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of the knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

QUESTION 261. Since the Lord promised, “Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive;” and again, “If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them;” how is it that even the saints, having asked for certain things, did not receive them? As the Apostle also said, “For this I besought the Lord three times, that it might depart from me;” and did not receive the request, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Moses himself. RESPONSE. Since our Lord Jesus Christ said in prayer, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me," and then added, "Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done;" first we must know that we were not permitted to ask for everything we want, 31.1257 nor indeed do we always know what is beneficial to ask for. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought. Therefore, requests must be made with much deliberation, according to the will of God; and if we are not heard, we must know that either persistence is needed, or even intensity, according to the parable of the Lord, about the need to pray always and not to lose heart, and according to what was said by Him in another place, that, “Because of his impudence, he will get up and give him whatever he needs;” or of correction and care, according to what was said by God to some through the prophet, saying: "When you stretch out your hands to me, I will turn my face from you; and if you make many prayers, I will not listen to you. For your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, be clean," and so on. That even now they are, and that the hands of many are full of blood, those who believe in that judgment of God should not doubt at all, which He pronounced against the one who was commanded to proclaim to the people, and was silent, saying, “The blood of the sinner will be required from the hands of the watchman.” The Apostle, being fully assured that this is true and unalterable, said: “I am pure from now on from the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” But if he who is only silent is found guilty of the blood of sinners, what can one say about those who scandalize others through what they do or what they say? There are times when the request is not granted because of the unworthiness of the one asking, as in the case of David, who vowed to build a house for God, and was prevented; who was not alienated from pleasing God, but was not judged worthy of that task. Jeremiah, however, appears not to have been heard because of the wickedness of those for whom he prayed. And often, the time having been neglected by us through indolence, in which we ought to have made the request, we are found asking later unseasonably and in vain. Concerning the statement, “For this I besought the Lord three times, that it might depart from me,” it is necessary to know that of the circumstances, both external and those concerning the body, the reason is great and varied, of God either inflicting or permitting them for some dispensation better than relief from them. If, therefore, one is able to recognize that he should be freed from the circumstance through prayer and petition, he is heard when he asks, like the two blind men in the Gospel and the ten lepers, 31.1260 and many others; but if someone does not recognize the reason for which he has fallen into temptation (for often the purpose of what is inflicted ought to be achieved by him through patience), and, when it is necessary to endure to the end, he asks to be released from the circumstance, he is not heard; since he is not cooperating with the purpose of the loving-kindness of God. As for, “If two of you agree,” this passage clarifies it. For it speaks about the one who reproves the sinner, and about the one who is reproved. Because God does not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live, if the one reproved is pierced to the soul, and comes together with the

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τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντες πᾶν νόημα εἰς τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΣΞΑʹ. Τοῦ Κυρίου ἐπαγγειλαμένου, ὅτι «Πάντα, ὅσα ἂν αἰτήσητε ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ πιστεύοντες, λήψεσθε·» καὶ πάλιν· «Ἐὰν δύο ὑμῶν συμ φωνήσωσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, περὶ παντὸς πράγμα τος, οὗ ἐὰν αἰτήσωνται, γενήσεται αὐτοῖς·» πῶς αἰτήσαντές τινα καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἅγιοι οὐκ ἔλαβον; ὡς καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος εἰπών· «Ὑπὲρ τούτου τρὶς τὸν Κύριον παρεκάλεσα, ἵνα ἀπο στῇ ἀπ' ἐμοῦ·» καὶ μὴ λαβὼν τὸ αἴτημα, καὶ Ἱερεμίας δὲ ὁ προφήτης, καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Μωϋσῆς. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰπόντος ἐν προσευχῇ· Πάτερ, εἰ δυνατὸν, παρελθέτω ἀπ' ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο, εἶτα ἐπαγαγόντος, Πλὴν μὴ τὸ θέλημα τὸ ἐμὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ σὸν γενέσθω· πρῶτον μὲν εἰδέναι δεῖ, ὅτι οὐ πᾶν ὃ θέλομεν αἰτεῖν 31.1257 ἐπετράπημεν, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τὸ συμφέρον αἰτεῖν πάν τως γινώσκομεν. Τὸ γὰρ, τί προσευξόμεθα καθὸ δεῖ, οὐκ οἴδαμεν. Ὥστε μετὰ πολλῆς μὲν περισκέ ψεως, κατὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ποιεῖσθαι δεῖ τὰ αἰτήματα· μὴ ἀκουομένους δὲ εἰδέναι χρὴ, ὅτι ἢ ἐπιμονῆς χρεία, ἢ καὶ εὐτονίας, κατὰ τὴν παρα βολὴν τοῦ Κυρίου, πρὸς τὸ δεῖν πάντοτε προσεύχε σθαι, καὶ μὴ ἐκκακεῖν, καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἐν ἄλλῳ τόπῳ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ εἰρημένον, ὅτι ∆ιὰ τὴν ἀναίδειαν αὐτοῦ ἐγερθεὶς, δώσει αὐτῷ, ὅσων χρῄζει· ἢ διορθώ σεως καὶ ἐπιμελείας, κατὰ τὸ διὰ τοῦ προφήτου ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρός τινας εἰρημένον, εἰπόντος· Ὅταν τὰς χεῖρας ὑμῶν ἐκτείνητε πρὸς μὲ, ἀποστρέψω τὸ πρόσωπόν μου ἀφ' ὑμῶν· καὶ ἐὰν πλη θύνητε τὴν δέησιν, οὐκ εἰσακούσομαι ὑμῶν. Αἱ γὰρ χεῖρες ὑμῶν αἵματος πλήρεις. Λούσασθε, καθαροὶ γένεσθε, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ νῦν γί νονται, καὶ εἰσὶ τῶν πολλῶν αἱ χεῖρες αἵματος πλή ρεις, οὐδὲν ἀμφιβάλλειν δεῖ τοὺς πιστεύοντας ἐκείνῳ τῷ κρίματι τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὃ κατὰ τοῦ προσταχθέν τος ἀναγγεῖλαι τῷ λαῷ, καὶ σιωπήσαντος ἀπ εφήνατο, εἰπὼν, ὅτι Τὸ αἷμα τοῦ ἡμαρτηκότος ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν τοῦ σκοποῦ ἐκζητηθήσε ται. Ὅπερ ἀληθὲς καὶ ἀπαράβατον εἶναι πληρο φορηθεὶς ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἔλεγε· Καθαρὸς ἐγὼ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος πάντων. Οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι ὑμῖν πᾶσαν τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Εἰ δὲ ὁ σιωπήσας μόνον ἔνοχος τοῦ αἵματος τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων εὑρίσκεται, τί ἄν τις εἴποι περὶ τῶν, δι' ὧν ποιοῦσιν, ἢ δι' ὧν λαλοῦσι, σκανδαλιζόντων ἑτέρους; Ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ δι' ἀναξιότητα τοῦ αἰτοῦντος οὐκ ἐπιτυγχά νεται τὸ αἴτημα, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ εὐξαμένου οἰκο δομῆσαι οἶκον τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ κωλυθέντος· ὃς τῆς μὲν πρὸς Θεὸν εὐαρεστήσεως οὐκ ἀπηλλοτριώθη, οὐ μὴν καὶ ἐκείνου ἄξιος ἐκρίθη. Ὁ μέντοιγε Ἱερεμίας μὴ ἀκουσθεὶς φαίνεται διὰ τὴν κακίαν ἐκείνων, ὑπὲρ ὧν προσηύχετο. Πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τοῦ καιροῦ διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν παρεθέντος ἡμῖν, καθ' ὃν ἔδει ποιήσασθαι τὸ αἴτημα, ἀκαίρως ὕστερον καὶ μάτην αἰτοῦντες εὑρισκό μεθα. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ, Ὑπὲρ τούτου τρὶς τὸν Κύριον παρεκάλεσα, ἵνα ἀποστῇ ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, εἰδέναι χρὴ, ὅτι τῶν περιστάσεων, τῶν τε ἔξωθεν καὶ τῶν περὶ τὸ σῶμα, πολὺς καὶ διάφορός ἐστιν ὁ λόγος, τοῦ Θεοῦ ἢ ἐπάγοντος, ἢ συγχωροῦντος διά τινα οἰκονομίαν κρείττονα τῆς παρ' αὐτὰ ἀνέσεως. Ἐὰν μὲν οὖν τις δυνηθῇ γνωρίσαι, ὅτι χρὴ διὰ προσευχῆς καὶ αἰτή σεως ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς περιστάσεως, ἀκούεται αἰτή σας, ὡς οἱ δύο τυφλοὶ ἐν Εὐαγγελίῳ καὶ οἱ δέκα λε 31.1260 προὶ, καὶ πολλοὶ ἕτεροι· ἐὰν δέ τις μὴ γνωρίσῃ τὸν λόγον, καθ' ὃν περιπέπτωκε τῷ πειρασμῷ (πολλάκις γὰρ καὶ δι' ὑπομονῆς κατορθωθῆναι αὐτῷ ὁ σκο πὸς τῶν ἐπαγομένων ὀφείλει), καὶ, δέον εἰς τέλος ὑπομένειν, παραιτῆται τὴν περίστασιν, οὐκ ἀκούε ται· ἐπεὶ μὴ συντρέχει τῷ σκοπῷ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τὸ δὲ, ∆ύο ὑμῶν ἐὰν συμφωνήσωσιν, αὕτη ἡ περικοπὴ σαφηνίζει. Περὶ γὰρ τοῦ ἐλέγχον τος τὸν ἡμαρτηκότα, καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἐλεγχομένου ποιεῖ ται τὸν λόγον. Ὅτι, τοῦ Θεοῦ μὴ θέλοντος τὸν θάνα τον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ, ὡς τὸ ἐπιστρέψαι καὶ ζῇν αὐτὸν, ἐὰν ὁ ἐλεγχθεὶς κατανυγῇ τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ συν έλθῃ τῷ