Their story
Barlaam was a labourer from a village near Antioch. He knew only his own language and had no learning beyond the Gospel. For confessing Christ he was held a long time in prison, then brought before a judge who mocked his rustic speech. He was scourged and racked without a word of complaint.
Finally the judge had his hand held over the burning coals of an altar with incense and live coals laid on it, so that if he shook them off he would seem to offer sacrifice. Barlaam kept his hand still until the coals burned through it. Butler says the heathens' mockery turned to admiration and that he died soon after, during the persecution begun under Diocletian (Roman emperor 284–305, who launched the last and fiercest persecution of Christians in 303). St Basil and St John Chrysostom both preached sermons in his honour.
