Barlaam and Ioasaph (Iosaphat)

BARLAAM AND IOASAPH (IOSAPHAT). - These are the two main characters of a hagiographic novel translated from Georgian into Greek by the holy Iberian Euthymius the Hagiorite (d. 13 May 1028) and translated into Latin, in 1048, by a Latin resident at the court of Constantine Monomachos. The same Georgian text probably derives from an Arabic version. Such are the conclusions recently reached by Fr. Peeters (La première traduction latine de « B. et J. » et son original grec, in Analecta Bollandiana, 49 [1931], pp. 276-312), in contrast with the common opinion that dates back at least to the beginning of the 7th century the Greek legend composed by a certain monk John of the Laura of Mar Saba, later erroneously identified with St. John Damascene. The first edition of the Greek text was given in 1832 by F. Boissonade (Anecdota graeca, IV, pp. 1-365).

From the 11th century onward, the Latin translation of this novel began to circulate in Europe and became the source of a very rich literature in verse and in prose, further increased in our own day. Translations and adaptations of it are found in almost all Western languages. And from the same Greek version it was drawn upon in Syriac, in Armenian, in Ethiopic, in Hebrew. The novel in question is nothing but an adaptation of the Indian legend of Buddha to a Christian subject. Besides the Indian legend the author also made use of Christian sources, especially the Apology of Aristides, which was in fact rediscovered in it, and is reproduced there almost in its entirety.

Only later, that is, from the 16th century onward, did certain editors of martyrologies have the unfortunate idea of transforming the imaginary characters of B. and J. into authentic Indian blesseds and of inscribing them in their catalogues, and above all in Baronio's Roman Martyrology, Rome 1584, under 27 November.