November 19verifiedThis page has been verified with a close reading. It should read in natural hagiographic English.

Barlaam was a native of Antioch. For his faith in Christ the Lord he was much interrogated by an impious judge. Finally the judge thought to mock him and to compel him by force of circumstances to offer sacrifice to idols, for which reason he brought him into an idolatrous temple and placed fire on his palm and incense on the fire, thinking that the martyr would be forced by pain to cast the fire with the incense from his hand before the idols, and thus inadvertently cense them. But the heroic soldier of Christ held the fire on his palm without thought of casting it before the idols, until his fingers burned off and fell away and his palm burned through. And thus his martyr's fingers fell to the ground with the fire. "His right hand was stronger than fire," says Saint Basil the Great, "for even if the flame consumed his hand, still the hand held the fire like ash." And Chrysostom writes: "From on high the angels watched, the archangels observed; the scene was magnificent, surpassing in truth human nature. Behold, who would not wish to see a man who struggled yet did not feel what is proper to men, a man who was himself both altar, and sacrifice, and priest?" When his hand burned off, the entire body of the old man Barlaam collapsed to the ground dead, and his soul departed into the eternal rest of the Lord Savior. This most glorious old warrior suffered in the year 304.

Joasaph was a prince, the son of King Abenner. By God's Providence the elder Barlaam visited him, taught him the Christian Faith, and baptized him. After this the elder withdrew to the mountains for ascetic struggle while Joasaph remained to battle with many temptations in the world and to overcome them by God's grace. Finally Joasaph succeeded in bringing his father also to Christ. After King Abenner was baptized he lived four years in great repentance – for he had committed great sins in persecuting Christians – and then ended his earthly life and passed into the better one. The young Joasaph handed over the kingdom to his friend Barachias, while he went into the desert to struggle ascetically for Christ's sake. His only desire on earth was to see once more his spiritual father, the elder Barlaam. And merciful God fulfilled that desire, so that one day Joasaph stood before Barlaam's cave and cried out: Bless me, father! The elder Barlaam struggled ascetically in the desert for seventy years, and lived in all one hundred years. Saint Joasaph in his twenty-fifth year left the kingdom and went into the desert, where he lived thirty-five years. Both had great love for the Lord Jesus; they brought many to the true faith, and passed into the eternal joy of their Lord.

Heliodorus was from the city of Magida in Pamphylia. He was tortured for the Christian Faith in the time of Emperor Aurelian. During severe tortures he heard a voice from heaven: "Fear not, I am with thee!" Thrown into a red-hot copper bull, he prayed diligently to God. And God saved him. The red-hot bull cooled at once, and Heliodorus emerged alive. The judge cried out to him that he was performing sorcery. To this the martyr replied: "My sorcery is Christ!" He was beheaded and went to the Lord.