Religion In The Comics - 025

[AlbertCat]

5. Barlaam and Josaphat

Barlaam and Josaphat is a legendary tale of two early Christian martyrs and saints, based ultimately on the life of the Buddha.[1] It tells how an Indian king persecuted the Christian Church in his realm. When astrologers predicted that his own son would some day become a Christian, the king imprisoned the young prince Josaphat, who nevertheless met the hermit Saint Barlaam and converted to Christianity. After much tribulation the young prince's father accepted the true faith, turned over his throne to Josaphat, and retired to the desert to become a hermit. Josaphat himself later abdicated and went into seclusion with his old teacher Barlaam.[2]

The tale can be traced from a second to fourth century Sanskrit Mahayana Buddhist text, to a Manichee version, to the Arabic Kitab Bilawhar wa-Yudasaf (Book of Bilawhar and Yudasaf), current in Baghdad in the eighth century, from where it entered into Middle Eastern Christian circles before appearing in European versions. In the Middle Ages the two were treated as Christian saints, being entered in the Greek Orthodox calendar on 26 August,[3] and in the Roman Martyrology in the Western Church as "Barlaam and Josaphat" on the date of 27 November.[4]



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barlaam_and_Josaphat