BARLAM and IOASAPH (IOSAPHAT). - These are the two main characters of a hagiographic novel translated from Georgian into Greek by the Iberian saint Euthymius the Hagiographer (d. 13 May 1028) and translated into Latin in 1048 by a Latin residing at the court of Constantine Monomachus. The same Georgian text probably derives from an Arabic version. These 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 to the common opinion that the Greek legend composed by a certain monk John of the Laura of Mar Saba—later erroneously identified with St. John Damascene—dates back at least to the early 7th century. The first edition of the Greek text was published in 1832 by F. Boissonade (*Anedota 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 prose, which has continued to grow even to our own day. Translations and adaptations of it are found in almost all Western languages. It was also exploited from the same Greek version into Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopic, and Hebrew. The novel in question is nothing more than an adaptation of the Indian legend of Buddha to a Christian subject. In addition to the Indian legend, the author also drew upon Christian sources, especially the *Apology of Aristides*, which was indeed recovered within it and is reproduced almost in its entirety.
Only later, beginning in the 16th century, did some editors of martyrologies have the unfortunate idea of transforming the imaginary characters of B. and I. into authentic Indian saints and inscribing them in their catalogues, and especially in the *Roman Martyrology* of Baronius, Rome 1584, under 27 November.