Ioasaph said unto the elder, "Are there now others, too, who preach the
same doctrines as thou? Or art thou to-day the only one that teacheth
this hatred of the present world?"
The other answered and said, "In this your most unhappy country I know
of none: the tyranny of thy father hath netted all such in a thousand
forms of death; and he hath made it his aim that the preaching of the
knowledge of God be not once heard in your midst. But in all other
tongues these doctrines are sung and glorified, by some in perfect
truth, but by others perversely; for the enemy of our souls hath made
them decline from the straight road, and divided them by strange
teachings, and taught them to interpret certain sayings of the
Scriptures falsely, and not after the sense contained therein. But the
truth is one, even that which was preached by the glorious Apostles and
inspired Fathers, and shineth in the Catholick Church above the
brightness of the sun from the one end of the world unto the other; and
as an herald and teacher of that truth have I been sent to thee."
Ioasaph said unto him, "Hath my father then, learned naught of these
things?"
The elder answered, "Clearly and duly he hath learned naught; for he
stoppeth up his senses, and will not admit that which is good, being of
his own free choice inclined to evil."
"Would God," said Ioasaph, "that he too were instructed in these
mysteries?" The elder answered, "The things that are impossible with
men are possible with God. For how knowest thou whether thou shalt
save thy sire, and in wondrous fashion be styled the spiritual father
of thy father?
"I have heard that, once upon a time, there was a king who governed his
kingdom right well, and dealt kindly and gently with his subjects, only
failing in this point, that he was not rich in the light of the
knowledge of God, but held fast to the errors of idolatry. Now he had
a counsellor, which was a good man and endued with righteousness toward
God and with all other virtuous wisdom. Grieved and vexed though he
was at the error of the king, and willing to convince him thereof, he
nevertheless drew back from the attempt, for fear that he might earn
trouble for himself and his friends, and cut short those services which
he rendered to others. Yet sought he a convenient season to draw his
sovereign toward that which was good. One night the king said unto
him, "Come now, let us go forth and walk about the city, if haply we
may see something to edify us." Now while they were walking about the
city, they saw a ray of light shining through an aperture. Fixing
their eyes thereon, they descried an underground cavernous chamber, in
the forefront of which there sat a man, plunged in poverty, and clad in
rags and tatters. Beside him stood his wife, mixing wine. When the man
took the cup in his hands, she sung a clear sweet melody, and delighted
him by dancing and cozening him with flatteries. The king's companions
observed this for a time, and marvelled that people, pinched by such
poverty as not to afford house and raiment, yet passed their lives in
such good cheer. The king said to his chief counsellor, 'Friend, how
marvellous a thing it is, that our life, though bright with such honour
and luxury, hath never pleased us so well as this poor and miserable
life doth delight and rejoice these fools: and that this life, which
appeareth to us so cruel and abominable, is to them sweet and
alluring!' The chief counsellor seized the happy moment and said, 'But
to thee, O king, how seemeth their life?' 'Of all that I have ever
seen,' quoth the king, 'the most hateful and wretched, the most
loathsome and abhorrent.' Then spake the chief counsellor unto him,
"Such, know thou well, O king, and even more unendurable is our life
reckoned by those who are initiated into the sight of the mysteries of
yonder everlasting glory, and the blessings that pass all
understanding. Your palaces glittering with gold, and these splendid
garments, and all the delights of this life are more loathsome than
dung and filth in the eyes of those that know the unspeakable beauties
of the tabernacles in heaven made without hands, and the apparel woven
by God, and the incorruptible diadems which God, the Creator and Lord
of all, hath prepared for them that love him. For like as this couple
were accounted fools by us, so much the more are we, who go astray in
this world and please ourselves in this false glory and senseless
pleasure, worthy of lamentation and tears in the eyes of those who have
tasted of the sweets of the bliss beyond.'
"When the king heard this, he became as one dumb. He said, 'Who then
are these men that live a life better than ours?' 'All,' said the
chief-counsellor 'who prefer the eternal to the temporal.' Again, when
the king desired to know what the eternal might be the other replied,
'A kingdom that knoweth no succession, a life that is not subject unto
death, riches that dread no poverty: joy and gladness that have no
share of grief and vexation; perpetual peace free from all hatred and
love of strife. Blessed, thrice blessed are they that are found worthy
of these enjoyments! Free from pain and free from toil is the life
that they shall live for ever, enjoying without labour all the sweets
and pleasaunce of the kingdom of God, and reigning with Christ world
without end.'
"'And who is worthy to obtain this?' asked the king. The other
answered, 'All they that hold on the road that leadeth thither; for
none forbiddeth entrance, if a man but will.'
"Said the king, 'And what is the way that beareth thither?' That
bright spirit answered, 'To know the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
his only-begotten Son, and the Holy and quickening Spirit.'
"The king, endowed with understanding worthy of the purple, said unto
him, 'What hath hindered thee until now from doing me to wit of these
things? For they appear to me too good to be put off or passed over,
if they indeed be true; and, if they be doubtful, I must search
diligently, until I find the truth without shadow of doubt.'
"The chief counsellor said, 'It was not from negligence or indifference
that I delayed to make this known unto thee, for it is true and beyond
question, but 'twas because I reverenced the excellency of thy majesty,
lest thou mightest think me a meddler. If therefore thou bid thy
servant put thee in mind of these things for the future, I shall obey
thy behest.' 'Yea,' said the king, 'not every day only, but every
hour, renew in me the remembrance thereof: for it behoveth us not to
turn our mind inattentively to these things, but with very fervent
zeal.'
"We have heard," said Barlaam, "that this king lived, for the time to
come, a godly life, and, having brought his days without tempest to an
end, failed not to gain the felicity of the world to come. If then at
a convenient season one shall call these things to thy father's mind
also, peradventure he shall understand and know the dire evil in which
he is held, and turn therefrom and choose the good; since, for the
present at least, 'he is blind and cannot see afar off,' having
deprived himself of the true light and being a deserter of his own
accord to the darkness of ungodliness."
Ioasaph said unto him, "The Lord undertake my father's matters, as he
ordereth! For, even as thou sayest, the things that are impossible
with men, are possible with him. But for myself, thanks to thine
unsurpassable speech, I renounce the vanity of things present, and am
resolved to withdraw from them altogether, and to spend the rest of my
life with thee, lest, by means of these transitory and fleeting things,
I lose the enjoyment of the eternal and incorruptible."
The elder answered him, "This do, and thou shalt be like unto a youth
of great understanding of whom I have heard tell, that was born of rich
and distinguished parents. For him his father sought in marriage the
exceeding fair young daughter of a man of high rank and wealth. But
when he communed with his son concerning the espousals, and informed
him of his plans, the son thought it strange and ill-sounding, and cast
it off, and left his father and went into exile. On his journey he
found entertainment in the house of a poor old man, where he rested
awhile during the heat of the day.
"Now this poor man's daughter, his only child, a virgin, was sitting
before the door, and, while she wrought with her hands, with her lips
she loudly sang the praises of God with thanksgiving from the ground of
her heart. The young man heard her hymn of praise and said, 'Damsel,
what is thine employment? and wherefore, poor and needy as thou art,
givest thou thanks as though for great blessings, singing praise to the
Giver?' She answered, 'Knowest thou not that, as a little medicine
often times delivereth a man from great ailments, even so the giving of
thanks to God for small mercies winneth great ones? Therefore I, the
daughter of a poor old man, thank and bless God for these small
mercies, knowing that the Giver thereof is able to give even greater
gifts. And this applieth but to those external things that are not our
own from whence there accrueth no gain to those who possess much (not
to mention the loss that often ariseth), nor cometh there harm to those
who have less; for both sorts journey along the same road, and hasten
to the same end. But, in things most necessary and vital, many and
great the blessings I have enjoyed of my Lord, though indeed they are
without number and beyond compare. I have been made in the image of
God, and have gained the knowledge of him, and have been endowed with
reason beyond all the beasts, and have been called again from death
unto life, through the tender mercy of our God, and have received power
to share in his mysteries; and the gate of Paradise hath been opened to
me, allowing me to enter without hindrance, if I will. Wherefore for
gifts so many and so fine, shared alike by rich and poor, I can indeed
in no wise praise him as I ought, yet if I fail to render to the Giver
this little hymn of praise, what excuse shall I have?'
"The youth, astonished at her wit, called to her father, and said unto
him, 'Give me thy daughter: for I love her wisdom and piety.' But the
elder said, 'It is not possible for thee, the son of wealthy parents,
to take this a beggar's daughter.' Again the young man said, 'Yea, but
I will take her, unless thou forbid: for a daughter of noble and
wealthy family hath been betrothed unto me in marriage, and her I have
cast off and taken to flight. But I have fallen in love with thy
daughter because of her righteousness to God-ward, and her discreet
wisdom, and I heartily desire to wed-her.' But the old man said unto
him, 'I cannot give her unto thee, to carry away to thy father's house,
and depart her from mine arms, for she is mine only child.' 'But,' said
the youth, 'I will abide here with your folk and adopt your manner of
life.' Thereupon he stripped him of his own goodly raiment, and asked
for the old man's clothes and put them on. When the father had much
tried his purpose, and proved him in manifold ways, and knew that his
intent was fixed, and that it was no light passion that led him to ask
for his daughter, but love of godliness that constrained him to embrace
a life of poverty, preferring it to his own glory and noble birth, he
took him by the hand, and brought him into his treasure-house, where he
showed him much riches laid up, and a vast heap of money, such as the
young man had never beheld. And he said unto him, 'Son, all these
things give I unto thee, forasmuch as thou hast chosen to become the
husband to my daughter, and also thereby the heir of all my substance.'
So the young man acquired the inheritance, and surpassed all the famous
and wealthy men of the land."