Letter 807

To Jason the Bishop. Hope in God, as the blessed Paul says, in no way puts to shame the one who truly hopes [Romans 5:5]. For at its proper season it brings to the one who has hoped in God the thing hoped for, and it summons it out of non-being into being, both rendering the gift that was awaited in faith, and bestowing the very thing that a man has often sought through prayer. Blessed, then, are those who wait for the Lord, it says, through prayer and hope. The Lord will have mercy at the sound of your cry, and he will hearken to you when he has healed the brokenness of your soul. Have mercy on us, O Lord, the prophet Isaiah cries out on our behalf; for in you we have put our trust; for our salvation is from you in the day of affliction; I will glorify, I will sing praise to your name, because you have done marvelous things [Isaiah 25:1]. Therefore the poor people sings your praise, and cities of men who are wronged, and those who fear you shall bless you. For you became a helper to every lowly city, and a shelter to those who were despondent through want, a shelter of thirsting men who are wronged [Isaiah 25:2-4]. Like faint-hearted, thirsting men in Zion, away from the men to whom you handed us over. Understand all these things, O bishop; for understanding them myself, it is to one who understands that I have written.

Ἡ εἰς Θεὸν ἐλπίς, καθά φησιν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος, οὐδαμῶς καταισχύνει τὸν ἀληθῶς ἐλπιστήν. Τῷ γὰρ οἰκείῳ καιρῷ φέρει τῷ εἰς Θεὸν ἐλπίσαντι τὸ ἐλπισθέν, καὶ ἐκ μὴ ὄντων εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρίστησιν, ἀποδιδούς τε τὸ μετὰ πίστεως προσδοκηθὲν χάρισμα, καὶ δωρεῖται ὅπερ ἂν ἄνθρωπος πλεονάκις δι’ εὐχῆς ἐζήτησε. Μακάριος οὖν οἱ τὸν Κύριον, φησίν, ὑπομένοντες δι’ εὐχῆς καὶ ἐλπίδος. Ἐλεήσει Κύριος πρὸς τὴν φωνὴν τῆς κραυγῆς σου, καὶ ἐπακούσεταί σου, ὅταν τὸ σύντριμμα τῆς ψυχῆς σου ἰάσηται. Ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς, Κύριε, κράζει ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ὁ προφήτης Ἡσαΐας· ἐπὶ σοὶ γὰρ πεποίθαμεν· ἡ γὰρ σωτηρία ἡμῶν, παρὰ σοῦ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψεως· δοξάσω, ὑμνήσω τὸ ὄνομά σου, ὅτι ἐποίησας θαυμαστὰ πράγματα· διὰ τοῦτο ὑμνεῖ σε ὁ λαὸς ὁ πτωχός, καὶ πόλεις ἀνθρώπων ἀδικουμένων, καὶ φοβουμένων σε, εὐλογήσουσί σε. Ἐγίνου γὰρ πάσῃ πόλει ταπεινῇ βοηθός, καὶ τοῖς ἀθυμήσασι δι’ ἔνδειαν σκέπῃ, σκέπῃ διψώντων ἀνθρώπων, ἀδικουμένων. Ὡς ἄνθρωποι ὀλιγόψυχοι διψῶντες ἐν Σιών, ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων, οἷς παρέδωκας ἡμᾶς. Νόησον ταῦτα πάντα, ἐπίσκοπε· νοῶν γὰρ ἐγώ, νοοῦντι γεγρά φηκα.