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Barlaam and Ioasaph

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About this book

Barlaam and Ioasaph is a Christianized version of the legend of the Buddha, traditionally attributed to John of Damascus (c. 675-749), the major Byzantine theologian and Doctor of the Church. The attribution has been debated by modern scholars, with the actual authorship probably belonging to the eleventh century Georgian monk Euthymius of Athos who translated and adapted earlier Georgian and Arabic versions of the story.

The story follows the Indian prince Ioasaph, whose father has been warned by astrologers that the prince will become a Christian. The king isolates Ioasaph from all knowledge of suffering and religion. The Christian hermit Barlaam eventually reaches Ioasaph in disguise and converts him to Christianity. The plot closely parallels the legend of the historical Buddha, whose father similarly attempted to shield him from knowledge of suffering before the encounters that led to his eventual renunciation of royal life.

The story circulated widely in medieval Europe in various translations from the original Greek. Barlaam and Ioasaph were eventually venerated as Christian saints with feast days in the Roman martyrology, despite their ultimate origin in a Buddhist source.

About the author

John of Damascus

John of Damascus was an eighth-century Christian theologian whose defense of sacred images became central to later arguments about icon veneration. St John Damascene on Holy Images presents three discourses written during Byzantine iconoclasm, insisting that honor shown to an image passes to the person represented rather than to its material. Mary H.