In India, which once received the Christian faith through the gospel of St. Thomas the Apostle, King Abner, an idolater and cruel persecutor of Christians, ruled. He had no children for a long time. Finally, the king had a son, named Joasaph. At the birth of the prince, the wisest royal astrologer predicted that the prince would accept the Christian faith persecuted by his father. The tsar, wishing to prevent what was predicted, ordered a separate palace to be built for the prince and ordered that the prince should not hear a single word about Christ and his teachings.
Having reached the age of adolescence, the prince asked his father for permission to travel outside the palace and then saw that there were sufferings, diseases, old age and death. This led the prince to reflect on the vanity and meaninglessness of life, and he began to dwell in grave thoughts.
At that time, a wise hermit, St. Barlaam, was asceticizing in a distant desert. By God's revelation, he learned about the young man who was suffering in search of truth. After leaving the desert, the Monk Varlaam, disguised as a merchant, went to India and, arriving in the city where the prince's palace was located, announced that he had brought with him a precious stone with miraculous properties to heal diseases. Brought to Prince Joasaph, the Monk Barlaam began to expound to him the Christian doctrine in the form of parables, and then "from the Holy Gospel and the Holy Apostles." From the instructions of Barlaam, the young man realized that the precious stone is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, believed in Him and wished to receive Holy Baptism. Having baptized the prince, the Monk Barlaam commanded him to fast and pray and went into the desert.
The king, upon learning that his son had become a Christian, fell into anger and sorrow. On the advice of one of the nobles, the king arranged a debate on faith between Christians and pagans, to which the magician and sorcerer Nahor appeared under the guise of Barlaam. Nahor had to admit himself defeated in the debate and thus turn the prince away from Christianity. Through a vision in a dream, Saint Joasaph learned about the deception and threatened Nahor with severe punishment if he was defeated. The fearful Nahor not only defeated the pagans, but also believed in Christ himself, repented, received Holy Baptism and retired to the desert. The tsar tried to turn his son away from Christianity by other means, but the prince overcame all temptations. Then, on the advice of the nobles, Abner allocated half of the kingdom to his son. Saint Joasaph, becoming king, restored Christianity in his country, rebuilt churches and finally converted his father King Abner to Christianity. Soon after his Baptism, King Abner passed away, and the holy prince Joasaph left the kingdom and went into the desert in search of his teacher, Elder Barlaam. For two years he wandered through the desert, enduring adversity and temptation, until he found the cave of St. Barlaam, who was fleeing in silence. The elder and the young man began to asceticism together. When the time of the death of St. Barlaam approached, he celebrated the Liturgy, partook of the Holy Mysteries and communed with St. Joasaph, and with that he departed to the Lord, having stayed in the desert for 70 years out of the hundred years he had lived. Having completed the burial of the elder, Saint Joasaph remained in the same cave, continuing the hermit's feat. He stayed in the desert for 35 years, went to the Lord, having reached the age of sixty.
The successor of St. Joasaph in the kingdom, Barachia, on the instructions of a certain hermit, found the incorruptible and fragrant relics of both ascetics in a cave, transferred them to his homeland and buried them in the church erected by the Venerable Prince Joasaph.