοῦ γάμου, καὶ ὅπως ἦν αὐτῷ μελετώμενα ἀπαγγείλας, ἀκούσας ἐκεῖνος, καὶ ὡς ἀπηχές τι καὶ ἄτοπον ἀποσεισάμενος τὸ πρᾶγμα, φυγὰς ᾤχετο καταλιπὼν τὸν πατέρα. πορευόμενος δὲ ξενίζεται ἐν οἰκίᾳ γηραιοῦ τινος πένητος, τοῦ καύσωνος τῆς ἡμέρας ἑαυτὸν διαναπαύων. Ἡ δὲ θυγάτηρ τοῦ πένητος, μονογενὴς οὖσα καὶ παρθένος, καθεζομένη πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν, εἰργάζετο μὲν ταῖς χερσί, τῷ δὲ στόματι ἀσιγήτως τὸν Θεὸν εὐλόγει εὐχαριστοῦσα αὐτῷ ἐκ βαθέων ψυχῆς· τῶν ταύτης δὲ ὕμνων ἀκούσας ὁ νέος ἔφη· Τί σου, γύναι, τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα; χάριν δὲ τίνος, οὕτω περ οὖσα εὐτελὴς καὶ πτωχή, ὡς ἐπί τισι μεγάλοις δωρήμασιν εὐχαριστεῖς, τὸν δοτῆρα ὑμνοῦσα; Ἡ δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπεκρίνατο· Οὐκ 238 οἶσθα ὅτι, καθάπερ φάρμακον μικρὸν ἐκ μεγάλων νοσημάτων πολλάκις ῥύεται τὸν ἄνθρωπον, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ τοῖς μικροῖς εὐχαριστεῖν τῷ Θεῷ μεγάλων πρόξενον γίνεται; ἐγὼ τοίνυν, θυγάτηρ οὖσα γέροντος πτωχοῦ, εὐχαριστῶ ἐπὶ τοῖς μικροῖς τούτοις καὶ εὐλογῶ τὸν Θεόν, εἰδυῖα ὡς ὁ ταῦτα δοὺς καὶ μείζονα δύναται δοῦναι. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν καὶ οὐχ ἡμετέρων, ἐξ ὧν οὔτε τοῖς πολλὰ κεκτημένοις τι προσγίνεται κέρδος (ἵνα μὴ εἴπω ὅτι καὶ ζημία πολλάκις), οὔτε τοῖς ἐλάττονα λαβοῦσιν ἐπέρχεται βλάβη, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀμφοτέρων ὁδευόντων ὁδὸν καὶ πρὸς τὸ αὐτὸ ἐπειγομένων τέλος· ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἀναγκαιοτάτοις καὶ καιριωτάτοις πολλῶν ἀπήλαυσα καὶ μεγίστων τοῦ ∆εσπότου μου δωρημάτων, οὐμενοῦν ἐχόντων ἀριθμὸν ἢ εἰκασμῷ ὑποπιπτόντων. κατ' εἰκόνα γὰρ Θεοῦ γεγένημαι καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ γνώσεως ἠξίωμαι, καὶ λόγῳ παρὰ πάντα τὰ ζῷα κεκόσμημαι, καὶ ἐκ θανάτου πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν ἀνακέκλημαι διὰ σπλάγχνα ἐλέους Θεοῦ ἡμῶν, καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ μετέχειν μυστηρίων ἐξουσίαν ἔλαβον, καὶ ἡ τοῦ παραδείσου θύρα ἀνέῳκται, ἀκώλυτον, εἴπερ θελήσω, παρέχουσά μοι τὴν εἴσοδον. τῶν τοσούτων οὖν καὶ τοιούτων δωρημάτων, ὧν ἐπίσης μετέχουσι πλούσιοί τε καὶ πένητες, ἀξίως εὐχαριστῆσαι πάντη μοι ἀδύνατον, εἰ δὲ καὶ τὴν μικρὰν ταύτην ὑμνολογίαν οὐ προσάξω τῷ δωρησαμένῳ, ποίαν ἕξω ἀπολογίαν; Ὁ