Letter 36

To Xenagoras, deacon. The present want of necessary things, and our not obtaining them easily or quickly, and its never being clear how we shall obtain the objects of our requests-all these are exercises of hope; for we must hope in God, who is able to give good things, whenever we are in want and run short of them.

Ἡ παροῦσα νῦν ἔνδεια τῶν χρησίμων, καὶ τὸ μὴ ῥᾳδίως, μηδὲ ταχέως αὐτῶν ἐπιτυγχάνειν ἡμᾶς, καὶ τὸ μὴ δῆλον εἶναί ποτε, καὶ πῶς ἐπιτευξώμεθα τῶν αἰτημάτων ἡμῶν, πάντα ταῦτα γυμνάσια τῆς ἐλπίδος ὑπάρχει· χρὴ γὰρ ἐλπίσαι ἐπὶ τὸν Θεὸν τὸν δυνατὸν δοῦναι τὰ ἀγαθά, ὅταν ὑστερώμεθα, καὶ σπανιζώμεθα τούτων.