Barlaam and Ioasaph · Chapter
Chapter XII explained
Ioasaph asks Barlaam how to remain sinless after baptism.
What happens
Ioasaph asks Barlaam how to remain sinless after baptism. Barlaam explains the difficulty of serving God while entangled in worldly riches and cares, citing Scripture. He describes the examples of martyrs who achieved baptism by blood, and then the monastic fathers who withdrew to the desert to keep the commandments through asceticism, humility, and renunciation of worldly pleasures. Barlaam concludes with a vivid parable of a man fleeing a unicorn, illustrating the dangers of clinging to worldly joys.
Themes in this chapter
Renunciation of Worldly Wealth
Barlaam emphasizes forsaking riches, luxury, and worldly cares to keep God's commandments, citing the monastic fathers who abandoned all possessions.
The Monastic Ideal
The chapter extensively describes the monastic life: withdrawal to deserts, ascetic practices, humility, and the pursuit of virtue as a means to preserve baptismal purity.
Persecution and Martyrdom
Barlaam discusses martyrdom as a second baptism by blood, and the martyrs' endurance under tyrants as a model for later monks who became 'martyrs in will.'
Characters to notice
Key passages
“For even if there be, as thou sayest, repentance for them that stumble, yet it is attended with toil and trouble, with weeping and mourning; things which, methinks, are not easy for the many to accomplish.”
Ioasaph acknowledges that repentance is possible but notes it requires great effort and sorrow, which most people find difficult.
Ioasaph's concern about the difficulty of repentance after baptism.
“For it is an uphill task, and one not easy of accomplishment, for a man that is tied to the matters of this life and busied with its cares and troubles, and liveth in riches and luxury, to walk unswervingly in the way of the commandments of the Lord.”
Barlaam agrees that it is extremely hard for someone entangled in worldly concerns and wealth to follow God's commandments without deviation.
Barlaam's explanation of the challenge of combining worldly life with spiritual purity.
“They adopted for themselves a strange and changed manner of life, and, obedient to the voice divine, forsook all, parents, children, friends, kinsfolk, riches and luxury, and, hating everything in the world, withdrew, as exiles, into the deserts.”
The monastic fathers radically transformed their lives, leaving behind family, wealth, and comfort to live as exiles in the desert, obeying God's call.
Description of the monastic renunciation and withdrawal from the world.