|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: so many dogs, or evil beasts that plague mankind. And they
seized these men of reverend mien and mind, that bore on their
faces the hall-mark of their hermit life, and haled them before
the governor; but the monks showed no sign of alarm, no sign of
meanness or sullenness, and spake never a word. Their leader and
captain bore a wallet of hair, charged with the relics of some
holy Fathers departed this life.
When Araches beheld them, but saw no Barlaam -- for he knew him
by sight -- he was overwhelmed with grief, and said unto them,
"Where is that deceiver who hath led the king's son astray?" The
bearer of the wallet answered, "He is not amongst us, God forbid!
|
