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we might dwell together in this present life. But I trust in the Lord that we shall be inseparable also in the life to come. Then Ioasaph, weeping, says to him: If these things seem good to the Lord, may his will be done. Therefore, after you have perfected me with holy baptism, and taken from me money and garments for the nourishment and clothing of both you and your companions, depart to the place of your ascetic practice, guarded by the peace of God. And do not cease praying for me, that I may not fall from my hope, but may quickly be strong enough to overtake you and in deep quiet to enjoy the benefit from you. But Barlaam said: There is nothing to hinder you from receiving the seal of Christ. Therefore, prepare yourself; and, with the Lord working with you, you shall be perfected. But concerning the money which you said to provide for my companions, how shall this be, that you, the poor man, should give alms to the rich? For the rich always benefit the poor, but surely the destitute do not benefit the wealthy. For the least of all my companions has become incomparably richer than you. But I trust in the mercies of God that you also will soon become exceedingly rich; and then you will not be liberal in giving. And Ioasaph said to him: Make the saying clear to me, how the least of all your 268 companions surpasses me in wealth, whom you said a little while ago live with great poverty and are afflicted with extreme destitution, and how now you call me poor, but say that when I become exceedingly rich I will not be liberal in giving, who am now disposed to be liberal? And Barlaam answered: I did not say that they are afflicted with destitution, but that they boast in inexhaustible wealth. For always to add money to money, and not to be restrained from the impulse, but also insatiably to desire more, this is extreme poverty. But those who have despised present things out of a longing for eternal things, and considered these as dung, that they might gain Christ alone, and have put aside all anxiety for food and clothing and cast this upon the Lord, rejoicing in their poverty as no lover of the world could rejoice when abounding in wealth and possessions, and who have gathered for themselves abundantly the wealth of virtue, and are nourished by the hopes of unending good things, these I would rightly call richer than you and than all earthly royalty. And with God working with you, you yourself will also take hold of such spiritual abundance, which, keeping in safety and always rightly desiring more, you would not wish to diminish at all. For this is true abundance; but the mass of perceptible wealth would rather harm its friends than benefit them. Rightly, therefore, I called this extreme poverty, which the lovers of heavenly good things have altogether denied 270 and fled from it, as one flees from a snake. But if I should take from you this enemy, which my fellow-ascetics and fellow-soldiers have killed and trampled under their feet, and bring it back to them alive, and become a procurer of wars and passions, I shall surely be an evil angel to them; which may it not be for me to do. Think the same things concerning clothing also. For to those who have stripped off the corruption of oldness and put aside the garment of disobedience, as far as it is in their power, and have put on Christ as a garment of salvation and a tunic of gladness, how could I clothe them again in tunics of skin and put around them the cloak of shame? But knowing that my companions are in need of none of these things, but are content with the asceticism of the desert and count this as the truest luxury, the money and garments which you said to provide for them, distribute to the poor, and treasure up for yourself an inviolable treasure for the future, making God your helper through their prayers; for thus rather

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τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς ἀλλήλοις συνοικήσαιμεν. πέποιθα δὲ τῷ Κυρίῳ καὶ ἐν τῇ μελλούσῃ διαγωγῇ ἀδιαστάτους ἡμᾶς εἶναι. Αὖθις δὲ ὁ Ἰωάσαφ δακρύων φησὶ πρὸς αὐτόν· Εἰ τῷ Κυρίῳ ταῦτα δοκεῖ, τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ γενέσθω. τελειώσας οὖν με λοιπὸν τῷ θείῳ βαπτίσματι, καὶ λαβὼν παρ' ἐμοῦ χρήματα καὶ ἱμάτια εἰς διατροφὴν καὶ ἀμφίασιν σοῦ τε καὶ τῶν ἑταίρων σου, ἄπελθε εἰς τὸν τόπον τῆς ἀσκήσεώς σου, τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰρήνῃ φρουρούμενος. κἀμοῦ μὴ διαλίπῃς ὑπερευχόμενος, ἵνα μὴ ἐκπέσοιμι τῆς ἐλπίδος μου, ἀλλὰ θᾶττον ἰσχύσω καταλαβεῖν σε καὶ ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ βαθείᾳ τῆς παρὰ σοῦ ἀπολαύειν ὠφελείας. Ὁ δὲ Βαρλαὰμ ἔφη· Τὴν μὲν τοῦ Χριστοῦ σε λαβεῖν σφραγῖδα τὸ κωλῦον οὐδέν. εὐτρέπισον λοιπὸν σεαυτόν· καί, τοῦ Κυρίου συνεργοῦντος, τελειωθήσῃ. περὶ ὧν δὲ εἶπας χρημάτων τοῖς ἑταίροις μου παρασχεῖν, πῶς ἔσται τοῦτο, σὲ τὸν πένητα τοῖς πλουσίοις ἐλεημοσύνην διδόναι; οἱ πλούσιοι γὰρ ἀεὶ τοὺς πένητας εὐεργετοῦσιν, οὐ μὴν δὲ οἱ ἄποροι τοὺς εὐπόρους. ὁ γὰρ ἔσχατος πάντων τῶν ἑταίρων μου πλουσιώτερός σου ἀσυγκρίτως καθέστηκεν. ἀλλὰ πέποιθα εἰς τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ καί σε ὅσον οὔπω ὑπερπλουτῆσαι· καὶ οὐκ εὐμετάδοτος τηνικαῦτα ἔσῃ. Εἶπε δὲ ὁ Ἰωάσαφ πρὸς αὐτόν· Σαφήνισόν μοι τὸν λόγον, πῶς ὁ πάντων ἔσχατος τῶν σῶν 268 ἑταίρων ὑπέρκειταί μου τῷ πλούτῳ, οὕσπερ πολλῇ συζῆν ἀκτημοσύνῃ καὶ ἐσχάτῃ ταλαιπωρεῖσθαι πτωχείᾳ πρὸ μικροῦ ἔλεγες, πῶς δὲ νῦν μὲν πένητά με ἀποκαλεῖς, ὅταν δὲ ὑπερπλουτήσω οὐκ εὐμετάδοτον γενέσθαι λέγεις τὸν εὐμετάδοτον νῦν καθεστηκότα; Ὁ δὲ Βαρλαὰμ ἀπεκρίνατο· Οὐ πτωχείᾳ τούτους ἔφην ταλαιπωρεῖσθαι, ἀλλὰ πλούτῳ κομᾶν ἀκενώτῳ. τὸ γὰρ ἀεὶ τοῖς χρήμασι προστιθέναι χρήματα, καὶ μὴ τῆς ὁρμῆς χαλινοῦσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλειοτέρων ἀκορέστως ὀρέγεσθαι, τοῦτο πενίας ἐσχάτης ἐστί. τοὺς δὲ τῶν παρόντων μὲν ὑπεριδόντας πόθῳ τῶν αἰωνίων, καὶ σκύβαλα ταῦτα ἡγησαμένους, ἵνα Χριστὸν μόνον κερδήσωσι, πᾶσαν δὲ βρωμάτων καὶ ἐνδυμάτων ἀποθεμένους μέριμναν καὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ ταύτην ἐπιρρίψαντας, εὐφραινομένους δὲ τῇ ἀκτησίᾳ, ὡς οὐκ ἄν τις τῶν φιλοκόσμων εὐφρανθείη πλούτῳ καὶ χρήμασι βρίθων, καὶ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀφθόνως ἑαυτοῖς συναγηοχότας, ταῖς ἐλπίσι τε τῶν ἀτελευτήτων τρεφομένους ἀγαθῶν, εἰκότως πλουσιωτέρους σου καὶ πάσης τῆς ἐπιγείου βασιλείας καλέσαιμι. τοῦ δὲ Θεοῦ συνεργοῦντός σοι, ἐπιλήψῃ καὶ αὐτὸς τῆς τοιαύτης πνευματικῆς περιουσίας, ἥνπερ ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ τηρῶν καὶ τοῦ πλείονος ἀεὶ δικαίως ἐφιέμενος, οὐκ ἂν θελήσειάς τι ταύτης κατακενοῦν ὅλως. αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἀληθὴς περιουσία· ὁ δὲ τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ πλούτου ὄγκος βλάψειε μᾶλλον τοὺς αὐτοῦ φίλους ἢ ὠφελήσειεν. εἰκότως οὖν πενίαν ἐσχάτην τοῦτον ἀπεκάλεσα, ὅνπερ οἱ ἐρασταὶ τῶν οὐρανίων ἀγαθῶν πάντη ἀπαρνησά 270 μενοι ἔφυγον ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, ὡς φεύγει τις ἀπὸ ὄφεως. εἰ δέ, ὃν ἀπέκτειναν ἐχθρὸν καὶ τοῖς ποσὶ συνεπάτησαν οἱ συνασκηταί μου καὶ συστρατιῶται, τοῦτον αὖθις ζῶντα παρὰ σοῦ λαβὼν αὐτοῖς ἀπενέγκω, καὶ πρόξενος πολέμων καὶ παθῶν γένωμαι, ἔσομαι αὐτοῖς πάντως ἄγγελος πονηρός· ὅπερ μὴ γένοιτό μοι ποιῆσαι. Τὰ αὐτὰ δέ μοι νόει καὶ περὶ ἐνδυμάτων. τοῖς γὰρ ἀπεκδυσαμένοις τὴν τῆς παλαιότητος καταφθορὰν καὶ τὸ τῆς παρακοῆς ἔνδυμα, ὅσον τὸ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς, ἀποθεμένοις, τὸν Χριστὸν δὲ ὡς ἱμάτιον σωτηρίου καὶ χιτῶνα εὐφροσύνης ἐνδεδυμένοις, πῶς αὐτοὺς πάλιν τοὺς δερματίνους ἀμφιάσαιμι χιτῶνας καὶ τὸ τῆς αἰσχύνης περιθήσομαι περιβόλαιον; ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν ἐμοὺς ἑταίρους μηδενὸς τῶν τοιούτων ἐπιδεομένους γινώσκων, τῇ τῆς ἐρήμου δὲ ἀρκουμένους ἀσκήσει καὶ τρυφὴν ταύτην λογιζομένους ἀληθεστάτην, τὰ χρήματα καὶ ἱμάτια, ἅπερ τούτοις ἔλεγες παρασχεῖν, τοῖς πένησι διανείμας, θησαυρὸν ἑαυτῷ εἰς τὸ μέλλον ἄσυλον θησαύρισον, τὸν Θεὸν ἑαυτῷ ταῖς ἐκείνων εὐχαῖς ἐπίκουρον θέμενος· οὕτω γὰρ μᾶλλον