Letter 309

To the same person. You will be able to take the saying in yet another sense as well, in keeping with what we discussed a little while ago. "In place of your fathers your sons were born" [Psalm 44:17 LXX]: that is, the very gift of grace which formerly, in the days of your fathers, you sought again and again from God, and often failed to obtain, and went unheard, this very thing you now, at the last stage of your old age, have received in a manner surpassing the begetting of children, and you take delight and rejoice greatly; for, it says, "the Lord will give you a gift better than sons and daughters" [cf. Isaiah 56:5].

Δυνήσῃ καὶ ἄλλως τὸ ῥητὸν ἐκδέξασθαι, ὡς τὰ πρὸ ὀλίγου ὁμιληθέντα ἡμῖν. Ἀντὶ τῶν πατέρων σου ἐγεννήθησαν οἱ υἱοί σου· τουτέστι, ὅπερ πρώην ἐπὶ τῶν πατέρων σου πλεονάκις παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐζήτησας χάρισμα, καὶ πολλάκις ἀπέτυχες, καὶ παρηκούσθης, τοῦτο ἐπ’ ἐσχάτων τοῦ γήρως σου ὑπὲρ τὴν παιδοποιΐαν δεξάμενος τέρπῃ, καὶ κατευφραίνῃ· κρείσσονα γὰρ, φησὶν, υἱῶν καὶ θυγα- τέρων δωρεὰν ὁ Κύριος δώσει σοι.