In sanctum Barlaam martyrem

Encomium on the Holy Martyr Barlaam I. The blessed Barlaam has summoned us to this sacred feast and assembly, not that we may praise him, but that we may emulate him; not that we may become hearers of encomia, but that we may become imitators of his achievements. Now in worldly matters, those who ascend to high offices would never choose to see others as partners in the same preeminence; for envy and malice there cut off love. But in spiritual matters it is not so, but quite the opposite; for then especially do the martyrs perceive their own honor, when they see their fellow servants attaining to a share in their own goods. So if anyone wishes to praise martyrs, let him imitate martyrs; if anyone wishes to eulogize the athletes of piety, let him emulate their struggle; this will bring the martyrs no less pleasure than their own achievements. And that you may learn that they perceive their own goods especially when they see us in safety, and consider the matter the greatest honor, listen to Paul saying: "Now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord." And Moses before this said to God: "If you forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, erase me also from the book you have written." "I do not perceive the honor above because of their misfortune," he says; "for the body of the faithful is the complement of the church." What use is it, then, for the head to be crowned while the feet are punished? And how is it possible, one says, to imitate martyrs now? For it is not a time of persecution.

I know as well: it is not a time of persecution, but it is a time of martyrdom; it is not a time for such struggles, but it is a time for crowns; men do not persecute, but demons persecute; a tyrant does not drive, but the devil drives, more grievous than all tyrants; you do not see coals set before you, but you see a flame of desire kindled. They trampled upon the coals; trample upon the fire of nature. They boxed against wild beasts; bridle your wrath, the untamed and untamable beast. They stood against unbearable pains; overcome the improper and wicked thoughts that swarm in your heart. Thus you will imitate the martyrs. For now our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil. The desire of nature is a fire, an unquenchable and perpetual fire; it is a rabid and mad dog; even if you beat it off ten thousand times, it leaps upon you ten thousand times and does not desist. The flame of coals is harsh, but this is more terrible, the flame of desire. We never have a truce in this war; we never have a respite in this present life, but the contest is perpetual, so that the crown may be glorious. For this reason Paul always arms us, because it is always time for war, because the enemy is always vigilant. Do you wish to learn that desire burns no less than fire? Listen to Solomon saying, "One will walk upon coals of fire and not burn his feet.

Thus the one who enters the wife of his neighbor, and everyone who touches her, will not be acquitted. Do you see that the nature of desire rivals the nature of fire? For just as it is impossible for one touching fire not to receive a burn, so the sight of beautiful forms, sharper than fire, seizes the soul of one who looks licentiously; and just as some highly combustible material, so the bright bodies lie exposed to the eyes of the licentious. Therefore one must not provide the fire of desire with fuel from external sight, but must confine it from all sides and extinguish it with pious thoughts, bridling the conflagration as it rushes forward, and not allowing it to overturn the firmness of our mind. And every pleasure, at the time when the passions prevail, tends to burn the mind more fiercely than fire, unless one nobly with endurance and faith contends against each of the passions; in the way that the blessed and noble athlete of Christ, Barlaam, did with his own hand, carrying an entire fire in his right hand, and not yielding to the pain, but remaining more impassive than statues, or rather he did feel pain and suffer—for it was a body that was subjected, and not iron—but while feeling pain and suffering, he displayed in a mortal body the philosophy of the bodiless powers.

But I will relate his martyrdom from the beginning so that the account may become clearer; and do you observe the malice of the devil. Of the saints, he brought some to frying pans, others he cast into cauldrons boiling more fiercely than fire; and he scraped the sides of some, drowned others in the sea, delivered others to wild beasts, led others into a furnace, and dislocated the joints of some, flayed the skins of others while still alive, placed burning coals under the bleeding bodies of others, and the sparks leaped upon the wounds, biting the injuries more sharply than any wild beast; for others he devised other more grievous punishments. When, then, he saw all these things derided, and those who suffered them prevailing with great abundance, and becoming for those who came after them for the same struggles the greatest ground for confidence, what does he do? He devises a new method of attack, so that the unfamiliarity and novelty of the punishment might overthrow the spirit of the martyr. For what is heard and understood, even if it be unbearable, becomes contemptible when practiced in expectation; but what is unpracticed, even if it be light, is more unbearable than anything.

Let the contest be new, let the device be strange, so that the novelty and paradox may disconcert the athlete and trip him up easily. What then does he do? He leads the saint out of the prison bound. For this too was part of his malice, not to bring forward harsh devices immediately from the outset, nor to apply fearful punishments, but to skirmish with the lesser ones first. Why? So that if the contestants are defeated, their defeat may be shameful, because they did not even withstand the small things; but if they prevail and conquer, with their strength already expended on the lesser things they may become easy prey for the greater. For this reason he applied the lesser things first, so that whether he catches or does not catch, he may not fail: for if I catch, he says, I have mocked; but if I do not catch, I have made them weaker for what is to come. He leads him then out of the prison; and he came out like a noble athlete who has trained for a long time in the wrestling school; for the prison was a wrestling school for the martyr, and there, conversing privately with God, he learned from him all the wrestling moves; for where there are such bonds, there Christ is present. He came out then, having become stronger by the longer stay in the prison; and when he had come out, the devil, through those who serve his lawlessness, brought him into the midst, but did not bind him to the wood, did not surround him with executioners; for he saw that he desired these things and had long practiced them; but he applies a strange and new device, never hoped for, to the tower, capable of easily producing

downfall; for this is what he eagerly seeks in all cases—to trip up the saints rather than to pain them. What then is the device? They ordered the hand to be extended supine above the altar, and placed coals and incense upon the hand, so that if he felt pain and turned the hand, they would count the act as a sacrifice and transgression for him. Do you see how malicious the devil is? But see how the one who seizes the wise in their own cunning rendered his devices ineffectual, and the intensity of the plot and the variety of the malice prepared an addition and increase of greater glory for the martyr. For when the opponent, after contriving countless evils, then departs defeated, then the athlete of piety becomes more illustrious; which is precisely what happened here. For the blessed Barlaam kept his hand unwavering and unturned, as if it were composed of iron; yet even if the hand had been turned, it would not have been a charge against the martyr. 3. Here pay close attention, all of you, so that you may learn that even if the right hand had been turned, what happened would not have been a defeat. Why so? Because just as we judge in the case of those whose sides are scraped or who are tortured in some other way, so too must we judge here. For if they yield and sacrifice, the charge becomes one of their own weakness, because they sacrificed, unable to bear the pains.

If they endure the torments and suffer pain for what they undergo, yet do not betray their piety, no one blames them for those pains; on the contrary, we receive them all the more and admire them because, even though pained, they persevered and did not deny the faith. So in this case, if the blessed Barlaam, unable to bear the burning, had promised to sacrifice, he would have been defeated; but if, while he did not yield, his hand was twisted around, this is no fault of the martyr's resolve. For it was not due to weakness of purpose, but to the nature of the sinews according to their own tension, and because the saint's hand, though he was unwilling, was bent by the fire. Just as we do not blame those whose ribs are scraped because their flesh is torn—or rather, to bring the example closer: just as no one would reproach those who are feverish and convulsed when their hands are bent, for this is not due to their own slackness but because the flame of the disease consumes the moisture and unnaturally contracts the sequence of the sinews—so no one would blame this saint if his hand was twisted. For if fever, even without the patient's consent, naturally contracts and distorts the limbs, much more would coals placed on the right hand, even if the martyr did not yield, have produced this effect. Yet they did not produce it, so that you may learn from the abundance of evidence that it was the grace of God present and anointing the athlete, correcting the weakness of nature; nor did that hand itself suffer anything in this regard, but as if made of adamant, it remained untwisted.

Who then, seeing this, would not have marveled? Who would not have shuddered? Angels peered down from above, archangels watched; the spectacle was brilliant, truly surpassing human nature. For who would not have desired to see a man contending, and not suffering the sufferings of men? The same person becoming both altar, and victim, and priest? Hence a double smoke arose: one from the incense as it was kindled, the other from the flesh as it melted; and this smoke was more fragrant than that, and this odor better than that. And the same thing happened as with the bush: just as that bush burned and was not consumed, so here the right hand burned, but the soul was not consumed; the body was spent, but the faith was not exhausted; the flesh gave out, but the zeal did not give out; and while the coals, piercing through the middle of the hand, fell out below, the courage of the soul did not fall away. But the hand was consumed and flowed away—for it was flesh, not adamant—while the soul sought another hand again, so as to display endurance also in that. And just as a noble soldier, having entered among the enemy and cut down the phalanx of those contending against him, having broken his sword by the density of successive blows, then turns and seeks another, because he has not yet taken his fill of slaughtering the enemy; so too the soul of the blessed Barlaam, having consumed the hand in cutting down the phalanxes of demons, sought another right hand again, so as to display zeal also in that. For do not tell me that he gave up only one hand.

But consider this before that: the one who surrendered his hand would also have given up his head, and exposed his sides, and arrayed himself against fire, and beasts, and sea, and precipice, and cross, and wheel, and against every punishment ever heard of, and suffered all, if not in experience, then in intention. For martyrs do not encounter fixed penalties, but strip themselves for indefinite torments; they are not masters of the tyrants' will, nor do they set limits and measures for their punishments. But as many evils as that inhuman and bestial mind of theirs may desire to inflict, so many they enter to suffer—unless the body, giving out in the meantime, leaves the tyrants' desire unfulfilled in the midst. The flesh was withering, then, and the resolve became more eager, surpassing the very coals in brilliance and shining more than them; for a spiritual fire was kindled within, far more blazing than this fire.

For this reason, that man was not aware of the external flame, because the inner fire, the burning and consuming fire of love for Christ, was consuming him. 4. Let us not only hear these things, beloved, but also imitate them. For what I said from the beginning, I say now: let the martyr not be admired only up to the present hour, but let each one, when going home, take the saint with him, and bring him into his own house, or rather into his own heart through the memory of what has been said. Receive him, as was said before, and set him upon your heart with his hand extended; receive the victor, and never let him depart from your mind. For this reason we have also led you to the tombs of the holy martyrs, so that you may receive some encouragement to virtue even from the sight, and so that you may gird yourselves for the same zeal. For a soldier is roused even by the hearing of a hero; but much more by sight and spectacle, especially when, entering the very tent of the hero, he sees the sword bloodied, the head of the enemy lying there, the spoils hanging above, the fresh blood dripping from the hands of the one who set up the trophy, and everywhere spears and shields and bows and all the rest of the panoply lying about. For this reason we too have assembled here. For the tomb of the martyrs is a soldier’s tent; and if you open the eyes of faith, you will see the breastplate of righteousness lying here, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the greave of the Gospel, the sword of the Spirit, and the very head of the devil cast down on the ground.

When you see a man possessed by a demon lying supine beside the martyr's tomb, often tearing at himself, you behold nothing else but the severed head of the Evil One. For even now these weapons lie ready for the soldiers of Christ, and just as kings bury their heroes with their arms, so also Christ did, and buried them with their weapons, that even before the resurrection he might display all the glory and power of the saints. Learn, then, their spiritual panoply, and you will depart from here having gained the greatest profit. Great and constant is the war for you also against the devil, beloved, great and unceasing. Learn, then, the wrestling holds, that you may imitate the victories. Despise wealth, and money, and all the other illusions of life. Do not call the rich blessed, but call the martyrs blessed; not those in luxury, but those in frying pans; not those at a costly table, but those in a boiling cauldron; not those in daily baths, but those in harsh furnaces; not those smelling of perfumes, but those emitting smoke and savor from their roasting flesh. This fragrance is better and more profitable than that; for that leads those who use it to punishment, but this leads to prizes and crowns above. And that you may learn that luxury, and anointing with perfumes, and drunkenness, and wine without measure, and a costly table are evil, hear what the prophet says: Woe to those who sleep on ivory couches and revel in their beds.

those who eat kids from the flocks and suckling calves from the herds, those who drink filtered wine and anoint themselves with the finest perfumes. If these things were forbidden under the Old Law, much more so under the Grace, where the philosophy is greater. These words have been spoken by me to both men and women, for the arena is common; the camp of Christ is not divided by nature, but the assembly is one. Women too can put on a breastplate, hold up a shield, and shoot an arrow, both at the time of martyrdom and in any other such situation requiring great boldness. And just as an excellent archer, shooting the arrow accurately from the bowstring, throws the whole enemy line into confusion, so also the holy martyrs and all the champions of truth, who contend against the wiles of the devil, let fly their words accurately, as from a bowstring of the tongue; and these words, like arrows flying through the air, falling upon the invisible phalanxes of demons, throw their whole battle array into confusion. This is exactly what happened in the case of the blessed Barlaam: from mere words, as from flying arrows, he threw the devil's camp into confusion. Let us also imitate this accuracy. Do you not see those who come down from the theaters becoming more effeminate? The reason is that they pay close attention to what happens there.

and indeed, after storing up in their souls the forms of the idols that appear in the contortion of the twisted body—the rolling of the eyes, the whirling of the hands, the circling of the feet, and all such things—they depart in this way. How then is it not absurd that those people, to the ruin of their own soul, show such great forethought and retain an ingrained memory of what happens there, while we, who are about to be made equal to the angels through imitation here, do not contribute even equal zeal to the preservation of what has been said? No, I beg and implore you, let us not neglect our own salvation in this way, but let us all deposit the martyrs in our own minds, together with the frying pans, the cauldrons, and the other torments. And just as painters often wipe clean an image that has become dim with smoke, soot, and the passage of time, so do you, beloved, with the memory of the holy martyrs: whenever worldly cares enter and dim your understanding, wipe it clean through the memory of the martyrs. For if you have this memory in your soul, you will not marvel at wealth, you will not weep over poverty, you will not praise glory and power, you will not consider any human thing—whether joyful or grievous—to be great or unbearable; but, having risen above all those things, you will have in the contemplation of this image a perpetual teaching of virtue. For a soldier who sees every day men showing courage in wars and battles will never desire luxury, will never admire a soft and dissolute life, but rather the hard one, and

vigorous and urgent. For what fellowship is there between drunkenness and battle? Between gorging oneself and acting manfully? Between perfumes and weapons? Between war and revels? You are a soldier of Christ, beloved; arm yourself, do not adorn yourself. You are a noble athlete; act manfully, do not beautify yourself. Thus let us imitate these holy ones, thus let us honor the champions, the victors, the friends of God; and having walked the same path as they, we shall obtain the same crowns as they. May it be that we all obtain them, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom glory to the Father together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.