Letter 508

To Busiris the Shipmaster. Remember that the widow written of in the Gospels [the parable of the persistent widow, Luke 18:1-8] appealed for a considerable number of years to that unjust judge, saying: "Avenge me of my adversary." But he was unwilling for a time, and kept putting it off. The adversary would be not only the demon, but also the carnal mind. "Then," it says, the judge, forced out by the harassment, avenged the widow. This parable, accordingly, the Lord spoke to us, strengthening us, so that we should not lose heart in beseeching and asking. For the Lord himself, the lover of mankind, knows the time when he wills to hearken and to grant to the one who asks his request. And then, whenever he wills, he very swiftly works the vindication of those who are afflicted and reproached, as it is written: "While it is said to me every day: Where is your God?" [Psalm 41(42):3]. For this same thing was also reproached and said to the paralytic who lay in the Sheep Pool [the pool of Bethesda, John 5:2-7], who every year failed of his expectation through the demons.

Μέμνησο, ὅτι ἡ χήρα ἡ ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις γεγραμμένη, ἐπὶ ἱκανὰ ἔτη ἐνετύγχανε τῷ ἀδίκῳ κριτῇ ἐκείνῳ λέγουσα· «Ἐκδίκησόν με ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀντιδίκου μου. Αὐτὸς δὲ οὐκ ἤθελεν ἐπὶ χρόνον, ἀλλ’ ὑπερετίθετο. » Ἀντίδικος ἂν εἴη οὐ μόνον ὁ δαίμων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ φρόνημα τὸ σαρκικόν. «Τότε» φησὶν ὁ δὲ ἐκβιασθεὶς ἐκ τῆς ἐνοχλήσεως ὁ δικαστής, ἐξέδικησε τὴν χήραν. Τὴν τοίνυν παραβολὴν ταύτην πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ Κύριος εἴρηκεν, νευρῶν ἡμᾶς, ἵνα μὴ ἀπογινώσκωμεν, δεόμενοι, καὶ αἰτοῦντες. Αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ φιλάνθρωπος Κύριος ἐπίσταται τὸν καιρόν, ὅτε βούλεται ἐπακοῦσαι, καὶ δοῦναι τῷ αἰτοῦντι τὸ αἴτημα. Καὶ τότε ὅταν θελήσῃ, τάχιστα ποιεῖ τὴν ἐκδίκησιν τῶν καταπονουμένων, καὶ ὀνειδιζομένων, καθὼς γέγραπται· «Ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαί μοι καθ’ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν· Ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ Θεός σου ; » Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ τῷ παραλυτικῷ τῷ ἐν τῇ προβατικῇ κατακειμένῳ, καθέκαστον ἔτος ἀποτυγχάνοντι τῆς προσδοκίας ὑπὸ δαιμόνων ὠνειδίζετο, καὶ ἐλέγετο.