Having prayed thus with tears, after many kneelings, he sank to the floor in exhaustion. Falling into oblivion, he sees himself in the company of some extraordinary creatures, in places he has never seen, namely, in some large plain adorned with beautiful, fragrant flowers, various trees, weighed down with wonderful fruits unknown to him, beautiful and very seductive in appearance. The leaves of the trees rustled merrily in the gentle breeze, spreading a pleasant aroma. There were thrones of pure gold, adorned with precious stones, from which a wonderful lustre emanated, and a couch covered with a veil, the beauty of which is inexpressible in words. The flowing bright waters delighted the eye. Across this wonderful, beautiful plain those extraordinary creatures led him in the direction of a magnificent city with glittering golden walls that ended in impregnable battlements of such stone as no one had ever seen. Oh, how to express all the beauty, all the splendor of this city?! The light of the sun's rays brightly illuminated the streets of the city, through which the troops marched cheerfully, themselves representing light, singing songs unheard of by the mortal ear.

And Joasaph heard a voice, saying that this is the resting place of the righteous, the joy of those who have been able to please the Lord. Then the same people that brought him in here wanted to lead him back. And he, filled with the blissful and joyous feeling that reigned there, said to them: "I beseech you, do not deprive me of this ineffable bliss, but allow me also to be with you in this great city." They answered him: "You cannot be here now; you can come here only when you work hard to be worthy of this life." Passing through the plain described above, they brought him to a place full of gloom and all that was unpleasant, which was the exact opposite of the splendor they had just seen: not a single spark of light penetrated there; everything was miserable and disorderly; in one place there was a punishing fiery furnace, in another a punishing worm crawled; The tormentors of the spirits stood by the furnace and mercilessly threw some of them into the fire. And a voice was heard, saying, "This is the place prepared for sinners; these are the punishments that last forever, appointed for those who have defiled themselves with shameful deeds." Then those who brought him brought him out of here. When the prince came to his senses, he trembled with fear; tears flowed from his eyes. Then he remembered the beautiful seductress girl. But, remembering what he saw in a dream, he loved the good even more and hated everything bad.

Meanwhile, the king was informed about the fainting of his son. Coming to him, the king began to ask what had happened. Joasaph tells what he saw in a dream, then says: "Why have you prepared a snare for my feet? Why hast thou made my soul droop? If the Lord were not my helper, then my soul would dwell in the land of torment. But how good the Lord is to the pure in heart! He delivered me from such a calamity. I was in confusion among the wild beasts, but God, my Saviour, looked mercifully upon me from the heights of heaven and showed me what blessings those who provoke Him are deprived of, and what punishments they prepare for themselves. Since you, Father, on your part, stop your ears so as not to hear me when I speak to you about the true good, at least do not hinder me from following this straight path. And I desire and strive here on earth to achieve only one thing: to withdraw from all vain things and live where Barlaam, a worthy servant of Christ, lives, in order to spend the rest of my life with him! But if you want to detain me by force and put me in your way, then you will soon see me dead from anguish and grief, and then you will no longer be my father and I will be your son."

Again despair took possession of the king; Again he repeated that it would be better for such a son not to be born, and again he returned to his palace in terrible agitation. The evil spirits sent by Theudas against the pious youth returned to him to announce their defeat; although they did not tell him this directly, their humiliated appearance testified more clearly than words to their humiliation. Then Theudas said to them: "You are miserable and insignificant creatures, who could not overcome even one boy." The demons, punished by the power of God, were forced to tell him about everything that had happened. "We cannot," they said, "even raise our eyes before the power of Christ, before His symbol of suffering, which is called the Cross. For as soon as anyone begins to depict this sign, we, the lords of darkness, hasten to flee even before it is over. At the very attack on this young man, we had to retreat immediately, since he called on Christ for help, armed himself with the sign of the Cross, which angrily dispersed us, and gained lasting help for himself. We rashly chose the means that our head used against the first man; We expected too little from the young man. But Christ, called to his aid, burned us from above with the flame of His wrath and put us to flight; now we have resolved never again to approach this young man." And the evil spirits explained to Theudas in detail all that had happened.

Being again at a loss as to what he should do, the king again summoned Theudas and said to him: "We have fulfilled, most wise man, everything according to what you have taught us, but it has led to nothing. If you can give us any other advice, we'll try that too. Perhaps we will finally find deliverance from this evil!" Following the advice, the king, taking Theudas with him, went to his son in the morning. Coming to him, he again heaped reproaches and abuse upon him for his disobedience and for the steadfastness of his conviction. When Joasaph began to assert, as usual, that nothing could induce him to abandon his love for Christ, Theudas interrupted him, saying: "What, Joasaph, has caused you to despise our gods, to cease to serve them, and in consequence to anger your father and become an object of popular hatred? Did you not receive life from them? Did they not give you to your father, heeding his prayers and taking pity on his childlessness?"

Conversation of the wise Joasaph with Theudas, his denunciation and victory over idols

After waiting a while, the son of the kingdom of heaven, a citizen of the city he had seen, built not by men, but by the Lord, said to Theudas: "Listen to me, the depth of ignorance, impassable darkness and error, listen, you empty, unfortunate and miserable old man, whose sins are heavier than the cities of the entire Pentapolis, burned by the heavenly divine fire! Do you want to mock the saving teaching, thanks to which the world has been enlightened, the lost have found the true way, the lost and enslaved have been called out of their terrible situation.. Tell me, Theudas, what is better: to serve and worship Almighty God the Father, His Only-begotten Son and Holy Spirit, the uncreated, immortal God, the beginning and source of all blessings, Whose power is incomparable, Whose glory is incomprehensible, Whom is surrounded by countless millions of legions of heavenly Angels, Whose glory is full of all heaven and earth, Who created all things out of nothing, rules over all and everything, and by Whose Providence all things live and are protected? Is it better to worship and serve this God, or is it better to worship and serve evil spirits, dumb idols, the praise and glorification of which is debauchery, the seduction of children, is the sum total of all that is lawless, as it is said in our teaching on idolatry and superstition?

And you are not ashamed, miserable people, like the Chaldeans, to worship lifeless stumps of wood, the creation of human hands, destroyed by fire?! By turning a stone or wood, you proclaim these objects gods! Then, taking the most beautiful farm bull or some other plausible animal, you sacrifice it to your dead stump. Oh, you are mad! For in this case the sacrifice is more worthy of your divinity, for the first is a living being, the creation of God, while the second is a lifeless piece of wood, the creation of man. How much more intelligent than you, a creature endowed with reason! For an animal recognizes the man who feeds it, but you have not known God, Who created you out of nothing, Who gives you life and protects you. You recognize as God a thing that was recently struck with iron or melted by fire. Having gilded or silvered this thing, you place it on an elevated place, then prostrate yourself before it, thus worshipping not God, but the creation of your own hands, lifeless, soulless pieces of wood. Your idols cannot even be called dead, because they are called creatures that had life, but lost it. Your idols never had life.

What could so exalt idols in your eyes? Could it be the fire, hammer, or axe with which they were made? It is even difficult to find a worthy name for those who do such stupidity, such madness! For you know that your stone and clay gods crumble and crumble, the wooden ones rot, the iron ones rust, the gold and silver ones melt. Your gods are even for sale: some are more expensive, others cheaper. But their value is not the same, not because some of them are more powerful than others, but depends solely on the value of the material of which they are made. How is it possible to sell or buy gods? How can the gods be so lifeless, motionless?! Or do you not see that when they are seated, they never sit down, and those who are seated never get up. Be ashamed, madman! Being so far from the truth, wallowing in deceit, you would at least silently praise and glorify these stumps, the creation of your hands, to which you have given the name of gods.

Come to your senses, miserable man! Understand that you are older than the god you made. How mad it is to think that as a man you can create gods! How could people come up with such a ridiculous, audacious idea! Understand, then, that you do not make God, but only the likeness of a man or an animal, because inside they have nothing resembling a man or an animal, for they have no tongue, larynx, brain, or any entrails at all. So that your gods do not resemble either the human body or the bodies of animals, but are objects that are completely useless and do not express anything. And it is these things that you worship and serve! If there were no blacksmithing, carpentry, and stone-carving trade, there would be no gods of yours; if the watchmen had not looked after your gods, you would have lost them; In the populous city of madmen, where the same god is worshipped by many, there is less guard over such a god. Moreover, if your god is made of gold or silver, then he is diligently watched; but if it is made of stone, clay, or some other cheap material, then you think it protects itself. So it turns out that the clay god is more powerful than the golden one.

Are you not, then, worthy to be ridiculed as foolish and blind? But one should rather feel sorry for you than laugh at you. Your actions are guided not by piety, but by stupidity and vice. Some of you, loving war, made a wooden image of a warrior and called him Ares; others, under the influence of a shameful passion for feminine beauty, reproduced the image of Aphrodite, adoring, therefore, passion in her person; others, out of love for wine, made an idol, which they called Dionysus. Likewise, the rest of you, being attracted to all evil, have set up idols of their passions, so that they call their vices gods. For this reason before the altars of your gods there are various voluptuous dances, the sounds of the same songs are heard, and all impure feelings and desires are born there. Who can properly express all the vileness of all this? And no one will defile his mouth with stories of such things. We know all this, but we are silent.

So these are the objects of your adoration, Theudas. And you urge me to worship, revere and adore them as well. Such a desire of yours expresses the depth of madness and evil that reign in your soul. But let it be done by all like you, including yourself. But I will serve and worship my God, and I will dedicate myself wholly to Him, the Creator and Provider of all, through our Lord Jesus Christ, our joy and hope, through Whom we have access to the Father of lights in the Holy Spirit. Spirit; by Whose blood our sins were atoned for. For if He had not suffered in the flesh and in the form of man for us, His servants, then we would not have been worthy of adoption. His flesh was crucified on the Cross, then placed in the tomb, where it remained for three days; at the same time He descended into hell and freed from there the souls trampled upon by sin, languishing in the power of a terrible ruler. What has He done with all this that you mock Him? Do you not see how many useless and useless places the sun sends its beneficial rays? Should he be laughed at for that? Does it not by its rays dry up and evaporate all that is worthless and rotten, dispel darkness, while remaining unharmed and inaccessible to the darkness and filth it destroys? Or take fire. Taking black iron, it makes it bright, shiny, soft. But does he himself assume any properties or former qualities of iron?

Christ, revolving in the midst of the passions, remained alien to them and unites in Himself two natures: with His human nature He is crucified on the Cross, while with His Divine nature He eclipses the sun, shakes the earth and resurrects from the graves the bodies of many of the dead; By human nature He dies, but by Divine nature He resurrects the dead and crushes hell. That is why the Prophet exclaims: "Hell under hell has been moved for Thy sake, that it might meet Thee at Thy entrance" (Isaiah 14:9). Thinking to meet only man and meeting God, he suddenly became empty and crushed. The Lord is resurrected and ascends to heaven, which He did not abandon as God. In all this way He has exalted our humiliated, insignificant race, immersed in the darkness of ignorance, and placed it on the throne of immortal and resplendent glory.

Again, what has the Son and Word of God done in all this that you are not ashamed to blaspheme Him? In your opinion, what is better: to confess and revere such a God, good and loving to mankind, who prescribes peace, righteousness, temperance, purity of body and soul, mercy, faith, Who Himself is Good, Love and Truth, or your gods, the personification of evil passions, evil deeds, shameful by their very names? Woe to you, the most insane of the foolish, the sons of perdition, the heirs of darkness! Blessed am I, and all Christians who confess and serve the good and loving God! Though they will suffer a little in this world, they will enjoy the immortal fruit of reward in the realm of divine and infinite bliss."