Barlaam and Josaphat, also known as Bilawhar and Budhasaf, are Christian saints. Their life story was based on the life of the Gautama Buddha, who historically lived several centuries before Jesus. Their story tells of the conversion of Josaphat to Christianity. According to the legend, an Indian king persecuted the Christian Church in his realm. After astrologers predicted that his own son would some day become a Christian, the king imprisoned the young prince Josaphat, who nevertheless met the hermit Saint Barlaam and converted to Christianity. After much tribulation the young prince's father accepted the Christian faith, turned over his throne to Josaphat, and retired to the desert to become a hermit. Josaphat himself later abdicated and went into seclusion with his old teacher Barlaam.
Fragment of an icon: St. Athanasius of Athonite, Barlaam of India, Joasaph of India. End of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries. From the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Novgorod
Barlaam and Joasaph, a 1680 Russian engraving
A Christian depiction of Josaphat, 12th century manuscript
Depiction of a parable from Barlaam and Josaphat at the Baptistery of Parma, Italy
John of Damascus or John Damascene was an Arab Christian monk, priest, hymnographer, and apologist. He was born and raised in Damascus c. 675 or 676; the precise date and place of his death is not known, though tradition places it at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem on 4 December 749.
John of Damascus
Icon by Michael Anagnostou Chomatzas (1734)
Ioannis Damasceni Opera (1603)