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your request, but with longsuffering knock on His door, asking your request. For everyone who asks receives, He says, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. For what else do you wish to obtain, if not only the salvation which is according to God? Do you wish to learn, beloved, how the saints were longsuffering, and did not despair? God called Abraham when he was younger, and from the land of the Assyrians He transferred him to Palestine, saying to him: To you I will give this land, and to your seed after you; and as the stars of heaven, so shall your seed be, which shall not be numbered. And a great number of years passed, and his nature was deadened, and his end was at the threshold, and he did not say, "Lord, you always promise me children, and foretell that I will be the father of all nations. My 31.1336 natural impulses are dead through old age, and Sarah, my wife, no longer experiences the way of women because of old age; so the promise is false. For what hope do we two old people have?" He did not say these things, he did not think them, but remained unshaken in faith. And while he grew old in age, his hope was young. And though the body was coming to weakness, and produced despair, his faith strengthened both the soul and the body. "God," he says, "is the one who has promised, the Master of nature, and it cannot be otherwise. He is the one who makes even the impossible possible; because he does all things, and refashions as he wills." Imitate the faith of Abraham. When, therefore, nature had grown weak, and its impulses were deadened, then the promise of God came to life. Receive the examples. But we pray for a year, and we withdraw; we fast for two years, and we stop. Let us not, then, lose heart regarding the promise of God. For He who promised to multiply his seed, also promised to grant our request to us when we ask. For He says: Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. For when you were far from Him, laboring and burdened with the heaviest load of sin, having had mercy on you, He called you, so as to lighten your burden, and to grant you rest for the remainder; and you do not believe Him? But indeed, even if we wish to be silent, we are convicted by our conscience. For we do not disbelieve Him as one unable to give us rest, but we shrink from taking His yoke upon ourselves, the good and light one, and from entering through the narrow gate into the kingdom of heaven; but we choose rather to bear the burden of sins, and through the passions found in pleasure to walk the broad way, and through the wide gate to enter into destruction. "But many times," he says, "I have asked, and I have not received." It is certainly because you asked wrongly, or without faith, or distractedly, or for things not expedient for you. And even if you often asked for expedient things, you did not persevere. For it is written: In your patience you will possess your souls; and, He who endures to the end will be saved. God knows the heart of those who pray. "Why then," he says, "does God have need of our asking? Does He not know what we need? What then is the need for asking?" God knows indeed what we need, and provides all bodily things richly to us for our enjoyment, and being good, He sends rain on the just and the unjust, and makes His sun rise on the evil 31.1337 and on the good, even before we ask. But faith, and the achievements of virtue, and the kingdom of heaven, unless you ask with labor and much persistence, you do not receive. For one must first long, and having longed, to seek in truth with faith and patience, contributing all that is from oneself; being judged in nothing by one's own conscience, as asking either neglectfully or slothfully, and then to receive, when the Lord wills. For He knows better than you what is expedient for you. And perhaps for this reason He delays in giving, contriving your constant attendance upon Him; and so that you might know what a gift of God is, and guard what is given with fear. For whatever someone acquires with much labor, he is zealous for this

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αἴτημά σου, ἀλλὰ μακροθύμως κροῦε τὴν θύραν αὐτοῦ, αἰτῶν τὸ αἴτημά σου. Πᾶς γὰρ ὁ αἰ τῶν λαμβάνει, φησὶ, καὶ ὁ ζητῶν εὑρίσκει, καὶ τῷ κρούοντι ἀνοιγήσεται. Τίνος γὰρ ἄλλου θέλεις τυχεῖν εἰ μὴ μόνης τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν σωτηρίας; Θέλεις μαθεῖν, ἀγαπητὲ, πῶς ἐμακροθύμουν οἱ ἅγιοι, καὶ οὐκ ἀπεγίνωσκον; Τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ὁ Θεὸς νεώτερον ἐκάλεσε, καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ἀσσυρίων γῆς μετ έθηκεν αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν Παλαιστίνην, φήσας αὐτῷ· Σοὶ δώσω τὴν γῆν ταύτην, καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου μετὰ σέ· καὶ ὡς τὰ ἄστρα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, οὕτως ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου, ὃ οὐκ ἐξαριθμηθήσεται. Καὶ παρῆλθε πολὺς ἐτῶν ἀριθμὸς, καὶ ἐνεκρώθη μὲν αὐτοῦ ἡ φύ σις, ἐν προθύροις δὲ ἡ τελευτὴ, καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν, ὅτι, Κύριε, ἀεί μοι παῖδας ἐπαγγέλλῃ, καὶ πατέρα με ἔσεσθαι πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν προλέγεις. Νεκρά 31.1336 μου διὰ γῆρας τῆς φύσεως τὰ κινήματα, καὶ Σάῤῥα, ἡ γυνή μου, οὐκέτι ὑπομένει τι γυναικεῖον διὰ τὸ γῆρας· ὥστε ψευδὴς ἡ ἐπαγγελία. ∆ύο γὰρ γέροντες ποίαν ἐλπίδα ἔχομεν; Οὐκ εἶπε ταῦτα, οὐκ ἐνενόη σεν, ἀλλ' ἔμενεν ἀσάλευτος τῇ πίστει· καὶ τῇ μὲν ἡλικίᾳ ἐγήρασκεν, ἡ δὲ ἐλπὶς ἐνέαζε. Καὶ τὸ μὲν σῶμα εἰς ἀτονίαν ἤρχετο, καὶ ἀπόγνωσιν ἐνεποίει, ἡ δὲ πίστις ἐνεύρου καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸ σῶμα. Θεὸς, φησὶν, ἐστὶν ὁ ἐπαγγειλάμενος, ὁ ∆εσπότης τῆς φύσεως, καὶ ἄλλως γενέσθαι οὐ δύναται. Αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ καὶ τὰ ἀδύνατα δυνατὰ ποιῶν· δίοτι ποιεῖ πάντα, καὶ μετασκευάζει ὡς βούλεται. Μιμοῦ τὴν πίστιν τοῦ Ἀβραάμ. Ὅτε οὖν ἠσθένησεν ἡ φύσις, καὶ ἐνεκρώθη τὰ κινήματα, τότε ἔζησεν ἡ ἐπαγγε λία τοῦ Θεοῦ. ∆έχου τὰ ὑποδείγματα. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐνιαυτὸν προσευχόμεθα, καὶ ἀναχωροῦμεν· δύο ἔτη νηστεύομεν, καὶ παυόμεθα. Μὴ οὖν ἀτονήσωμεν πρὸς τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ ἐκείνῳ ἐπαγγειλάμενος πληθύνειν τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἡμῖν ἐπηγγείλατο αἰτοῦσι παρέχειν τὸ αἴτημα ἡμῶν. Φησὶ γάρ· ∆εῦτε πάντες πρὸς μὲ, οἱ κοπιῶν τες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς. Μακρὰν γάρ σου ὄντος ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, κοπιῶντά τε καὶ πεφορτισμένον τὸ βαρύτατον φορτίον τῆς ἁμαρ τίας, ἐλεήσας σε προσεκαλέσατο, ὥστε κουφίσαι σε τοῦ φορτίου, καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν τοῦ λοιποῦ χαρίσασθαι· καὶ σὺ οὐ πιστεύεις αὐτῷ; Ἀλλὰ γὰρ, κἂν σιωπᾷν θέλωμεν, ἐλεγχόμεθα ὑπὸ τοῦ συνειδότος ἡμῶν. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπιστοῦμεν αὐτῷ ὡς μὴ δυναμένῳ ἀναπαῦσαι ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ περιστελλόμεθα ἆραι τὸν ζυγὸν αὐτοῦ ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν, τὸν χρηστὸν καὶ ἐλαφρὸν, καὶ διὰ τῆς στενῆς πύλης εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρα νῶν· αἱρούμεθα δὲ μᾶλλον τὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν φορτίον βαστάζειν, καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐν ἡδονῇ παθημάτων τὴν εὐρύχωρον ὁδὸν βαδίζειν, καὶ διὰ τῆς πλατείας πύ λης εἰσέρχεσθαι εἰς τὴν ἀπώλειαν. Ἀλλὰ πολλάκις, φησὶν, ᾔτησα, καὶ οὐκ ἔλαβον. Πάντως ὅτι κα κῶς ᾔτησας, ἢ ἀπίστως, ἢ μετεώρως, ἢ τὰ μὴ συμ φέροντά σοι Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὰ συμφέροντα πολλάκις ᾔτη σας, ἀλλ' οὐ παρέμεινας. Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι Ἐν τῇ ὑπομονῇ ὑμῶν κτήσασθε τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῶν· καὶ, Ὁ ὑπομείνας εἰς τέλος, οὗτος σωθήσεται. Οἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς τῶν προσευχομένων τὴν καρδίαν. Τί οὖν, φησὶ, τῆς ἡμῶν χρείαν ἔχει αἰτήσεως ὁ Θεός; Οὐκ οἶδεν ὧν χρείαν ἔχομεν; Τίς οὖν χρεία αἰτήσεως; Οἶδε μὲν ὁ Θεὸς ὧν χρῄζομεν, καὶ πάντα τὰ σωματικὰ πλουσίως ἡμῖν παρέχει εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν, καὶ ἀγαθὸς ὑπάρχων, βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδί κους, καὶ τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς 31.1337 καὶ ἀγαθοὺς, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ αἰτῆσαι ἡμᾶς· τὴν δὲ πίστιν, καὶ τὰ κατορθώματα τῆς ἀρετῆς, καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἐὰν μὴ αἰτήσῃς μετὰ καμά του καὶ παραμονῆς πολλῆς, οὐ λαμβάνεις. ∆εῖ γὰρ πρότερον ποθῆσαι, ποθήσαντα δὲ ζητῆσαι ἐξ ἀλη θείας ἐν πίστει καὶ ὑπομονῇ τὰ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ πάντα εἰσφέροντα· ἐν μηδενὶ κρινόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου συνειδότος, ὡς ἢ ἀμελῶς ἢ ῥᾳθύμως αἰτοῦντος, καὶ τότε λαβεῖν, ὅτε θέλει ὁ Κύριος. Κρεῖσσον γάρ σου οἶδε τὰ συμφέροντά σοι. Καὶ ἴσως διὰ τοῦτο ἀναβάλ λεται διδόναι, τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν προσεδρίαν σου σοφι ζόμενος· καὶ ἵνα γνῷς, τί ἐστι δῶρον Θεοῦ, καὶ φυ λάξῃς τὸ δοθὲν μετὰ φόβου. Πᾶν γὰρ ὃ μετὰ πολλοῦ καμάτου τις κτᾶται, σπουδάζει τοῦτο