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Tabitha; and hear Jacob saying to Laban: If the fear of my father had not been with me, now you would have sent me away empty; and hear God saying again: I will defend this city for my own sake, and for the sake of David my servant. But when? When Hezekiah was righteous. For if prayers prevailed even for the exceedingly wicked, why did God not also say this when Nebuchadnezzar came, but instead gave over the city? Because their wickedness prevailed more. Again, this same Samuel prayed on behalf of the Israelites, and he prevailed; but when? When they themselves were well-pleasing, then he routed their enemies. And what need, one says, is there of another's prayer, when I am well-pleasing? Never say this, O man. There is a need, and a great need of prayer; for hear God saying concerning the friends of Job: And he will pray for you, He says, and your sin will be forgiven you; since they sinned, but not a great sin. But this same righteous man who then saved his friends by prayer, at the time of the Jews was not able to save the perishing Jews. And that you may learn, hear God saying through the prophet: Though Noah, and Job, and Daniel stand, they will not deliver their own sons and daugh 62.398 ters; because wickedness had prevailed; and again, Though Moses stand, and Samuel. And see how this is said in reference to the two prophets, since both pleaded for them, and did not succeed. For when Ezekiel said: Alas, Lord! are you wiping out the remnant of Israel; God, showing that He does this justly, and does not reject their supplication out of contempt for him, shows him their sins, all but saying: These things are indeed sufficient to persuade you that it is not out of contempt for you, but because of their many sins that I do not accept the supplication; but nevertheless He adds this also, Though Noah, and Job, and Daniel stand. And He reasonably says these things to him all the more, since he himself is one who has suffered much. You told me, he says, to eat on dung, and I ate; you told me, and I shaved my head; you told me, and I slept on one side; you told me to go out through a hole, being carried, and I went out; you took my wife, and told me not to mourn, and I did not mourn, but bore it nobly; I have done countless other things for their sake; and I plead with you for them, and you are not persuaded? God therefore, showing that He does this not out of contempt for him, says: Even if Noah, even if Job, even if Daniel were here, and should plead for sons and daughters, I am not persuaded. And to Jeremiah again, who suffered less from God's commands, but more from their wickedness, what does He say? Do you not see what these people are doing? Yes, he says, they are; but do it for my sake. For this reason He says to him: Though Moses and Samuel stand; Moses the first lawgiver, who often delivered them from dangers, who said, If You will forgive their sin, forgive it; but if not, blot me out too. If, therefore, he were here now, and said these things, he would not have succeeded; and if Samuel again, who also delivered them, who was admired from his earliest years. For to the one I said that I spoke as a friend to a friend, and not in riddles; and to the other I said that I appeared to him in his earliest years, and because I was entreated by him I opened up prophecy that had been shut away. For the word, it says, was precious, and there was no vision spread abroad. If these men therefore should stand, they will avail nothing. And concerning Noah He says, Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generation; and concerning Job, Blameless, righteous, true, God-fearing. These men, therefore, standing, and Daniel, whom the Chaldeans even considered a god, He says are not able to deliver their sons and daughters. Knowing these things, therefore, let us neither despise the prayers of the saints, nor cast everything upon them; the one, that we may not be idle and live in vain, the other, that we may not fall away from great gain; but let us both ask them to pray for us and hands

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τὴν Ταβιθάν· ἄκουε δὲ καὶ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ λέγοντος πρὸς τὸν Λάβαν· Εἰ μὴ ὁ φόβος τοῦ πατρός μου ἦν μοι, νῦν ἄν με κενὸν ἐξαπέστειλας· ἄκουε δὲ καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ πάλιν λέγοντος· Ὑπερασπιῶ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης δι' ἐμὲ, καὶ διὰ ∆αυῒδ τὸν παῖδά μου. Ἀλλὰ πότε; Ἐπὶ Ἐζεκίου δικαίου ὄντος. Ἐπεὶ εἴ γε ἴσχυον εὐχαὶ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν σφόδρα πονηρῶν, διὰ τί μὴ καὶ, ὅτε ὁ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἦλθεν, εἶπε τοῦτο ὁ Θεὸς, ἀλλ' ἐξέδωκε τὴν πόλιν; Ἐπειδὴ μεῖζον ἴσχυσεν ἡ πονηρία. Πάλιν αὐτὸς οὗτος ὁ Σαμουὴλ ηὔξατο ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἰσραηλιτῶν, καὶ ἤνυσεν· ἀλλὰ πότε; Ὅτε καὶ αὐτοὶ εὐηρέστουν, τότε ἐτροπώσατο τοὺς ἐχθρούς. Καὶ τίς χρεία, φησὶ, τῆς παρ' ἑτέρου εὐχῆς, ὅταν ἐγὼ εὐαρεστῶ; Μηδέποτε τοῦτο εἴπῃς, ἄνθρωπε. Χρεία, καὶ πολλῆς χρεία εὐχῆς· ἄκουε γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγοντος περὶ τῶν φίλων τοῦ Ἰώβ· Καὶ προσεύξεται, φησὶ, περὶ ὑμῶν, καὶ ἀφεθήσεται ὑμῖν ἡ ἁμαρτία· ἐπειδὴ ἥμαρτον μὲν, οὐχ ἁμαρτίαν δὲ μεγάλην. Ἀλλ' αὐτὸς οὗτος ὁ δίκαιος ὁ σώσας τοὺς φίλους αὑτοῦ τότε ἀπὸ εὐχῆς, ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῷ Ἰουδαϊκῷ οὐκ ἠδυνήθη σῶσαι τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἀπολλυμένους. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς, ἄκουε τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγοντος διὰ τοῦ προφήτου· Ἂν στῇ Νῶε, καὶ Ἰὼβ, καὶ ∆ανιὴλ, οὐκ ἐξελοῦνται τοὺς υἱοὺς αὑτῶν καὶ τὰς θυγα 62.398 τέρας· ἐπειδὴ ὑπερίσχυσεν ἡ κακία· καὶ πάλιν, Ἐὰν στῇ Μωϋσῆς, καὶ Σαμουήλ. Καὶ ὅρα πῶς πρὸς τοὺς δύο προφήτας τοῦτο λέγεται, ἐπειδὴ ἀμφότεροι ἠξίωσαν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἐπέτυχον. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Ἰεζεκιὴλ ἐπειδὴ ἔλεγεν· Οἴμοι, Κύριε! ἐξαλείφεις σὺ τὸ κατάλοιπον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· ὁ Θεὸς, δηλῶν ὅτι δικαίως τοῦτο ποιεῖ, καὶ οὐκ αὐτοῦ καταφρονῶν οὐ δέχεται τὴν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἱκεσίαν, δείκνυσιν αὐτῷ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα αὐτῶν, μονονουχὶ λέγων· Ἱκανὰ μὲν οὖν καὶ ταῦτά σε πεῖσαι ὅτι οὐ καταφρονῶν σου, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν τὰς πολλὰς οὐ δέχομαι τὴν ἱκετηρίαν· ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐπάγει καὶ τοῦτο, Ἐὰν στῇ Νῶε, καὶ Ἰὼβ, καὶ ∆ανιήλ. Καὶ εἰκότως ἐκείνῳ μᾶλλον ταῦτα λέγει, ἐπειδὴ ὁ πολλὰ παθὼν αὐτός ἐστιν. Εἶπές μοι, φησὶν, ἐπὶ βολβίτων φαγεῖν, καὶ ἔφαγον· εἶπές μοι, καὶ ἐξυράμην· εἶπές μοι, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἑνὸς πλευροῦ ἐκοιμήθην· εἶπές μοι δι' ὀπῆς ἐξελθεῖν βασταζόμενον, καὶ ἐξῆλθον· ἔλαβές μου τὴν γυναῖκα, καὶ εἶπές μοι μὴ πενθῆσαι, καὶ οὐκ ἐπένθησα, ἀλλ' ἤνεγκα γενναίως· μυρία ἕτερα εἰργασάμην δι' αὐτούς· καὶ ἐγώ σε ἀξιῶ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐ πείθῃ; ∆εικνὺς τοίνυν ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτι οὐ καταφρονῶν αὐτοῦ τοῦτο ποιεῖ, λέγει· Κἂν Νῶε, κἂν Ἰὼβ, κἂν ∆ανιὴλ ᾖ, καὶ ὑπὲρ υἱῶν ἀξιώσωσι καὶ θυγατέρων, οὐ πείθομαι. Καὶ τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ πάλιν ἐλάττονα μὲν πάσχοντι ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ προσταγμάτων, πλείονα δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῶν πονηρίας, τί φησιν; Ἢ οὐχ ὁρᾷς τί οὗτοι ποιοῦσι; Ναὶ, φησὶ, ποιοῦσιν· ἀλλὰ δι' ἐμὲ ποίησον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησι πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἐὰν στῇ Μωϋσῆς καὶ Σαμουήλ· Μωϋσῆς ὁ πρῶτος νομοθέτης, ὁ πολλάκις αὐτοὺς ἐξελόμενος κινδύνων, ὁ εἰπὼν, Εἰ μὲν ἀφῇς αὐτοῖς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἄφες· εἰ δὲ μὴ, κἀμὲ ἐξάλειψον. Εἰ τοίνυν οὗτος ἦν νῦν, καὶ ταῦτα ἔλεγεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐπέτυχε· καὶ εἰ Σαμουὴλ πάλιν, ὁ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξελόμενος αὐτοὺς, ὁ ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας θαυμασθείς. Πρὸς μὲν γὰρ ἐκεῖνον εἶπον, ὅτι ὡσανεὶ φίλος πρὸς φίλον, οὕτω διειλέχθην, καὶ οὐ δι' αἰνιγμάτων· πρὸς δὲ τοῦτον εἶπον, ὅτι ἐν πρώτῃ ἡλικίᾳ ὤφθην αὐτῷ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτον δυσωπηθεὶς ἀποκλεισθεῖσαν τὴν προφητείαν ἀνέῳξα. Καὶ γὰρ ἦν, φησὶ, ῥῆμα τίμιον, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὅρασις διαστέλλουσα. Ἐὰν οὗτοι τοίνυν στῶσιν, οὐδὲν ὀνήσουσι. Καὶ περὶ τοῦ Νῶε δὲ λέγει, ∆ίκαιος, τέλειος ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ αὐτοῦ ἦν Νῶε· καὶ περὶ τοῦ Ἰὼβ, Ἄμεμπτος, δίκαιος, ἀληθινὸς, Θεοσεβής. Τούτους οὖν στάντας, καὶ ∆ανιὴλ, ὃν καὶ Θεὸν ἐνόμισαν οἱ Χαλδαῖοι, οὐκ ἐξελεῖν ἰσχῦσαί φησιν υἱοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ θυγατέρας. Ταῦτα τοίνυν εἰδότες, μήτε καταφρονῶμεν τῶν εὐχῶν τῶν ἁγίων, μήτε τὸ πᾶν αὐταῖς ἐπιῤῥίπτωμεν, τοῦτο μὲν, ἵνα μὴ ῥᾳθυμῶμεν καὶ εἰκῇ ζῶμεν, ἐκεῖνο δὲ, ἵνα μὴ πολλοῦ κέρδους ἐκπέσωμεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ παρακαλῶμεν εὔχεσθαι ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν καὶ χεῖρας