50

the riches of His wisdom and knowledge, He said expressly: O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out. And if he, who reached the third heaven and heard unutterable words, uttered such sounds, who among men like me will be strong enough to look straight into the abysses of so many mysteries, and be able to say something according to his mind, or to think worthily of the things spoken, unless the very giver of wisdom, the corrector of the unwise, should grant it. For in his hand are both we and our words; all prudence also and understanding are with him and knowledge of understanding; and he has given us the true knowledge of the things that are, to know the constitution of the world and the operation of the elements, the beginning, and end, and middle of the times, the alterations of turnings and changes of seasons, and that he ordered all things by measure and weight. For to be greatly strong is always in his power, and who shall withstand the might of his arm? For the whole world before him is as the turn of a balance, and as a drop of morning dew that falleth down upon the earth; but he has mercy upon all, for he can do all things, and overlooks the sins of men for the sake of repentance; for he abhors nothing, nor does he turn away from those who run to 252 him, the only good and soul-loving Master; blessed be the name of his glory, holy and most hymned and most exalted forever. Amen. χῃιιι And Ioasaph said to him: Even if you had considered for a very long time, wisest one, how you might best clarify for us the solution to the proposed questions, you would not seem to me to have done this better than by saying such things to me as you have now spoken, teaching that God is the creator and sustainer of all, and proving with irrefutable words that the glory of His majesty is incomprehensible to human reasonings, and that no one else is able to attain to it, except those to whom He himself, as far as He wills, might reveal it. Therefore I have marveled exceedingly at your most eloquent wisdom. But tell me, most blessed one, how many years old you are, in what places you spend your time, and who you have as fellow philosophers with you. For my soul depends strongly on yours, and I do not at all wish to be separated from you for all the time of my life. And the old man said: I am, as I reckon, forty-five years old; and spending my time in the deserts of the land of Senaar, I have as fellow combatants those who labor together and contend together for the race of the upward journey. 254 How, says Ioasaph, do you say these things to me? For you appear to me to be beyond some seventy years. What then is the meaning of your forty-five years? For you do not seem to me to be telling the truth in this. And Barlaam said to him: If you seek to learn my years from birth, you have rightly guessed them to be somewhere beyond seventy; but to me, those years that were spent in the vanity of the world have not at all been reckoned into the measure of life. For when I was living in the flesh, enslaved to sins, I was dead as to the inner man. Therefore, the years of that deadness I would never call life. But from the time when the world was crucified to me, and I to the world, and, having put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, I no longer live in the flesh, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me, these years I would reasonably call both years of life and days of salvation, which, numbering about forty-five years, I have told you their number with reason and not beside the point. And you, therefore, hold to such reasoning always, considering not at all to be living those who are dead to every good work, but are living in sins and serving the ruler of the world of the

50

πλοῦτον τῆς σοφίας αὐτοῦ καὶ γνώσεως, διαρρήδην ἔφησεν· Ὦ βάθους πλούτου, καὶ σοφίας, καὶ γνώσεως Θεοῦ· ὡς ἀνεξερεύνητα τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστοι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ. Εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖνος, ὁ μέχρι τρίτου φθάσας οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἀρρήτων ἀκούσας ῥημάτων, τοιαύτας ἀφῆκε φωνάς, τίς τῶν κατ' ἐμὲ ὅλως ἀντοφθαλμῆσαι ταῖς ἀβύσσοις τῶν τοσούτων ἰσχύσειε μυστηρίων, καὶ εἰπεῖν τι κατὰ γνώμην, ἢ ἐνθυμηθῆναι ἀξίως τῶν λεγομένων δυνήσεται, εἰ μή τι αὐτὸς ὁ τῆς σοφίας χορηγός, ὁ τῶν ἀσόφων διορθωτὴς παράσχοι. ἐν γὰρ τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡμεῖς καὶ οἱ λόγοι ἡμῶν, πᾶσά τε φρόνησις καὶ σύνεσις παρ' αὐτῷ καὶ συνέσεως ἐπιστήμη· καὶ αὐτὸς ἡμῖν δέδωκε τὴν τῶν ὄντων γνῶσιν ἀψευδῆ, εἰδέναι σύστασιν κόσμου καὶ ἐνέργειαν στοιχείων, ἀρχήν τε καὶ τέλος καὶ μεσότητα χρόνων, τροπῶν διαλλαγὰς καὶ μεταβολὰς καιρῶν, καὶ ὅτι πάντα μέτρῳ καὶ σταθμῷ διέταξε. τὸ γὰρ μεγάλως ἰσχύειν αὐτῷ πάρεστι πάντοτε, καὶ κράτει βραχίονος αὐτοῦ τίς ἀντιστήσεται; ὅτι ὡς ῥοπὴ ἐκ πλαστίγγων ὅλος ὁ κόσμος ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὡς ῥανὶς δρόσου ὀρθρινῆς κατελθοῦσα ἐπὶ γῆς· ἐλεεῖ δὲ πάντας, ὅτι πάντα δύναται, καὶ παρορᾷ ἁμαρτήματα ἀνθρώπων εἰς μετάνοιαν· οὐδὲν γὰρ βδελύσσεται, οὐδὲ ἀποστρέφεται τῶν προστρε 252 χόντων αὐτῷ, ὁ μόνος ἀγαθὸς καὶ φιλόψυχος δεσπότης· εὐλογημένον εἴη τὸ ὄνομα τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ τὸ ἅγιον καὶ ὑπερύμνητον καὶ ὑπερυψούμενον εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν. χῃιιι Εἶπε δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰωάσαφ· Εἰ πάνυ πολὺν χρόνον ἐσκόπησας, σοφώτατε, πῶς ἂν ἄριστα τὴν λύσιν τῶν προβληθέντων ζητημάτων ἡμῖν σαφηνίσαις, οὐκ ἂν ἄμεινον τοῦτό μοι ποιῆσαι ἐδόκεις, ἢ τοιαῦτά μοι λέγων ὁποῖά μοι νῦν ἐξεῖπας, δημιουργὸν μὲν πάντων καὶ συνοχέα τὸν Θεὸν διδάξας, ἀκατάληπτον δὲ λογισμοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις τὴν δόξαν τῆς μεγαλωσύνης αὐτοῦ λόγοις ἀναντιρρήτοις ἀποδείξας, καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλος τις ἰσχύει ταύτης ἐφικέσθαι, ἀλλ' οἷς ἂν αὐτός, καθ' ὅσον κελεύει, ἀποκαλύψειε. διό σου τὴν λογιωτάτην ὑπερτεθαύμακα σοφίαν. Ἀλλά μοι φράσον, μακαριώτατε, πόσων μὲν χρόνων αὐτὸς ὑπάρχεις, ἐν ποίοις δὲ τόποις τὰς διατριβὰς κέκτησαι, τίνας δὲ τοὺς συμφιλοσοφοῦντάς σοι ἔχεις. κραταιῶς γάρ μου ἡ ψυχὴ τῆς σῆς ἐξήρτηται, καὶ οὐδαμῶς σου τὸν πάντα μου χρόνον τῆς ζωῆς χωρισθῆναι θέλω. Ὁ δὲ γέρων ἔφη· Χρόνων μὲν εἰμί, ὡς εἰκάζω, τεσσαρακονταπέντε· ἐν ἐρήμοις δὲ τῆς γῆς Σεναὰρ διάγων συναγωνιστὰς κέκτημαι τοὺς πρὸς τὸν δρόμον τῆς ἄνω πορείας συμπονοῦντας καὶ συναμιλλωμένους. 254 Πῶς, φησὶν ὁ Ἰωάσαφ, ταῦτά μοι λέγεις; ἐπέκεινα γάρ μοι φαίνῃ τῶν ἑβδομήκοντά που ἐνιαυτῶν. τίς οὖν ὁ λόγος σοι τῶν τεσσαρακονταπέντε βούλεται χρόνων; οὐ δοκεῖς γάρ μοι ἐν τούτῳ ἀληθεύειν. Εἶπε δὲ Βαρλαὰμ πρὸς αὐτόν· Εἰ μὲν τοὺς ἀπὸ γενέσεως χρόνους μου μαθεῖν ζητεῖς, καλῶς τούτους ἀπείκασας ἐπέκεινα τῶν ἑβδομήκοντά που ὑπάρχειν· ἀλλ' ἔμοιγε οὐδόλως εἰς μέτρον ζωῆς ἐλογίσθησαν ὅσοι τῇ ματαιότητι τοῦ κόσμου δεδαπάνηντο. ὅτε γὰρ ἔζων τῷ σαρκίῳ δεδουλωμένος ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις, νεκρὸς ἤμην τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον. τοὺς οὖν τῆς νεκρώσεως χρόνους οὐκ ἄν ποτε ζωῆς ὀνομάσαιμι. ἐξ ὅτου δὲ ὁ κόσμος ἐμοὶ ἐσταύρωται, κἀγὼ τῷ κόσμῳ, καί, ἀποθέμενος τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, τὸν φθειρόμενον κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης, οὐκ ἔτι ζῶ τῇ σαρκί, ἀλλὰ ζῇ ἐν ἐμοὶ ὁ Χριστός, ὃ δὲ ζῶ τῇ πίστει ζῶ τῇ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντός με καὶ παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ, τούτους εἰκότως καὶ ζωῆς χρόνους καὶ ἡμέρας σωτηρίας καλέσαιμι, οὓς περὶ τὰ τεσσαρακονταπέντε συναριθμῶν ἔτη, κατὰ λόγον σοι καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ τὴν τούτων ἐξεῖπον ἀρίθμησιν. καὶ σὺ τοίνυν τοῦ τοιούτου ἔχου λογισμοῦ ἑκάστοτε, μηδόλως ζῆν ὑπολαμβάνων τοὺς νενεκρωμένους μὲν πρὸς πᾶσαν ἀγαθοεργίαν, ζῶντας δὲ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις καὶ τῷ κοσμοκράτορι καθυπουργοῦντας τῶν