inner into the room, and sat down
demurely side by side. The fish looked excellent, and had a most
savoury smell. I had washed my hands, and was preparing to sit down,
when the Father Abbot, who was not thinking of the dinner, took this
inopportune moment to begin one of his interminable stories.

"We have before spoken," he said, "of the many kings, princes, and
patriarchs who have given up the world and ended their days here in
peace. One of the most important epochs in the history of Mount Athos
occurred about the year 1336, when a Calabrian monk, a man of great
learning though of mean appearance, whose name was Barlaam, arrived on a
pilgrimage to venerate the sacred relics of our famous sanctuaries. He
found here many holy men, who, having retired entirely from the world,
by communing with themselves in the privacy of their own cells, had
arrived at that state of calm beatitude and heavenly contemplation, that
the eternal light of Mount Tabor was revealed to them."

"Mount Tabor?" said I.

"Yes," said the agoumenos, "the light which had been seen during the
time of the Transfiguration by the apostles, and which had always
existed there, was seen by those who, after years of solitude and
penance and maceration of the flesh, had arrived at that state of
abstraction from all earthly things that in their bodies they saw the
divine light. They in those good times would sit alone in their chambers
with their eyes cast down upon the region of their navel; this was
painful at first, both from the fixedness of the attitude required, with
the head bent down upon the breast, and from the workings of the mind,
which seemed to wander in the regions of darkness and space. At last,
when they had persevered in fasting day and night with no change of
thought or attitude for many hours, they began to feel a wonderful
satisfaction; a ray of joy ineffable would seem to illuminate the brain;
and no sooner had the soul discovered the place of the heart than it was
involved in a mystic and ethereal light."[18]

"Ah," said I, "really!"

"Now this Barlaam, being a carnal and worldly-minded man, took upon
himself to doubt the efficacy of this bodily and mental discipline; it
is said that he even ventured to ridicule the venerable fathers who gave
themselves up so entirely to the contemplation of the light of Mount
Tabor. Not only did he question the merits of these ascetic acts, but,
being learned in books, and being endowed with great