And when they had taken together of their ordinary
food, Barlaam again fed Ioasaph's soul with edifying words, saying,
"Well-beloved son, no longer in this world shall we share one common
hearth and board; for now I go my last journey, even the way of my
fathers. Needs must thou, therefore, prove thy loving affection for me
by thy keeping of God's commandments, and by thy continuance in this
place even to the end, living as thou hast learned and been instructed,
and alway remembering my poor and slothful soul. Rejoice, therefore,
with great joy, and make merry with the gladness that is in Christ,
because thou hast exchanged the earthly and corruptible for the eternal
and incorruptible; and because there draweth nigh the reward of thy
works, and thy rewarder is already at hand, who shall come to see the
vineyard which thou hast dressed, and shall richly pay thee the wages
of thine husbandry. 'Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all
acceptation,' as proclaimed by Paul the divine, 'For if we be dead with
him, we shall also live with him; if we endure, we shall also reign
with him in his eternal and everlasting kingdom, being illuminated with
the light unapproachable, and guerdoned with the effulgence of the
blessed and life-giving Trinity.'"

Thus until even-tide and all night long did Barlaam converse with
Ioasaph, who wept tears that could not be stayed, and could not bear
the parting. But just as day began to dawn, Barlaam ended his
discourse, lifted up his hands and eyes to heaven, and offered his
thanks to God, thus saying, "O Lord, my God, who art everywhere
present, and fillest all things, I thank thee, for that thou hast
looked upon my lowliness, and hast granted me to fulfil the course of
this mine earthly pilgrimage in thy true Faith, and in the way of thy
commandments. And now, thou lover of good, all-merciful Master,
receive me into thine everlasting habitations; and remember not all the
sins that I have committed against thee, in knowledge or in ignorance.
Defend also this thy faithful servant, before whom thou hast granted to
me, thine unprofitable servant, to stand. Deliver him from all vanity,
and all despiteful treatment of the adversary, and set him clear of the
many-meshed nets which the wicked one spreadeth abroad for to trip all
them that would full fain be saved. Destroy, Almighty Lord, all the
might of the deceiver from before the face of thy servant, and grant
him authority to trample on t