Barlaam of Seminara (Bernardo Massari, as a layman ) ,ca. 1290-1348, or Barlaam of Calabria was a southern Italian scholar (Aristotelian scholastic) and clergyman of the 14th century. Humanist, philologist, and theologian. He brought an accusation of heresy against Gregory Palamas for the latter's defence of Hesychasm (the Eastern Orthodox Church's mystical teaching on prayer). Three Orthodox synods ruled against him and in Palamas's favor (two "Councils of Sophia" in June and August of 1341, and a "Council of Blachernae" in 1351).