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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: rough, from his loins to his knees, and over his shoulders there
hung a coat of like sort.
But Ioasaph, being sore amazed at the hardship of his austere
life, and astonished at his excess of endurance, burst into
tears, and said to the elder, "Since thou art come to deliver me
from the slavery of the devil, crown thy good service to me, and
'bring my soul out of prison,' and take me with thee, and let us
go hence, that I may be fully ransomed from this deceitful world
and then receive the seal of saving Baptism, and share with thee
this thy marvellous philosophy, and this more than human
discipline"
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