The Greek version of the legend, from which European versions collectively descend, is attributed by some to Saint John of Damascus.

The Christian hagiographic painting "Barlaam and Ioasaph," that is notion to were made by St. John Damascene, tells the tale of Prince Ioasaph non secular adventure as he seeks salvation and awareness. The story, that's primarily based on a Christianized version of the Buddha's life, is set Ioasaph search for religious truth in an international complete of lies and distractions. When Ioasaph, the younger prince of India, meets Barlaam, a Christian monk, he teaches him about Christianity. Barlaam leads Ioasaph via a series of hard situations and trials that help him withstand the temptations of the sector and examine greater approximately religion. There are many allegories in the tale, which show how Ioasaph ride become similar to the Christian idea of salvation. The tale is complete of ideas about area, being unique, and combating in opposition to worldly dreams. As Ioasaph becomes a Christian, he offers up his princely reputation and fabric assets in favor of a lifestyles of prayer and mirrored image. "Barlaam and Ioasaph" is usually credited to St. John Damascene, a well-known Christian theologian from the Middle Ages, but its authentic records are extra confusing. The story may additionally have come from the East and changed into later translated and modified to match one-of-a-kind cultures.

A new translation of the most popular Christian tale of the Middle Ages, which springs from the story of the Buddha. When his astrologers foretell that his son Josaphat will convert to Christianity, the pagan King Avenir confines him to a palace, allowing him to know only the pleasures of the world, and to see no illness, death, or poverty. Despite the king's precautions, the hermit Barlaam comes to Josaphat and begins to teach the prince Christian beliefs through parables. Josaphat converts to Christianity, angering his father, who tries to win his son back to his religion before he, too, converts. After his father's death, Josaphat renounces the world and lives as a hermit in the wilderness with his teacher Barlaam. Long attributed to the eighth-century monk and scholar, St. John of Damascus, Barlaam and Josaphat was translated into numerous languages around the world. Philologists eventually traced the name Josaphat as a derivation from the Sanskrit bodhisattva, the Buddhist term for the future Buddha, highlighting this text as essential source reading for connections between several of the world’s most popular religions. The first version to appear in modern English, Peggy McCracken’s highly readable translation reintroduces a classic tale and makes it accessible once again. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

There is no doubt that the author of Barlaam and Ioasaph himself regarded his story as a true narrative of the lives of real characters and that this view was universally held until quite recent times. The names of Saint Barlaam and Saint Ioasaph have figured in the Calendars both of the Roman and of the Greek Church and still retain their place in the latter. To-day, however, this view can be no longer held. A comparison of the story with the well-known legend of Buddha must convince every open-minded reader, that the outline of the plot is derived from the same Eastern source; in spite of all difference in detail, the general resemblance is quite undeniable. The writer himself tells us, that the story was brought to him from India, and it is highly probable, that what he heard was simply a version of the life of Buddha, adapted by Christians of the East to their own use. Aeterna Press

John of Damascus was interested in law, theology, philosophy and music. He was the Chief Administrator to the Muslim caliph of Damascus, wrote works expounding the Christian faith, and composed hymns which are still in everyday use in Eastern Christian monasteries. The hagiographic novel Barlaam and Josaphat was traditionally attributed to John, but is in fact a work of written by the Georgian monk Euthymios in the 11th century. King Abenner or Avenier in India persecuted the Christian Church, founded by the Apostle Thomas. When astrologers predicted that his own son would some day become a Christian, Abenner had the young prince Josaphat isolated. Despite the imprisonment, Josaphat met the hermit Saint Barlaam and converted to Christianity. Josaphat kept his faith even in the face of his father's rage. Eventually, Abenner converted, gave his throne to Josaphat, and went into the desert to become a hermit.

Originally published in 1966, the full Georgian text of the oldest version of this Christian version of this matchless classic of Oriental wisdom literature is made accessible to a wider readership in an English translation. Based on a unique manuscript preserved in the Greek Patriarchate at Jerusalem, this rendering should appeal to those interested in comparative religion, Buddhism, medieval Christianity, the history of monasticism and in the literature of the Georgians and other ancient nations of the former Soviet Union.