He makes everything desirable for everyone for a short time, and a little later - hateful and disgusting; today it makes a person rejoice, tomorrow - weep and lament.

Listen to the end of all this: the world makes those who love it victims of fiery hell. Thus it always is, such are the results of it, and so it happens to everyone who loves his lusts: let no one expect mercy or compassion from him. The world wants to deceive everyone, to entangle them in its nets, and tries only to ensure that no one escapes these nets.

In my opinion, people who have been enslaved by such a harsh and evil tyrant, who have madly apostatized from the humane and all-good Lord, who are completely immersed in earthly cares and do not think at all about the future, but only about carnal pleasures, and who condemn their souls to death by starvation, are like a man who has fled from a mad camel. This man, frightened by the terrible roar of his enraged camel, fled so as not to become his victim, and in the run fell into a deep pit. But as he fell, he stretched out his arms and grabbed a plant. At the same time, he felt some support for his legs, on which he hastened to lean, considering himself safe in the future. But when the man looked around, he saw that two mice, one black and one white, were constantly gnawing at the root of the plant he had grasped and were about to gnaw at it altogether. Looking at the bottom of the pit, he sees a terrible fire-breathing dragon, fiercely looking at him with an open mouth, preparing to swallow him; but when he looked closely at the support on which he had fixed his feet, he saw that it was a wall from which the heads of four asps protruded; And when he lifted his eyes upwards, he saw some honey dripping from the branch of the plant. Then the man, forgetting about the dangers surrounding him: about the mad camel standing over the pit and wanting to tear it to pieces, about the dragon, about the asps and mice gnawing at the root, completely gave himself over to the sweetness of this insignificant amount of honey.

This comparison refers to those who are carried away by this earthly life: the camel is death, constantly pursuing the race of Adam and striving to steal it; the pit is a world full of various evils and insidious intrigues; but the plant, the root of which is constantly sharpened by mice, is human life, constantly shortened by alternating day and night (black and white mice); the four adders are brought out here to resemble the human body, which depends on the four unstable and inconstant elements, which, if in disorder and confusion, also destroy the stability of the human body; the same terrible, fire-breathing dragon shows hell, striving to receive into its bosom all who have preferred temporary earthly pleasures to future eternal blessings; Finally, under a drop of honey is depicted the sweetness of earthly pleasures, by which lovers of the world are deceived, as a result of which they do not care about their salvation.

Joasaph, who was greatly impressed by this parable, exclaimed: "How much truth and meaning there is in this parable! Speak more such parables, so that I may fully understand our life and be able to judge by faith who will do what in the future."

Then the elder said to him: "On the other hand, those who love this earthly life and revel in its short-lived sweets, which they preferred to future eternal blessings, are like a man who had three friends. Two of them he loved and respected very much, and was ready to undergo death and any dangers for them. To the third he treated with the greatest contempt, showed him no respect, nor due love, but showed very little, not to say none, friendship towards him. But one day some formidable soldiers came to this man and demanded that he immediately come to the king, answer for a debt of 10,000 talents. Being in straitened circumstances, this man mentally sought help to fulfill the king's demand, which was so terrible for him.

He runs to his first friend, whom he considered the most sincere, and says to him: "You know, friend, I have always been ready to lay down my life for you. Now I need help, for I am in dire need today. Tell me, then, how can you help me, and to what extent will my hope in you be justified?" I have other friends with whom I will have fun today, who will always be my friends. And I will give you two rags for the road that lies ahead of you, and expect nothing more from me." Hearing this, and deceived so bitterly in the hope he placed in his friend, he went to another and said: "You remember, friend, how I have always revered and loved you. Now I need a person who would help me in the terrible grief and misfortune that has befallen me. Tell me, how can you help me so that I can get out of it?"

And he answered him: "I cannot give you any help today, because a misfortune has befallen me, which has caused me much trouble, so that now I have my own sorrow. I can accompany you a little if you wish, but I can do nothing to help you, and when I return home, I will give myself up to my own cares." Thus, leaving him empty-handed, and receiving no help anywhere, he goes to a third friend, whom he has never cared for and with whom he has not shared his joys, and says to him with ashamed and downcast eyes: "I dare not address you, because I know that you have not seen any good work on my part towards you, not even a simple location. But as a terrible grief has now befallen me, and none of my hopes for my former friends have been fulfilled, I have made up my mind to come to you to ask you to give me at least some help, if you can. I beg you: do not refuse me, do not remind me now of my past injustice." But the friend says to him with a cheerful and affectionate face: "No, I consider you a true friend, and, remembering the insignificant favor you once did me, I will give you today with interest. Do not be afraid or timid: I will be your intercessor, I will ask the king for you, that he will not deliver you into the hands of your enemies; so be of good cheer and do not grieve." Then the man, moved, said to him with tears: "Oh, I am a madman! What should I weep about first? Shall I despise myself for my foolish predilection for ungrateful friends who have forgotten the good I have done them, or shall I lament the insane injustice I have done to you, a true and sincere friend?!"

Joasaph, who listened to this parable with bewilderment, asked for an explanation of it. Then Barlaam said to him: "By the first friend here we must understand covetousness and wealth. Because of them, a person is exposed to innumerable dangers and suffers much sorrow. When the hour of death comes, all his wealth can give him nothing useful, except rags, in which he can be buried. The second friend should be understood as wife, children, relatives and friends. Attached to them in body and soul, a person spares nothing for them and is with them incessantly. At the hour of death, he receives nothing from them except escort to the grave, after which they immediately return to their affairs and cares; just as soon they stop remembering him and forget even about the place of the grave of a once loved one.

Тот есть наш истинный друг, который помнит даже о малейшем благодеянии, оказанном ему с нашей стороны и с процентами возвращает данное".

Выслушав этот рассказ, Иоасаф сказал: "Да наградит тебя Господь Бог твой, премудрый муж, за то, что ты своими мудрыми словами просветил духовною радостью мою душу. Выставь мне еще в какой-нибудь притче пустоту и ничтожество благ мира сего, где было бы выяснено средство мирно и безопасно провести эту жизнь".

Тогда Варлаам отвечал ему: "Выслушай притчу на разрешение и этого вопроса. Знал я один большой город, граждане которого имели обыкновение брать себе в цари какого-нибудь иноземца, совершенно незнакомого с их законами и обычаями, которому они предоставляли неограниченную власть в продолжение одного года. По истечении же этого срока они вдруг неожиданно нападали на него, когда он беззаботно жил в роскоши, предаваясь всяким наслаждениям, считая свою власть упроченной до конца жизни; снимали с него царские одежды и торжественно водили без одежды по городу, после чего изгоняли на какой-нибудь отдаленный остров, где он томился в лишениях пищи и одежды, терпел голод и стужу. Как неожиданно достались ему роскошь и жизнь в веселии, так же неожиданно они обратились в горе и лишения.

Но как-то раз гражданам того города попался умный и смышленый царь, который не чрезмерно увлекался выпавшим на его долю счастьем и не подражал беззаботности своих предшественников, но постоянно думал о том, чтобы навсегда укрепить свое благополучие. Будучи пытливым, он узнал однажды от одного из своих советников об обычае своих подданных - изгонять царей, и что потому следует обезопасить себя на последующее время. Выведав, на какой остров ему придется уже вскоре отправиться и, таким образом, оставить власть и свои сокровища, которыми он до сих пор свободно пользовался, он отобрал от них большое количество золота, серебра и драгоценных камней, вручил их своим самым преданным слугам и велел отвезти на тот самый остров, куда ему предстояло отправиться. Когда прошел годичный срок, граждане, собравшись, поступили с ним, как и с его предшественниками. Но его предшественники терпели в изгнании голод и стужу. Этот же, приготовив большие сокровища, продолжал жить в роскоши и веселии, таким образом, благодаря уму, упрочив свое дальнейшее благополучие.

Под городом ты разумей здесь эту пустую, обманчивую мирскую жизнь; под гражданами - власть диавола, царствующего над мраком мира сего, прельщающего нас его наслаждениями и удовольствиями; по его же внушению люди смотрят на тленное и кратковременное, как на вечное и нетленное. И вот нас, находящихся в таком обмане и заблуждении, не заботящихся о будущих вечных и прочных благах, а потому и не готовящихся к тому, чтобы быть достойными обладания ими, внезапно постигает гибель чрез смерть. Тогда-то позорные, злые обитатели мрака, под господством которых многие люди провели всю свою жизнь, отведут этих людей в страну мрака, каков есть мрак тени смертной, где нет устройства, где темно, как самая тьма (Иов.10:22).