The life of St Barlaam of Antioch
The governor then devised a different test: Barlaam's hand was stretched out over a lit altar and live coals with incense were placed in his palm, the judge reasoning that pain would force him to drop them onto the altar, and so seem to have offered sacrifice after all.
Barlaam held his hand perfectly still as the coals burned through his flesh, until his arm fell to the ground on its own, and in some accounts he died there from what he had suffered, while other traditions hold that he survived the ordeal and lived on in peace. His courage was praised in sermons preached at his tomb by both Saint Basil the Great and Saint John Chrysostom, an honor given to few martyrs of his time. Ancient sources differ on some details, whether he was a native of Antioch or of Caesarea in Cappadocia, and whether he held burning incense or a libation vessel, but agree entirely on the steadiness with which he bore the fire rather than yield.
