The book of Ecclesiastes occupies a unique position in the Bible due to its prevalent sense of pessimism and absence of God's intervention in our world. In fact, the all-pervading mood of a God remote from our human condition sets the tone for Ecclesiastes which seems incongruent with the other books of the Old Testament. It contains reflections more philosophical in nature rather than a testimony of belief which we would normally associate with the Hebrew scriptural tradition. For the traditional author, Ecclesiastes, God is the inscrutable originator of the world who determines the fate of humankind. Just as the natural world is in constant movement minus the presence of real change, so the human expenditure of energy comes to nought; despite the fact that reason leaves us baffled, the author affirms that life is worth living with all its limitations.⁽¹⁾

It is Ecclesiastes' sharply critical attitude towards human conduct and the instability of earthly existence that has caught the attention of that great Cappadocian bishop, Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-c.395), who composed his own commentary on this book. He takes up the task by subjecting the book of Ecclesiastes to exhaustive analysis to the third chapter, verse thirteen. Gregory attempts to explore the book's meaning and bearing upon Christian faith and conduct, for Ecclesiastes reveals a profound gulf between its dominant motif, "vanity of vanities," and Christian hope as presented in the Gospel. However, we must acknowledge that no book of the Old Testament so challenges Christian faith for a response to the questions it asks which are as old as our search for life's meaning. Even a cursory reading both of the book of Ecclesiastes and Gregory of Nyssa's commentary upon it show the fundamental theme of vanity, another word for the transitory character of this world. The phrase "vanity of vanities" does not condemn creation but simply our misuse of what God had entrusted to our guardianship. As Gregory's On Virginity briefly says, the outcome of our misuse of the patrimony entrusted to us is the illusion that we are masters of ourselves and of the earth. Two passages may be compared to illustrate this point:

The text [Ecclesiastes] says that appearances are not simply vain; rather, they are characterized by a special kind of vanity as if someone were claimed to be more dead than the dead and more lifeless than the lifeless. Any exaggeration is out of place here, yet it serves to clarify a point. Just as we employ the phrase "service of works" and "holy of holies" to represent something outstanding, so does "vanity of vanities" demonstrate the incomparable excess of vanity. (Commentary on Ecclesiastes, J.283)

The earth, says Ecclesiastes, abides forever and ministers to every generation: first one, then

another which succeeds it. However, even though men are scarcely their own masters, they are brought into life without knowing it by their Maker's will. Before they wish it, they are

withdrawn from life; nevertheless, in their excessive vanity, they think that they are her

lords and that they who are now born, now dying, rule that which remains continually.

(On Virginity, J.270)

When a person begins to grow spiritually, he or she realizes that former ways of life and the world view resulting from them no longer suffice for a new manner of living which has come to birth. That is, what we once held dear is no longer considered to be so precious. The book of Ecclesiastes clearly provides expression for such a realization, and Gregory of Nyssa did not fail to consider the role Ecclesiastes would play in his scheme for the spiritual life. He saw it divided into three stages, an outline inherited from his illustrious predecessor, Origen of Alexandria: praktike theoria or "practical, applied" contemplation, phusike theoria or "physical" contemplation and theologia or "theology" which pertains to God proper. In Origen's scheme the book of Proverbs represents the first stage, the book of Ecclesiastes the second and the Song of Songs the third and final stage. Gregory himself speaks of the these three books of Solomon with reference to the three stages of spiritual growth at the beginning of his Commentary on the Song of Songs:

The purpose of the book of Proverbs is to teach, while that of Ecclesiastes is to preach. The

philosophy of the Song of Songs transcends both by its loftier doctrine (J.18). "For Gregory of Nyssa, Proverbs is the first way, Ecclesiastes is the second,⁽²⁾ and the Song of Songs is the third. That is, he re-arranges the scheme originally developed by Origen. The Song Commentary goes to relatively great lengths to demonstrate the role of Proverbs in the First Homily.⁽³⁾ In Gregory's view we see a need to be instructed in things spiritual before advancing to a realization that our former perceptions were subject to vanity. Despite this basic difference, both Origen and Gregory agree that the Song of Songs holds pre-eminence by reason of "its loftier doctrine."⁽⁴⁾

The bishop of Nyssa claims in Ecclesiastes that the sensible life usually associated with the phrase "vanity of vanities" can act as a vehicle to put us in contact with a transcendent reality not generally accessible to us.⁽⁵⁾ In Gregory's view, our very own thoughts are potential enemies, which are to be destroyed. For a passage related to this theme, refer to Ecclesiastes:

As a result, many traitors from the crowd, that is, our thoughts, will be summoned to assist the spy. These traitors are the ones of whom the Lord says, "A man's foes shall be of his own household." He refers to the utterances of his heart which can defile him as we clearly learn from the Gospel. (J.431)

Our perception of the everyday world which also engaged Ecclesiastes' attention as king over Israel needs to be transcended. For Gregory of Nyssa a prototype for transcendence is St. Paul who was transported into the third heaven (cf. 2Cor.12.2-4), the place of beatitude. Let us compare two passages which illustrate this:

But these things pertain to life here below while Paul kept his eyes fixed on heaven. However, he was raised to the third heaven where Christ the head is. Paul had his eyes set there, rejoiced at the unutterable mysteries of paradise and gazed upon unseen, hidden realities which transcend both the senses and mind. (Ecclesiastes, J.359-60)

Even if someone like St. Paul was initiated into the ineffable mysteries of paradise and heard words not to be spoken, any understanding of God remains unutterable. Paul himself says that such concepts are ineffable. (Song of Songs, J.86)

This rapture⁽⁶⁾ into heaven lies in sharp contrast to both the Ecclesiastes' personal situation and the world about him. In his commentary upon Ecclesiastes Gregory views such rapture as the antidote to the cyclic nature of vanity. Later in his more mature work, the Song Commentary, Gregory does not abandon this insight but develops it in relation to the unsurpassable nuptial relationship between bride and bridegroom. The origin of our alienation from God depicted in Ecclesiastes is our initial incapacity of adequately attending to real truth by such a transcendental seizure. As J. Gaith has observed.⁽⁷⁾ our spirit is attracted to sensibility instead of being drawn upward as the following passage shows:

It is difficult for us to comprehend the true good because we are preoccupied with sense criteria which constrict the beautiful by enjoyment and pleasure. Just as we cannot see the beauty in heaven when the sky is darkened, so the soul's eye cannot see virtue

obscured by pleasure's mist. (Ecclesiastes, J.428)

The first of eight homilies in Ecclesiastes approach the theme of death from an ascetical point of view.⁽⁸⁾ While discussing the vanity of human existence, Gregory explains that we have two forms of life present in us according to the two-fold constitution of human nature, the visible and invisible. The former is given to man as a means to attain the latter, knowledge of Him Who is. As David Balas points out,⁽⁹⁾ the bishop of Nyssa gives a much longer treatment of the death of the soul:

The living Word cannot be present in us (I mean the pure, invisible bridegroom who unites the soul to himself by incorruptibility and holiness), unless we remove the veil of flesh by the mortification of our bodies on earth. In this way we will open the door to the Word that he may enter and dwell with the soul. This is clear, not only from the Apostle's divine teachings, but from the bride herself. (Song of Songs, J.342-43)

The divine power holds all things in existence⁽¹⁰⁾ by a cosmic harmony and permanence on a purely ontological level. There is no "physical contact," so to speak, between God and creation as Reinhard Hubner has demonstrated.⁽¹¹⁾ Yet the following passage from Ecclesiastes speaks of a smooth transition from this ontological connection with God to a moral and religious one which is necessary for a person to live virtuously:

For it is better to guard the grace we have already found. One such example is a person who discovers faith and purity through purification, but it is more difficult to guard what we have found than to find what we did not have. Similarly, the time to seek is not limited to a fixed occasion; rather, one's entire life should be an opportunity [kairos] for seeking that good. And so we must carefully measure out the time to guard our entire life as that prophetic voice now says. (J.404-5)

Such an ontological-moral connection with God in Gregory's writings does not occur in isolation; rather, it takes place within a sphere larger and more comprehensive than the individual person, the universal Church. This corporate body enables the individual to ratify his ontological-moral union with God, thereby giving him or her greater security in the truth than a person would be able to discover on his or her own. Within this Church we see sacraments, that is, those "physical" means to reach the "incorporeal" reality of Christ. In Gregory's eyes, the sacrament of penance plays a key role in the process:

If the book of Ecclesiastes says that passion can prevent us from transgressions, we should consider the Church's teaching as expressed through the confession of sins because this practice arms the soul against falling by means of the shield of shame...so the shame caused by passion will instruct a person for this future life if he accuses himself and reveals the secrets of his memory. (Ecclesiastes, J.316-17)

Once a person is established in virtue (arete) by the confession of personal sinfulness, he or she is then prepared to make contact with the consubstantiality of the Church's members with Christ.⁽¹²⁾ These members which constitute the "physical" body of Christ on earth form a whole, that is, humanity. It is in this relationship between individual members of the Church and Christ that soteriology and Christology converge.⁽¹³⁾ In other words, the Church functions not only as a koinonia between her members but an inward orientation towards her source, Christ the head:

Why, then, does the head of a wise person have eyes? Does this mean that an analogy exists between members of the soul and the body? Just as the head presides over the entire body, so does the soul hold preeminence as the governing principle. (Ecclesiastes, J.357).

Here Gregory uses the term hegemonikon⁽¹⁴⁾ with respect to the soul which functions as a governing or guiding principle for the body. Nevertheless, there is a need to show a connection between head and members, and the term which the bishop of Nyssa employs for such a connection is akolouthia, the relationship between two elements.⁽¹⁵⁾ The beauty of Gregory's theology and philosophy lies in the fact that he is able to synthesize the physical and spiritual constitution of an individual person, his relationship to others in a larger body (the Church) and the final orientation of this corporate body to an ultimate goal, Jesus Christ.⁽¹⁶⁾

The perfection of the body of Christ, the Church, is for the bishop of Nyssa an escatalogical reality. In other words, the Church's perfection is attained by subjection (hupotasis) of its members to the head, the subject of Gregory's treatise on First Corinthians 15.28. An image of the subjection of creation to Christ as head is related to a another concept of Gregory is fond, pleroma, as we see in the following passage:

As a chorus looks to its leader, sailors to their pilot, and soldiers to their general, so do those in the assembly [pleroma, in the sense of fullness, a full body persons] of the Church look to Ecclesiastes. (Ecclesiastes, J.299)

This text immediately continues with a statement from Ecclesiastes himself, "I have been king over Israel in Jerusalem" (1.12). Here the Church is constituted as the Logos which is permeated by the "first-born (Christ) of the common dough," an expression with roots in St. Paul (lCor.5.6 & Gal.5.9) and may be seen in the context of the following two passages:

The great Apostle Paul joins us as virgins to Christ and acts as an escort for the bride. He says that the clinging together of two persons in the union of one body is a great mystery of Christ's union with the Church...This could not have happened unless the Lord had appeared to us 'overshadowed' with a human body. (Song of Songs, J.108-109)

However, from the entirety of human nature to which the divinity is mixed, the man constituted according to Christ is a kind of first fruits of the common dough [phurarma]. It is through this [divinized] man that all mankind is joined to the divinity. (A Treatise on First Corinthians 15.28, PG#44.1313B)

Hans Urs von Balthasar remarks⁽¹⁷⁾ that the "physical" unity of humankind as a whole forms an image which Christ assumes, not the individual members. However, this insight of the entire human race as one body does not exist theoretically as in a Platonic sense; when a person loosens the bond to his or her own ego-consciousness through the program of self-denial as set forth by the Church and her liturgical cycle (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter), he or she is then able through grace to realize the "mystery which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col.1.27).

Gregory is fond of borrowing Stoic terminology for describing the union of Christ with humankind.⁽¹⁸⁾ Such vocabulary was originally used with reference to the created realm, the cosmos, and served to explain the inter-relationship of beings with each another. A passage from the Commentary on Ecclesiastes demonstrates this point well:

[The text] shows that the universe is entirely consistent with itself, and its harmony [harmonia] does not admit the dissolution of created beings; instead, we have concord [sumpnoia] between them all. Neither is the universe severed from any of its parts but all things remain in their essence by the power [dunamis⁽¹⁹⁾] of him who truly exists. (J.406)

This passage forms part of an exegesis on the biblical text of Ecclesiastes 3.6, "a time (kairos) to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to cast away." Heinrich Dorrie remarks⁽²⁰⁾ that this passage sees a union between Gregory's theology and cosmology in a Stoic context where creation is regarded as the expression of an artist. The source of such inspiration derives from Poseidonius.⁽²¹⁾ However, Gregory does not succumb to a pantheistic conception of our union with God and creation where no distinction is made between the respective parts. This is evident enough from a brief reading of his treatise on First Corinthians 15.28 where all things are oriented towards Christ as head, that is, they are given direction and purpose towards a predetermined goal. Similarly, Gregory's notion of our upward motion in knowledge and love of God is a directed movement going "from glory to glory," a phrase dear to Gregory which he borrowed from 2Cor.3.18. As the Greek text has it, we move "from glory into (eis) glory." Such movement is well expressed in the Commentary on the Song of Songs:

Thus it is among persons advancing in virtue; being transformed from glory to glory, they do not always remain in the same character, but according to the degree of perfection established in each person, a different character will shine in their lives; a different one succeeds the other because of their increase in the good. (J.186)

In his treatise On Ecclesiastes Gregory does not expressly touch upon this refined notion of movement which belongs to his more mature years. However, this work, like many of his others, does contain elements not yet explicitly formulated in his celebrated phrase "from glory to glory." For example, the following passage expresses concern over the negative aspects of change as opposed to the stability of unchanging Being or God:

But the person guided through such temporalities to an understanding of him who exists and comprehends [God's] eternal nature through transitory reality and sees with his mind him who is always the same, beholds the true good and possesses what he sees, for knowledge is the possession of this good. (Ecclesiastes, J.285)

This early work of Gregory cannot expected to contain elements belonging to his maturity, yet we see a foundation on which he later builds his more sophisticated theology of constant transformation and growth in God. Ecclesiastes is concerned more with the fact that everything outside God ('the Being', J.406) consists of non-existence (anuparxia). However, God is absolute virtue, and the evil not belonging to him consists in non-existence or the deprivation of goodness. It exists insofar as we freely chose to separate ourselves from this good (God). Gregory employs the vivid expression of "sewing" ourselves onto God which works against the "rending" tendency of sin:

Thus Paul knows the opportune time for cutting off the soiled part of the Church's garment and for sewing it back on again, that is, when we wash it from defilement through our repentance...Realize from what we are cut off and are always sewn on. Having been severed from heresy, we are sewn on to the true religion. (Ecclesiastes, J.408)

As G. Christopher Stead has remarked in an article,⁽²²⁾ Gregory of Nyssa starts from the long-accepted principle that pure Being is identical with perfect Goodness and that evil, the absence of goodness, is somehow an absence of being. He describes evil as to me on, and uses such terms as anuparktos, anupostatos which suggest that evil is not really actual but a mere fiction:

Evil cannot exist because it is of non-existence, and non-existence has no nature belonging to itself; nevertheless, vanity dominates those things which resemble it. (Ecclesiastes, J.300-301).

It seems that for Gregory evil takes on substance in the person committing it through free will or choice (proairesis). This capacity of free will assumes the nature of sin and vice and is therefore subject to change of the most degrading kind. However, our ability to choose is man's most noble faculty. It is three-fold as Jerome Gaith states⁽²³⁾

in his important book which centers upon this aspect of Gregory's thought. Gaith continues to say that terms like musterion aduton (Holy of Holies) and apatheia (detachment or freedom from passion) express for Gregory the highest summit of moral liberty: the first term is hidden and sacred while the second is revealed in persons.

Since a human being is endowed with free will, he or she can never be totally identified with his natural condition. In other words, a person has the capacity of being alienated from the downward pull of matter, dominated as it is by senses and appetites. The movement of proairesis is upward, a prefiguration (as in Ecclesiastes) of the mature teaching on our ascension "from glory to glory." The following passage demonstrates the "added on" nature of the senses in Gregory's thought:

Since sense perception comes into being at our first birth, our minds await a return to mature age so that it might appear, however so little, in a person. And so the senses gradually dominate our minds and always have a strong affinity to any thought our minds put forth. We accordingly judge [krino, an exercise of our proairesis] good or bad whatever sense perception accepts or rejects. (Ecclesiastes, J.419)

As this excerpt shows, human nature has the ability to make definitive choices when we open ourselves up to the world of appearances and our response to them. A person as image (eikon) of God is the expression of true liberty with its double aspect: the (active) capacity to destroy passions and the passivity of our interior disposition. This is a process which, according to Gaith,⁽²⁴⁾ is a dynamic synthesis of spiritualization and sublimation. Evil, on the contrary, is a dispersion and materialization by which our eikon looses intellectual liberty and spiritual liberty (pertaining to apatheia), thereby making us slaves to passion:

Anything delighting the senses is considered good. If it were possible to discern for the mind what is good right from the beginning, we would not be subject to our irrational senses and be transformed into beasts reduced to slavery. Thus confusion results with regard to anything worthy of love in our nature along with that which we perceive as wrong. (Ecclesiastes, J.420)

It seems that the origin of our alienation from the good is the initial incapacity of our intelligence to attend to the real truth by a transformation coming from God. And so, we are attracted to a sensibility and knowledge different from the one originally intended for us:

Such is the nature of the good of which we partake, for by necessity it transforms anyone who shares it. A sweet fragrance becomes part of a person's mouth...We become what we love, either a good or foul odor of Christ. The person who loves beauty will become beautiful once he has been transformed by the good he received. (Ecclesiastes, J.422-23)

Under the sway of God's power we experience a victory of that which is positive over the negative (evil), of interior passivity over the exterior activity of the downward-tending passions mentioned above. It should be stressed that taken in themselves, neither desire nor pleasure are condemnable. But when spirit is opposed to the body, Gregory gives to the reality of pleasure a passionate sense (cf. J.319, "delighting the senses," te aisthesei ten hedonen pherein). He employs the world hedone as corporeal pleasure or more properly, love of one's body which subjects both soul and spirit to itself. A passage from Gregory's treatise On the Inscriptions of the Psalms clearly brings out this point:

Human nature has difficulty in accepting any aversion to pleasure (I call pleasure love of one's body. The soul's happiness does not partake of anything unreasonable and is not slavishly devoted to pleasure)...Evil seduces our sense perceptions while virtue gladdens

our souls by directing them aright. (J.28)

Our human spirits are now trapped in the tragedy of deception, apate, a term frequently used throughout the Ecclesiastes treatise. This word signifies the seducing appearances of the world and our intellect's attempt to justify itself in its abnormal position. Gregory uses the expression proairesis pneumatos, "waywardness of spirit," for the soul's predicament. Refer to two passages from the Commentary on Ecclesiastes:

So I hated life because the work that was wrought under the sun was evil before me, for all is vanity and waywardness of spirit. (J.362)

"Anything I have accomplished does not endure except my opinion and free choice [proairesis] with regard to my pursuits." He [Ecclesiastes] says that all things are vain and waywardness [proairesis] of spirit. (J.367)

As we have briefly seen above, proairesis means choice, but it can also assume the connotation of a course of action which has deviated from the intended goal or end one originally had in mind. Hence, the ability to interchange the two meanings in the passage above (J.367). Since the soul has freely chosen this path of apate, it is now blind to God's light and true liberty; it prefers the prison of unrestrained activity such as engaging in all kinds of projects, a fact well documented throughout Ecclesiastes.

Dominated as we are by a compulsive bond to things of this earth and the desire to propagate or extend ourselves through such projects as the construction of buildings and monuments, hope of redemption from this compulsion still exists which stems from a realization of our present aischune (disgrace, shame). This is a profound awareness of sin and its results which in turn begets a desire to escape our predicament. From God's point of view aischune is both a warning and powerful ally against any further tendency to sin. And from our human point of view, aischune is united to the capacity for self-expression. A passage from Ecclesiastes reveals how Gregory perceives the positive side of aischune as related to memory which forms the first step of our ascension to God:

Because nature tends towards evil, we are forgetful of the good; but when enjoyment of the good returns, oblivion envelopes evil. We have no remembrance of the first and last things...No such memory will exist in the future, that is, the last state [he eschate katastasis] will utterly destroy the memory of evil deeds. (J.297-98)

This "last state" for Gregory corresponds to the "original blessed state" (cf. J.297) which we had before our fall into sin. We therefore have a beginning and end rooted in God, yet our awareness of this linear dimension stretching from a past into a future is often shadowed over by existential knowledge of our fallen condition. Nevertheless, hope is given to us by Christ's resurrection from the dead. This event stands midway between our original blessed state⁽²⁵⁾ and our final existence.

Gregory claims that a third element is integrally united to the other two conditions, "the resurrection which is nothing other than the restoration (apokatastasis) of all things to their original state" (J.296). The commentary which the bishop of Nyssa elaborates upon the book of Ecclesiastes essentially revolves around the vanity or transitory nature of this world and man's involvement in it. In sharp contrast to such vanity, Gregory juxtaposes for our contemplation the positive means to transcend such futility or our efforts unaided by grace. Note how in another passage from Ecclesiastes that Gregory posits wholeness or apokatastasis in contrast to vanity's insubstantiality:

When one sheep strayed from the heavenly way of life, evil drew our nature to an arid, uncultivated place; no longer does this number [one] pertain to the sheep which have not strayed, but refers to the ninety-nine sheep. Vanity does not belong to the flock which is

why "deficiency cannot be numbered." Therefore Christ comes to seek and save the lost sheep. He places it upon his shoulders, thereby restoring [apokatastasis] the sheep lost in the vanity of insubstantial things in order to make whole the number of God's creation by saving the lost along with those who have not been destroyed. (J.305)

This example of the Good Shepherd (Christ) who places the lost sheep on his shoulders plays an important role in Gregory's thought. As Hubner points out, it appears in connection with his struggle against the Apollinarian heresy.⁽²⁶⁾ Gregory loves to see in this lost sheep concrete individuals whose unity, according to von Balthasar, is similarly concrete⁽²⁷⁾, that is, it has real existence now as the visible Church. Time and sexuality are destined to pass away; rather, they will be fulfilled in the pleroma, a term which implies the fullness of reality or integration of every created being once they have attained the re-constituted state of apokatastasis as found on J.299 of the Ecclesiastes commentary ("the assemble, pleroma, of the Church"). We find two important reference pertaining to the redemption of the lost sheep in Gregory's Commentary on the Song of Songs:

Where do you feed, good Shepherd, you who take the entire flock upon your shoulders? For there is one sheep which you have taken upon your shoulders, our human nature. Show me the verdant place. (J.61)

With his [Christ's] body, that is, the ass, he hastened to the place where evil had befallen man, healed his wounds, put him upon his own beast, and made for his loving providence a resting place in which all those who labor and are burdened can rest. (J.428)⁽²⁸⁾

Here we see a refinement upon the passage quoted above, Ecclesiastes J.305 where the flock is identified with human nature in its entirety which Christ had assumed. Now the character of Ecclesiastes can assume something of a "man of sorrows" after Isaiah's suffering servant (Is. 52.13-15). Ecclesiastes himself did not suffer after the fashion of Isaiah's servant, but he certainly depicted the human suffering and vanity around him. With a play on the Greek word ekklesia and its derivative ekklesiastes, Gregory sees Christ as leader of the Church. When reading this passage, we may keep in mind the apokatastasis or restoration of scattered members into his one body:

Perhaps this inscription refers to the leader of the Church [ekklesia]. The true Ecclesiastes [ekklesiastes, that is, Christ] gathers into one assembly [eis hen pleroma] those persons who have been scattered often and frequently deceived. Who is he except the true king of Israel to whom Nathaniel said, "You are the son of God and the king of Israel?" (Ecclesiastes, J.280)

The divinization of humanity by reason of Christ's role as our true ekklesiastes is already accomplished in time through his resurrection. The apokatastasis of fallen humanity, an alternate term Gregory employs for the resurrection, extends to its original state of equality with the angels (isaggelos).⁽²⁹⁾ Although this mention of angels is not explicit in Ecclesiastes, it nevertheless is implied with Christ's role as "leader of the Church:" "He who summons every creature, seeks the lost, and gathers the scattered into one, ponders this earthly existence which lies under heaven" (J.314). Unlike his famous predecessor Origen, Gregory denies the pre-existence of souls; rather, the basis for unity between humankind and the angels lies in their spiritual nature. A passage from the Song Commentary bears this out:

They [souls or disciples of Christ] are not to swear by the passing world, but by the angelic nature [eis phuseos ton aggelon] which always exists. They are exhorted to be attentive to the angels who ratify the stable, constant life of virtue. After the resurrection we have been promised a life similar to the angels, and he who promised it does not lie. It follows, therefore, that life in this world should be a preparation for the one we hope for later. (J.134)

Here we have a mature realization in Gregory's Song Commentary of what he had examined so thoroughly in his Ecclesiastes Commentary, the transitory nature of this present existence. Note, though, how the theme of virtue (arete) resounds throughout Gregory's works as in Ecclesiastes: "The teaching of Ecclesiastes pertains only to suitable behavior in the Church, that is, how to direct a person in virtue" (J.279-80). And from the Song Commentary: "We are not to regard just one of the virtues while neglecting other right actions" (J.82). Thus virtuous action is enjoined upon us regardless of the stage of our spiritual progress, whether it is symbolized by the biblical book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes or the Song of Songs.

Gregory of Nyssa's famous Life of Moses stands midway, so to speak, between his first two ascents on high to God symbolized by Proverbs and Ecclesiastes on one hand, and the Song of Songs on the other.⁽³⁰⁾ Moses is a more sophisticated treatise on the spiritual life coming after Ecclesiastes which also has a lot to say about the instability of this world and our pursuits. A comparison of two passages from these works shows a development in the thought of Gregory:

What is this influx of water which never fills the ever-constant sea? Ecclesiastes speaks like this in order to explain the insubstantiality of our frenzied pursuits by these elements which constitute man's existence. (Ecclesiastes, J.286)

For he who ascends certainly does not stand still, and he who stands still does not move upwards. But here the ascent takes place by means of the standing. I mean by this that the firmer and more immovable one remains in the Good, the more he progresses in the

course of virtue. The man who in his reasoning is uncertain and liable to slip, since he has no firm grounding in the Good. (Moses, J.243)

One can see in these passages that the created spirit moves with respect to two orientations, towards the good and towards that which is contrary to it. The character of a created spirit endowed with intelligence such as human beings is that they have the capacity for a perpetual increase in being. As the first passage above shows, transitory material elements comprise our mortal frame. Hence, a human being cannot but help act in the same way, only in this case the moral dimension to reality is introduced which involves the conflict between good and evil. The passage from Moses better articulates that movement which is channelled upwards towards God. Such upward direction tends towards our true homeland or politeia in fellowship with the angels.

Faced with such an ontological gap between Creator and creation, we resemble persons at the edge of a promontory over an abyss who is subject to vertigo or hiliggia:

A person's foot can therefore touch that ridge falling off to the depths below and find neither step nor support for his hand. To me, this example pertains to the soul's passage through intervals of time in its search for [God's] nature which exists before eternity and is not subject to time. His nature cannot be grasped, for it lacks space, time, measure and anything else we can apprehend; instead, our mind is overcome with dizziness and stumbles all over the place because it cannot lay hold of transcendent reality. Being powerless, it returns to its connatural state. (Ecclesiastes, J.413-14)

This passage occurs towards the end of the Seventh Homily. By the precision of his analysis, the vigor of dialectic and the elevation of thought and emphasis, these pages are perhaps the most beautiful which Gregory of Nyssa has written where he reveals himself both as a poet and a Christian leader steeped in the best metaphysical traditions of the ancient world. Shortly after this passage, the bishop of Nyssa brings his commentary upon Ecclesiastes' words, "A time to keep silence," to a close by saying that our human intelligence must remain in silent awe and adoration at the mystery of God's transcendence. It is on these last several pages of the Seventh Homily that Gregory sets forth his insights regarding the utter transcendence of God:

Thus when reason confronts that which transcends reason it is time to be silent and marvel at his unutterable power which cannot be explained since it is hidden in one's consciousness. It knows that the great prophets speak of God's works, not of God himself. "Who can tell of the Lord's power" [Ps 105.2]?; "I will tell of all your works" [Ps 9.2] and "Generation after generation will praise your deeds" [Ps 144.4].

Roger Leys has remarked with regard to this section of Ecclesiastes that Gregory of Nyssa proceeds in a dialectic fashion, that is, he philosophically analyzes the conditions which logically lead to our awareness of God's transcendence.⁽³¹⁾ Leys continues to say that the two dialectical elements of both our possession of the Good (God) and our hiliggia⁽³²⁾ or vertigo before his infinite beauty are united in the Life of Moses where both themes are synthesized as a mystical presentation of the spiritual life. The access to Mt. Sinai symbolizes an intense preparation which is simultaneously moral and spiritual:

The contemplation of God is not effected by sight and hearing, nor is it comprehended by any of the customary perceptions of the mind...He who would approach the knowledge of things sublime must first purify his manner of life from all sensual and irrational emotion...When he is so purified, then he assaults the mountain. (Life of Moses, J.157)⁽³³⁾

A very important aspect of Gregory's thought which we find in his Commentary on Ecclesiastes is that of diastema which has the connotation of a standing apart, extended existence or an interval. When applied to theology, diastema cannot be understood as a spatial gap between Creator and his creation; more properly speaking, it is a gap existing on the side of creation which has a beginning (arche) and end (telos).⁽³⁴⁾ Gregory expresses the temporal limitations of our present existence as follows:

All our notions are bound by time [te diastematike paratasei]; they attempt to transcend their proper limits but cannot. Intervals of time constitute all our thoughts as well as the thought content. Yet we have learned to seek and to cherish that which transcends all creation. (Ecclesiastes, J.412)

Here human thought must finally acknowledge its defeat and realize that it is bounded. Since our language functions in a diastematical world where it is suitable only for describing events within space and time, how, then, can it be employed to speak of something which is adiastaton ('God's nature which is not subject to temporal extension [adiastaton],' J.412) or that which pertains to God? Theological language⁽³⁵⁾ is a necessary means to draw us beyond our diastematical world but it cannot communicate the Divinity to us. We need to experience this realm trans-conceptually, non-dogmatically, and therefore through symbolic means. Hence, the need for sacraments which play an important role throughout all of Gregory's writings. Instead of explaining the mystery of God, sacraments make present his saving grace.

One of Gregory's most original insights for which he is justly renown is his teaching on our perpetual growth in the knowledge of God. The term he employs for this is epektasis, tension or expansion. Once we have realized the transcendence of God with respect to creation as contained in the term diastema and described so well in Ecclesiastes, another sort of change becomes possible, the movement of perpetual ascent. This movement reaches for the Immovable, the opposite pole of meaningless motion of the material world. Through

epektasis⁽³⁶⁾ unity with God is never achieved; instead, the soul undergoes eternal expansion towards God. Let us contrast two passages from Gregory's writings which depict both opposing motions:

The wonders you consider in heaven or on earth, the sun or sea, should help explain your human nature. Sunrise and sunset resemble our human nature, for they both have in common the one course [circle] of life. When we come into existence, we later return to our natural place. (Ecclesiastes, J.287)

The Apostle's words are thus verified: the stretching out [epektasis] to what lies before is related to forgetfulness of earlier accomplishments. The good which is superior to the one already attained holds the attention of those participating in it while not allowing them to look at the past. (Song of Songs, J.128)

The Ecclesiastes passage reveals the blind, cyclic nature of existence when the guiding principle, hegemon, is lacking. If we follow our natural impulses, we too assume the nature of such non-directional movement. On the other hand, the Song passage takes up movement, gives it direction and posits a goal. Note how such movement lacks remembrance of the past, something which Ecclesiastes cannot escape. You might say that the former work depicts destiny, our slavish attachment to a goal which is unaware of a guiding principle. The latter treatise, however, implies the sense of mission, awareness of being sent from Someone towards a predetermined end. The presence of this awareness makes it only natural for the Song of Songs to be a dialogue between two persons in the same way a person is in communication with the person (God) who originated the mission.

Although Gregory does not develop his well-known doctrine of "from glory to glory" in Ecclesiastes, he does a superb job at detailing the negative side of this reality, "vanity of vanities." The latter is a movement downward or towards materiality, a descent into non-being dependent upon our free choice. Our spirits are therefore trapped in temporal illusions which have seduced us, and we attempt to justify our debased condition. Our freedom of choice (proairesis) assumes a kind of subjective estimation: "Ecclesiastes considers any worthwhile pursuit as despicable when he first passionately welcomed vanity as beneficial," J.361-62. The bishop of Nyssa draws a parallel between the expression "vanity of vanities" and the Holy of Holies:

That which is holy surpasses anything profane, while the holy of holies⁽³⁷⁾ is considered most excellent by reason of its sanctity. Thus our comprehension of the good corresponds to the intensity of expression used in scripture which we correctly assume as meaning "vanity of vanities..." Just as we employ the phrases "service of works" and "holy of holies" to represent something outstanding, so does "vanity of vanities" demonstrate the incomparable excess of vanity. (J.283)

The opposite direction or movement upwards towards God consists in our transition from "glory to glory." It is also a process of liberation not only from the prison of cyclic movement graphically depicted in Ecclesiastes but towards a deeper love of God. The divisions of time in this commentary ("a time to keep quiet," etc) are stages of growth in our awareness of vanity. At each stage Gregory adds an antidote, so to speak, to the fleeting nature of these periods of time.⁽³⁸⁾ Here we have a foreshadowing of his later development of movement, "from glory to glory," which will appear in such works as the Life of Moses. However, the Song Commentary shows the flowering of this expression borrowed from Second Corinthians 3.18:

While the bridegroom exhorts the bride who is already beautiful to become beautiful, he clearly recalls the Apostle's words who bids the same image to be transformed "from glory to glory." By glory he means what we have grasped and found at any given moment. No matter how great and exalted that glory may be, we believe that it is less than that for which we still hope. (J.160)

Gregory's concept of perpetual growth resolves two difficulties Greek philosophy had with movement: it was perceived as the expression of a lack of tending to rest in the possession of the Good which the soul lacks. Also, desire is fulfilled at each instant but the Good communicated dilates the capacity of our spirit. This problem is why for the bishop of Nyssa growth is a synthesis of kinesis and stasis: movement is never compromised but stabilized in what we already have acquired. Compare two texts as follows:

But inasmuch as we perceive the good in pleasure, any delight sets desire aflame, for pleasure is united to desire and is always attractive to each stage of our growth. (Ecclesiastes, J.313)

All wells contain still water; only the bride has running water with both a well's depth and a

continuous flow of water...It seems that she has no further to reach once she has been compared to beauty's archetype. She closely imitates her bridegroom's fountain by one of her own; his life by hers and his water by her water. (Song of Songs, J.293)

Here are two radically opposed passages. The first one may be characterized by a sense of destiny as mentioned just above; the desire a person experiences in this condition is compulsive, leading as it does to a further intensification of desire. In other words, no sense of communion with another person is present, only a fusion between passionate desire and the object of its intent. The second passage presents a clear sense of mission, of being sent, which implies dialogue with the source of the sending (bridegroom). Note that imitation plays a large role here; a certain "space" exists between sender and sent in mission which allows each party to contemplate the other and thereby imitate each other. Hence union is characteristic of the Song Commentary as opposed to the compulsive behavior depicted in Ecclesiastes.

We are invited to detach ourselves from this world's mobility and imitate the stability which stands guard over the earth at the heart of the universe. Refer to a passage from Ecclesiastes which parallels the stability of our hearts⁽³⁹⁾ in the good with that of the world:

Do not be more inanimate than the earth nor more foolish than beasts which lack feeling, for you are endowed with reason and the capacity to administer...allow temperance to abide in your life along with firm faith, constant love, stability in every kind of beauty, that you may resemble the earth's eternal stability. (J.288-89)

Failure to abide by the promptings emanating from this heart, seat of the hegmonikon or guiding principle mentioned earlier, results in our becoming slaves not only to passions but to the world about us with its transitory pleasures. Recognition of our debased condition then gives rise to a nostalgia for our kinship with the angels that we may have total participation with God: "Now is the time to weep while the time to laugh consists in hope, for our present sadness, like a mother, begets joy which is stored up for the future" (J.386).

Gregory takes up Ecclesiastes' words and applies them to the Church's struggles with the transitory environment in which she finds herself. Only this Church can be a receptacle for a true teaching on virtue and appreciation of invisible beauty as stated at the beginning of Ecclesiastes:

The teaching of Ecclesiastes pertains only to suitable behavior in the Church, that is, how to direct a person in virtue. This book aims to elevate our minds above the senses and to attain what lies beyond them. (J.279-80)

In Gregory's eyes, only the Church can be a receptacle for a true teaching on virtue and source for appreciation of invisible beauty because it alone is endowed with the capacity to imitate God's stability. Only by situating ourselves within her through the sacrament of baptism can we move on to the final stage of spiritual development which Gregory perceives as the Song of Songs. In other words, Gregory desires to transform the natural restlessness caused by our involvement with material concerns as depicted in the Third Homily of Ecclesiastes into the bride's search for her beloved spouse as we find in his Song Commentary. Refreshment and joy lie in store for the person who has made the transition from Proverbs to Ecclesiastes and then at last to the Song of Songs:

The passions now disturbing us because of the flesh will not be restored with those bodies; rather, we shall become tranquil. No longer will the flesh's prudence dispute with the soul...Nature will then be cleansed from all such things, and one spirit will be in both. (Song of Songs, J.30)

But before a person attains such a blessed state, he or she must pass through a period of purification. There is always the temptation to leap forward immediately to later stages of spiritual development by imitating the external characteristics of this stage. Perhaps it is for this reason that Gregory went into such great details when he describes vanity's attendant evils. We have no mention of a mirror as image or eikon of the soul in Ecclesiastes where God reflects his goodness (and therefore virtues). Nevertheless, the relationship between the human heart as seat of God's presence does assume the reflective nature of a mirror which Gregory develops in later works. This mirror is not passive but active, for it absorbs the rays emanating from God.⁽⁴⁰⁾ Note the alignment between God, virtue, mirror and detachment in the following passage from the Song Commentary:

Such a person would not have it in his nature to look steadily upon the Word of God as upon the sun; rather he sees it within himself as in a mirror. For the rays of that true, divine virtue shine forth in a pure life by the out-flow of detachment [apatheia] and make the

invisible visible to us. (J.90)

Despite the initially negative tone of the book of Ecclesiastes and Gregory's development of its themes pertaining to human and created vanity, he brings his commentary to a close on a positive note. He quotes the book's author, "I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live" (Eccl. 3.12, J.441). A few pages earlier the bishop of Nyssa says in the same context that "God has made all things for man's good" (J.438). We see here the happiness willed by God for man even in this present existence, for "the enjoyment of good things enlivens those persons worthy to receive their eternal hope" (J.441). And Ecclesiastes concludes that "our eyes should be fixed on the good which is in Christ Jesus," that is, our "Ecclesiastes" or leader of the Church with which Gregory introduces his commentary.

A note regarding the text, Commentary on Ecclesiastes: The critical edition by Paul Alexander may be found in Gregorii Nysseni: In Inscriptiones Psalmorum, In Sextum Psalmum, In Ecclesiasten Homiliae, vol. 5, published by E.J. Brill (Leiden, 1962), pp.277-442⁽⁴¹⁾.

Within the translation are the letters "J" and "M" followed by numbers. "J" refers to Alexander's critical edition of the text. The task of producing a critical edition of Gregory of Nyssa's works was begun under the direction of Werner Jaeger and has continued after his death. The letter "M" which is followed by a column number refers to the edition edited under the direction of J.P. Migne in Patrologia Graecae, volumn 44, columns 616-753 (Paris, 1958).

[J.277 & M.617] [The book of] Ecclesiastes is offered for our examination because it is especially useful and valuable for contemplation. When [the book of] Proverbs has exercised our minds by its obscure words, wise sayings, riddles and various twists of words as contained in the Introduction [1.6], we find an ascent for those persons who have advanced [J.278] to more perfect lessons with regard to this lofty, divinely inspired book. If a toilsome, arduous meditation on Proverbs prepares us for these lessons, how much more laborious and difficult must it be to now examine such sublime matters proposed for our contemplation! Just as wrestlers in a gymnasium who exert themselves for greater contests strip down in order to exercise, so it seems to me that a meditation on Proverbs' teachings trains our souls and makes them supple for struggles on the Church's behalf. If we diligently carry out this meditation, what need is there to consider these struggles? Since no one can make a worthy presentation of this text's surpassing greatness, scripture employs [the example of] a stadium with regards to the greatness of these struggles for persons aspiring to strengthen their thoughts by athletic training. In this way they do not fall, but in every struggle with their thoughts they keep their minds upright through the truth. Since one of the divine precepts bids us to search the scriptures [Jn 5.39], it is indeed necessary that once our minds have pursued the truth even though we failed to attain the nobility of its thoughts, we are not perceived as despising the Lord's command in our effort to discharge our duty worthily. Therefore let us examine the scripture [J.279] before us as best we can for he [God] who has bidden us to search will bestow the power [to preach]. As it is written, "The Lord will give a word to those who preach it with much power" [Ps 67.12].

We must first consider the inscription of this book: "The words of Ecclesiastes, son of David king of Israel in Jerusalem." The law of Moses is read in every church along with the prophets, psalms, historical books and other Old and New Testament readings. How, then, does this special inscription enhance Ecclesiastes, and what are we [M.620] to make of it? Among all the other writings, histories and prophecies, the purpose of [this inscription] pertains only to what is not beneficial for the Church. What value does the Church see in reflecting upon wars, rulers of peoples, founders of cities, settlers, vanished kingdoms, weddings, births which have been diligently recorded and other things taught by scripture? Do they have the aim of piety on behalf of the Church's behalf? The teaching of Ecclesiastes pertains only to suitable behavior in the Church [J.280], that is, how to direct a person in virtue. This book aims to elevate our minds above the senses, to abandon great, brilliant, and noble appearances, to transcend the senses and to attain what transcends them.

Perhaps this inscription refers to the leader of the Church [ekklesia]. The true Ecclesiastes [ekklesiastes, Christ] gathers into one assembly those persons who often have been scattered and frequently deceived. Who could he be except the true king of Israel to whom Nathaniel said, "You are the son of God and the king of Israel" [Jn 1.49]? If these words pertain to the king of Israel, the Son of God, as the Gospel says, then he is called Ecclesiastes. We will not deviate from the inscription's meaning provided that we learn about him who firmly establishes the Church through the Gospel and to whom these words apply. "The words of Ecclesiastes, son of David" [1.1]: thus Matthew [J.281] begins his gospel with the name David and calls him Lord.

"Vanity of vanities," says Ecclesiastes, "all is vanity" [1.2]. Vanity may be described as something which lacks existence but exists only in the utterance of this word. The reality behind the word is non-existent; only the letters transmit a useless, empty sound. These meaningless sounds randomly strike the ear as in a game when we create names which lack meaning. This is one form of vanity. Another refers to persons who zealously accumulate objects with no goal in mind. For example, childrens' sand buildings, the shooting at stars with arrows, trapping the wind and racing with one's shadow while trying to reach its head. If we take another example, we see that they all fall under the term "vanity." Often human custom calls vanity the looking towards a goal and the pursuit [M.621] of something profitable; should a person do something contrary or foolish, he invests his energy to no avail [J.282]. This is too is called vanity. We usually say in such circumstances, "I have labored, hoped, and worked in vain." Instead of examining each correct use of vanity, we will briefly deal with the significance of this term. Vanity is either a senseless word, thoughtless action, unwise counsel, zeal without a goal or something completely worthless.

If we have already obtained an understanding of vanity, we must now examine the meaning of the phrase, "vanity of vanities." Perhaps the intent we are seeking would be clearer if we turn our attention to this phrase's scriptural usage. Scripture does mention useful, necessary actions, but the outstanding deeds which men eagerly pursue and which one sees with regard to worship of God are called "service of works" Num [4.47]. I think that history shows by analogy those things which are more advantageous for our pursuit.

Eagerness to perform deeds gives reason for a leisure enthusiastic for performing other deeds which are more lofty and honorable. Therefore scripture mentions a holy place [Ex 26.33]; again, [J.283] that which is holy surpasses anything profane while the holy of holies is considered most excellent by reason of its sanctity. We have learned from a better usage of scripture that the intensity of what is proposed is signified, for example, by a correct understanding of "vanity of vanities." The text says that appearances are not simply vain; rather, they are characterized by a special kind of vanity as if someone were claimed to be more dead than the dead and more lifeless than the lifeless. Any exaggeration is out of place here, yet it serves to clarify a point. Just as we employ the phrases "service of works" and "holy of holies" to represent something outstanding, so "vanity of vanities" demonstrates the incomparable excess of vanity.

Such words as these should not condemn creation in its entirety. This charge would apply to God, the creator of the universe, if we knew that the creator who fashioned all things from nothing had made them in vain [J.284]. Since man's constitution is two-fold, the soul together with the body, the manner our [M.624] life is divided into these two categories respectively. One is subject to death while the other is free from passion and corruptibility; only one is concerned with the present while the other concerns itself with that which abides forever. Since a great difference exists between what is mortal and immortal, temporal and eternal, Ecclesiastes urges us not to dwell upon this sensible life which when compared with true life is non-existent and insubstantial life.

No one should blame the Creator because he made both soul and body; if the life of the flesh is condemned, God its maker must bear this censure. But he [Ecclesiastes] who says these things is not yet outside the flesh, nor has he adequately grasped a higher form of life. Having been trained in the divine mysteries, he certainly knows that human life resembles the divine nature. However, sensible life is given to this [human] nature so that [J.285] knowledge of appearances may lead the soul to recognize invisible reality. As Wisdom says, "By the greatness and beauty of the creatures the Maker of all is proportionately seen" [13.5]. Human folly does not see the wonder lying behind appearances but admires what it beholds. Since our senses operate in a temporal and transitory medium, we learn through [Wisdom's] noble voice that the person who sees these things sees nothing. But the person guided through such temporalities to an understanding of him who exists, graps the constancy of [God's] nature through transitory reality, sees with his mind him who is always the same, beholds the true good and possesses what he sees, for knowledge is the possession of this good.

"What profit is there for a man in all his labor under the sun" [Eccl 1.3]? Ecclesiastes calls this bodily existence "labor" which we pursue to no gain. What profit is it for man? That is, what becomes of the soul which exerts itself for superficial things? What is the purpose of life, or how permanent is transitory beauty [J.286]? The sun which has enlightened heaven above runs its own course and is subject to darkness at sunset whereas the earth is stationary and unmovable; anything subject to movement does not stand still. This demonstrates that everything is subject to interval of a temporal nature, for nothing changes to a newer condition. The sea is a receptacle for water which tends to flow everywhere [M.625]; water never ceases to flow while the sea never grows larger. What is the goal of the water's course which always fills the unquenchable sea? What is this influx of water which never fills the ever-constant sea? Ecclesiastes speaks like this that he may explain the insubstantiality of our frenzied pursuits which result from elements constituting man's existence. If the sun's course consists in this, it too has no limit; neither is there any succession between day and night, and the earth is condemned to remain ever unmoved. The rivers also labor in vain, for they are consumed by the insatiable sea which receives this constant inflow to no avail. If this is true, what about man who is subject to such elements? Why are we astonished at the rise and fall of a generation which follows a natural course [J.287] because a generation of men always succeeds the one before it and so forth?

What does Ecclesiastes cry out to the Church? That you, oh man, who contemplate the universe, should understand your own nature. The wonders you behold in heaven or on earth, the sun or sea, should help explain your human nature. Sunrise and sunset resemble our human nature because they both have in common the one course [circle] of life. When we come into existence, we later return to our natural place. Once our life sets, our light passes under the earth which then lays hold of it. The earth is a cycle in constant motion which indeed returns to its natural place. Ecclesiastes speaks of the sun which rises and inclines towards the south; when the sun passes under the earth, the opposite or the north, receives it, thereby forming a perpetual cycle. "Round and round," he says [1.6]. Man's spirit (it takes its name from this aspect of his nature) [J.288] resembles this circular motion. "The wind goes and returns to its circuit" [1.6]. These words are of no small value for your life. What is more splendid than light and more radiant than its rays? But if the sun goes under the earth, its beams and rays disappear.

Let a person taking these matters into consideration conduct himself with greater discretion and despise notoriety, learning from our observations that fame is transitory and can quickly change to its opposite. Nothing remains forever in its present state; neither youth, beauty [M.628] nor fame arising from power, all of which result from good fortune. A virtuous life seems laborious in comparison, and examples taken from this earthly existence educate the soul with regard to more steadfast realities. "The earth stands forever" [1.4]. What can be more laborious than this firmness and stability which lasts foreverc whose existence extends throughout all eternity? The time of your struggle is short. Do not be more inanimate than the earth nor more foolish than [beasts] which lack feeling, for you are endowed with reason and the capacity to administer. Rather, as the Apostle says, "Continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of" [2Tim 3.14] in steadfastness and constant stability.

Since these words refer to the divine commands, "be steadfast and unmovable [1Cor 15.58]" [J.289], allow temperance to abide in your life along with firm faith, constant love and stability in every kind of beauty, that you may resemble the earth's eternal stability. If anyone is greedy like the ocean with its expansive, boundedness desire which the inflow of waters cannot satisfy, let one be cured of his illness by looking upon the ocean. In this way he will not transgress his own bounds in the multitude of waters but will retain the same fullness without the addition of more water. In similar fashion pleasures arising from human nature with its present limit cannot expand its gluttonous appetite to keep pace with their great number; rather, the influx [of pleasures] does not cease even though our capacity for enjoyment is limited. If enjoyment cannot exceed the limit of nature, why are we pressed by an onrush of harmful forces which are never beneficial since they have surpassed what had been added earlier? Since Ecclesiastes begins by defining vanity for us as a foolish word or action, we do not consider as deficient anything which has a goal, whether of deed or speech [J.290]. Every human endeavor closely resembles children preoccupied with making toys out of sand; when they cease from work, the sand melts away and leaves no trace of their efforts.

Such is man's life. Sand represents ambition, power, wealth and every pleasure of the flesh. Immature souls spend themselves in the vain pursuit of insubstantial possessions. If they only leave the sand, I mean the flesh, they will recognize the vanity of their efforts. While enjoyment is inevitably bound up [M.629] with this material existence, persons take nothing with themselves except their own consciences. It seems to me that the great Ecclesiastes transcends such things. With his naked, immaterial soul, he utters words which may pertain to us when, so to speak, we are far removed from this coastal area. It is from here that we have ejected the sea's sand and have separated ourselves from all the noise around us together with the sea's roaring waves [J.291].

Let us now attend to the words, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," and "What advantage is to man in his labor under the sun?" In my opinion these words represent a soul stripped of its present condition here below when it migrates to the life for which it yearns. If a person pursues life's nobler aspects, he views [his earlier condition] in a harsh light and loathes his present experience in comparison to what he has discovered. If he who had been passionately concerned with material [possessions] became disposed towards those which come unexpectedly and learned through experience about life's ridiculous pursuits, he can rightly lifts up his voice in lament over them. He speaks sorrowfully and with repentance over our foolish actions saying "Vanity of vanities" and other similar words.

"All things are full of labor, and a man will not be able to speak of them" [1.8]. Nothing is considered easier that being quick to speak. What labor, then, pertains to the person who so wishes to express himself? The tongue is moist, easily moved and effortlessly conforms itself to any word it wishes to utter. We inhale air without difficulty, an activity which produces sound; both lips and cheeks harmoniously contribute to speech [J.292]. Therefore, what labor can we observe in the effortless creation of a word? We do not create speech by digging up stones, bearing burdens or by any other labor; rather, we reveal our thoughts through speech. But since speech is effortless, some labor is involved in words which a person cannot express. "Let the elders be worthy of a double honor, especially those who labor in the word" [1Tim 5.17]. According to custom, an elder is a person who has outgrown the unruly period of youth and has attained old age; if a person of unstable mind and undisciplined life is not yet an elder, even though he may has grey hair, he is still a youth. Therefore his words which are truly words ought to be useful and beneficial for the soul by containing sweat and much exertion. "The husbandman who labors must first partake of the fruits" [2Tim 2.6]. The person who uttered these words said them not simply as useful but that our lives may manifest virtue in deeds [M.632] instead of mere words. Therefore all words are laborious by those who lead the way to virtue; having first realized them in themselves, they can teach them. It is first necessary to partake of [virtue's] fruits [J.293] that we might cultivate them in ourselves through virtue for other persons.

A feeble mind may interpret in its own way what we have just said. Since vanity exists apart from the senses and the mind contemplating unseen realities attempts to explain what it comprehends, we need to strenuously exert ourselves in the task of interpretation even though we cannot clearly express that which is inexpressible. We see the heavens, perceive their light, transverse the earth, inhale air, drink water and use fire in common. If we wish to understand each of these manifestations which are seen by reason of their essence or the means by which they subsist, a man cannot speak of other matters which are beyond him because his ability to comprehend unutterable reality is inadequate. If a word is labor with respect to those things transcending human ability and nature, then what can we say about the Word or the Father of the Word? Any lofty, eloquent words fall speechless if the true significance of what we seek is taken into consideration. This [silence] alone is [J.294] true speech about God because if a person capable of generating all kinds of thoughts fails to include thoughts proper to God--even though his voice is deemed worthy--still his speech is not a word. Man cannot speak. The sight of visible reality cannot behold what pertains to the soul; rather, we who are always looking see nothing while we ignorantly receive sense perceptions. Vision cannot pass through color, yet it is the measure of one's efforts with regard to appearances. Ecclesiastes therefore says, "The eye will not be satisfied with seeing, neither shall the ear be satisfied with hearing" [1.8]. Our capacity for hearing cannot be satisfied with every word, for no word can fully express what we comprehend. How, then, can our hearing be satisfied with the object it seeks when this object cannot produce satisfaction?

Ecclesiastes now responds to his own words by asking, "What is that which has been? The very thing which shall be. What is that which has been done [M.633]? The very thing which shall be done" [1.9]. What does he wish to express by these questions? We naturally state questions or objections from [J.295] what we have learned because if all is vanity, it is clear that not a single thing has existence. Vanity is indeed insubstantial, and this in-substantiality is not present in anything which exists. If such things lack existence, then tell me, what has permanence in being? Here is a brief answer to your desire to know what exists. Do you wish to know what has been? Realize what is to come and you will know that had been. Oh man, you who have exalted yourself through virtue, understand what you will become. If you have formed your soul in every good and have washed away all filth coming from material things, what will be happen when you have so adorned yourself? What form will you assume? If you fully understand this, you have learned what had existed from the very beginning, namely, that which is according to God's image and likeness [Gen 1.26]. Where now is that doctrine which once existed and in which men had put their hope yet no longer exists? But he who instructs us [J.296] in lofty matters responds by calling present events "vanity" since anything existing in the present lacks existence. And what, Ecclesiastes says, is that which had been done? The very thing which shall be done. Let no one listening to these words think that much talk and the repetition of words is vanity by the distinction between what is and what had been, for they demonstrate the difference between body and soul. Although the meaning of terms does not differ that much, the text does make a distinction to clearly manifest the difference for you. The soul existed right from the beginning; it had been purified in the past and will appear in the future. God fashioned the human body and will show the resurrection at the proper time, for that which comes after the resurrection was indeed fashioned first. The resurrection is nothing other than the restoration [apokatastasis] of all things to their original state.

Ecclesiastes then adds that nothing is excluded from that which had existed at the beginning: "There is nothing new under the sun" [9.3]. He utters these words as if to say that if something did not exist at the beginning, it did not exist at all but was thought to have existed [J.297]. Nothing under the sun is new, he says, so that anything spoken or demonstrated about the past is new and freshly come into existence. These words means that nothing new has been uttered under the sun. As for anything spoken we have the statement, "If anything indeed had been, it already appeared in the ages before us" [1.10]. This meaning of this verse [M.636] is as follows: anything new had already been made in the ages before us. If they are swallowed up in oblivion, do not wonder because the present will suffer the same fate. Because nature tends towards evil, we are forgetful of the good; but when enjoyment of the good returns, oblivion envelopes evil. We have no remembrance of the first and last things which is as though he said that the events which introduced evil after man's original blessed state will erase the memory the last things. No such memory will exist in the future; the last state [he eschate katastasis] [J.298] will utterly destroy the memory of evil deeds in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

"I, Ecclesiastes," the text now says [1.12]. We now learn the identity of Ecclesiastes who gathers into one what is scattered and dispersed. He makes one flock and church in order that everyone may hear the Shepherd's lovely voice who bestows life to all. "The words that I speak are spirit and life" [Jn 6.63]. [Christ] calls himself Ecclesiastes that he might be doctor, life, resurrection, light, way, gate, truth and any other benevolent name for humankind. Just as a sick person welcomes the doctor's voice, so does the Word of life bring life to the dead when they hear the voice of the Son of Man which frees them from death's ancient dominion. Those in the grave seek [J.299] the voice of the resurrection; light is agreeable to persons in darkness, and a road is helpful for those who have strayed while a gate forms an entrance. And so Ecclesiastes speaks to those of us who belong in the Church. Let us who compose this Church now listen to his words. As a chorus looks to its leader, sailors to their pilot and soldiers to their general, so do those in the assembly of the church look to Ecclesiastes. What does he say? "I have been king over Israel in Jerusalem" [1.12]. At what time? Was it not when God set up a king in holy Mount Zion to proclaim his precepts? Of him the Lord says "You are my son; today I have begotten you" [Ps 2.6-7]. The Maker of all things, the eternal Father, said that he begot him today. Thus this temporal name does not refer to [Christ's] eternal essence but to a birth through the flesh in time for man's salvation.

[M.637] I think that the true Ecclesiastes next teaches about the great mystery of salvation when God manifested himself in the flesh. "I applied my heart to seek out and examine by wisdom all things done under heaven" [1.13]. The reason for our Lord's [J.300] dwelling with men is to give his heart over in wisdom to consider his actions done under the sun. For man is not allowed to consider what lies above heaven just as healthy persons do not require doctors. Evil belongs to the earth. A snake is a reptile which crawls on its belly [Gen 3.14], eats earth instead of food from heaven, crawls on anything trampled down and is always on the prowl. It watches for man's heel and injects poison in those who have lost the power to tread on serpents [Lk 10.19]. For this reason Ecclesiastes gives his heart over to careful consideration of every activity done under heaven. As for what lies above the heavens, the prophet gazes at the divine magnificence and says "His magnificence is exalted above the heavens" [Ps 8.2]. Since evil oppresses the realm lying under heaven, the psalm says that sin has brought men low [Ps 106.17]. Ecclesiastes considers how things made under heaven which had no prior existence became subject to vanity and how that which lacked existence took over and became dominant. Evil cannot exist because it is non-existent, and non-existence [J.301] has no nature belonging to itself; nevertheless, vanity dominates those things which resemble it.

Ecclesiastes has come to search through his own wisdom those actions done under the sun, their confusion, why things are subject to non-existence and how that which is insubstantial prevails against being. He knew that "God has given to the sons of men an evil trouble to be vexed with" [1.13]. This is not a pious deed we can readily understand because God has given an evil to the sons of men in order to trouble them; and so one may attribute the cause of evil to God. He who is good by nature indeed bestows goodness because every good tree bears good fruit; a grape cluster does not spring up from thorns nor do thorns come from a vine. [Mt 7.17] Therefore he who is good by nature does not offer evil from his own storehouse; a good man does not speak evil from the abundance of his heart but utters words in accord with his nature. How, then, is the fountain of grace not a source of evil? A more pious understanding suggests that God bestows upon man the gift [M.640] of free will which he abused and then became an instrument for sin. This free will is good and subject to no one, while anything subject to necessity should not [J.302] be counted as good. But any impulse coming from the mind is free; it distracts the soul to choose evil and pulls it down to passion from the lofty honors it had received. Such is the meaning of "he has given" [1.13]; not that God has given evil to men, but that men have used God's benefits to commit thoughtless evil. Holy scripture expresses this by proclaiming "God has handed them over to the disgrace of passion" [Rom 1.28], "The Lord has hardened Pharaoh's heart" [Ex 9.12], "Why, Lord, have you caused us to err from your way and have hardened our hearts not to fear you" [Is 63.17], "He caused them to wander in a desert and not in the way" [Ps 106.40], "You have deceived me, and I was deceived" [Jer 20.7] and other such remarks. An accurate understanding of these verses does not mean that human nature lacks anything unbecoming from God; rather, they censure our power of free choice which in itself is good [J.303] and a gift bestowed by God to human nature. But as a result of indiscretion, free will inclines towards the opposite way. Ecclesiastes thus sees all things done under the sun and calls them vanity. "There is not one who understands or seeks after God" [Ps 13.2] since all have turned aside and have become worthless: "Behold, all is vanity." He does not attribute this cause to God but to human free choice which he calls the wind. He condemns this wind although it was good at the beginning; there would be no need for such condemnation, but it turned aside by conforming to the world.

"That which is crooked cannot be made straight" [1.15], that is, anything perverted does not befit a creature adorned by God. Similarly, the Maker who fashioned everything for himself set aright with a ruler and measuring line the parts which contribute towards the whole by having each part carefully related to the others. If any part is not set aright [J.304] by a measuring line, the harmony is certainly not distorted; rather, if each part is to be set aright, all should conform to the measuring line. And so, Ecclesiastes claims that nature perverted by evil cannot be disposed to right reason: "Deficiency cannot be numbered" [1.15]. A multitude [M.641] of examples used by scripture teaches that deficiency means shortage of something. One such example is the famous Paul who knows the meaning of deficiency and abundance [Phil 4.12]; he exhausted his father's substance and experienced want when famine laid hold of him [Lk 15.14]. When speaking of the saints, Paul includes along with their bodily affliction that "they were destitute and afflicted" [Heb 11.37]. Therefore, when scripture speaks of deficiency, it means want, although want is not mentioned with regard to the disciples who numbered twelve when they were one group. Once the son of perdition [Judas] died [Jn 17.12], their number was incomplete for [Judas] was not counted among the rest. A twelfth disciple was named to take Judas' place. Thus Ecclesiastes says, "deficiency cannot be numbered." What does this mean? That we were once [J.305] numbered with the full group, that is, the sacred number of one hundred rational sheep [Mt 18.12]. When one sheep strayed from the heavenly way of life, evil drew our nature to an arid, uncultivated place; no longer does this number [one] pertain to the sheep which have not strayed but to the ninety-nine sheep. Vanity does not belong to the number of those who are included which is why "deficiency cannot be numbered." Therefore Christ comes to seek and save the last sheep. He places it upon his shoulders, thereby restoring [apokatastesai] [the sheep] lost in the vanity of insubstantial things in order to make whole the number of God's creation by saving the lost along with those who have not been destroyed.

We next learn about the return of a person who has erred and the change from evil to enjoyment of the good. He [Christ] who has been tempted in all things and is without sin [Heb 4.15] holds converse with us in our human nature. He who assumed our weakness showed us a way out of evil through the infirmities of his human nature. "Instruct me in the Wisdom [Christ] according to the Solomon who was in the flesh which held converse with us." Once familiar with it, we are able to pass judgment on what men pursue. Ecclesiastes' words do not resemble those of many which cause [J.306] an abundance of grief and condemns untested persons as untrustworthy. We obtain knowledge not from personal experience but only through those ideas which the deprivation of pleasures hinders from enjoying. When consulting other persons, we should disregard what men esteem because of our exception which is always at hand; we disregard them because we do not know pleasure in them by experience. All such altercation ceases when he [Solomon] converses with us. Solomon is the one speaking here, the third king of [M.644] Israel whom the Lord had chosen after Saul and David. He received the kingship from his father and extended his rule which brought him renown among the Israelites. Solomon no longer subjected peoples through battle; by conducting himself peacefully and with full authority, he did not devote his energy towards anything not belonging to him. In this way nothing hindered his pleasure. Prosperity springs up with cupidity and leisure degenerates into pleasure. Nothing involuntary hinders the course of our life with regard to pleasure because Ecclesiastes was wise in other matters as well as being acquainted with pleasure. He claimed [J.307] to know the efforts needed to attain pleasure and accomplished everything which he had enumerated [cf. Eccl.2], an experience which taught him that vanity is the common end of mens' pursuits. Ecclesiastes sets forth the order in his narrative when during his youth he first had leisure for personal training, for attention to such labors does not indicate laxity. But the Spirit uses free will, a movement proper to our nature, to increase knowledge if a person is to succeed in his endeavors. Thus wisdom grows not by considering reason which closely regards passion and unreason when it comes to that deception arising from corporeal enjoyment; rather it is knowledge about vanity through experience of these endeavors.

Such is the aim of our inquiry up to this point. It is time now to now examine Ecclesiastes' words in their context: "I spoke in my heart saying, 'behold, I am increased'" [1.16]. "Since I have seen," Ecclesiastes says, "my great power and have also understood the splendor of my reign all at once, I realized that the fleeting things which I had laboriously attained do not constitute a happy life; they can be obtained only [J.308] by pain and sweat." Therefore Ecclesiastes says "I spoke in my heart saying, 'behold, I am increased,'" and "I have acquired wisdom." "By amassing power I have grown by the addition of wisdom and said to myself that I must be greater than kings before me and must excel them in wisdom." "I have acquired wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, so that I have understood how these things are" [1.16]. Who does not know that wisdom comes from the knowledge of other persons who had applied themselves to it? Ecclesiastes says, "My heart knew much wisdom and knowledge" [1.17]; "I have not acquired these by my own efforts." Rather, "I have applied my heart to know wisdom and knowledge" to learn these things only through effort and meditation. But "I knew parables and understanding" [M.645], that is, comparisons made through analogy enables one to comprehend transcendent reality.

Ecclesiastes claims [J.309] that his knowledge is self-taught: "I have known parables and knowledge as the Lord teaches in the Gospel where he brings to light the reality of the kingdom [of heaven] whether through a pearl [Mt. 13.45], treasure, [vs.44], marriage [22.2], grain [vs.31], leaven [vs.33]" or any other matter he wishes to bring to our attention. [Christ] says that these objects do not constitute the kingdom but through analogy he speaks of things transcending our comprehension because these analogies, like sparks or symbols, are parables to his listeners. Ecclesiastes says "This also is waywardness [proairesis, literally, "choice"] of spirit, for the abundance of knowledge is abundance of wisdom for me" [1.17-18] so that if I were wise, I would be neither ignorant nor be far from finding what is profitable. Knowledge consists in wisdom and allows us to pass better judgment, a fact which certainly requires exertion for those persons who are zealous in their pursuit. "He who increases knowledge will increase sorrow" [1.8]. When a person has attained this knowledge, he condemns pleasure as vanity.

Ecclesiastes next states "I said in my heart, 'Come now, I will prove you with mirth, and behold, you have good things, and behold, this also is vanity'" [2.1]. He does not immediately submit himself to such an experience nor has he tasted a more severe, solemn life to obliterate pleasure; rather, Ecclesiastes experienced [J.310] such things and pursued a sober, constant course of action which yields wisdom for those who pursue it. Ecclesiastes shrinks away from sense delights because passion does not attract him to these vanities; he believes that knowledge of the true good confers perception to anyone faithful to it. From the beginning the enemy indulges in laughter and mirth and calls passion anything mad or deranged. Anything else is rightly called laughter for it is irrational and has no purpose such as merriment which is unbecoming to the body such as agitated breathing, commotion of one's entire body, facial contortions, bearing of teeth, gums and palate, twisting of neck and the uncontrollable breaking of a strained voice accompanied by short breaths of air. What can this be except madness? For this reason Ecclesiastes says, "I said to laughter, 'It is mad'" [2.1] as if he were to say to laughter, "You are insane, irrational and spontaneously impart [J.311] through passion an ugly, distorted form on the soul." "I said to mirth, 'Why do you do this'" [2.2]? That is to say, I am at enmity with pleasure. I am suspicious [M.648] of its approach as though it were a thief who secretly entered my soul's inner chamber even though I have not allowed it to grasp my mind. If I had known that pleasure were a beast coming to snatch away my senses, I would immediately resist and say to this servile, irrational pleasure, "Why are you weakening the virility of my nature? Why are you debilitating my soul's strength? Why are you corrupting my thoughts? Why cast a gloom over the clarity of my reason?"

Having uttered these words, Ecclesiastes continues, "I examined whether my heart would excite my flesh as with wine" [2.3]. That is to say, our attention to thoughts becomes stronger than impulses of the flesh. Nature is not at war with itself, but our mind chooses things other than the flesh's attractions to make our flesh subject and obedient to our rational soul [J.312] because we have been drawn and consumed by [pleasure] which has the same intensity as thirst. Wine does not remain in a cup after a thirsty person has drunk it but is consumed quickly and with vigor. For me this action is certain and is an unimpeded way to knowledge of created things. "My heart guided me in wisdom" [2.3], enabling me both to prevail against the rebellion of pleasures and to attain gladness. And so continues the rest of the text. Therefore the person who earnestly applies himself to knowledge and does not occupy himself with vanity searches out the good and does not fail in his judgment of the good upon finding it. He is self-sufficient and does not allow temporal matters to affect his life; he pursues the good proper to every age in life, its beginning, middle and end. "Until I should see of what kind is the good to the sons of men which they do under the sun all the days of their lives" [2.3]. The pursuits of the flesh contain brief moments of happiness even though they entice our senses with present enjoyments. Nothing pertaining to the body should be viewed as a hinderance; nevertheless, the pleasure obtained from drinking ends with satiety, and [J.313] the fullness which results from eating quenches our appetite. In similar fashion, if any other desire fade away, it returns and is satisfied. Anything related to our senses does not last forever nor maintains the same condition. One benefit belongs to an infant while another to a youth. The same is valid with respect to a person in the prime of his life as well as for an older person and one near death. "I," however, said Ecclesiastes, "have sought the good proper to youth and every other stage of life. We are never satiated; rather, appetite [M.649] is common to us all while passion flowers with enjoyment and is not circumscribed by the attainment of its desire." But inasmuch as we perceive the good in pleasure, any delight sets desire aflame, for pleasure is united to desire and is always attractive to each stage of our growth. Neither is the good associated with instability; it provides instruction and is a model in both prosperous and calamitous situations whether they occur at night or day, travelling, on the sea, at work or rest, ruling or serving or in any of life's circumstances. Neither does the good suffer diminution or grown in anything which may befall us [J.314] whether it happens to be harmful or beneficial. In my opinion this is the true good which Solomon seeks and which men do under the sun while they are alive. For me it is nothing more than the work of faith common to all men who wish to have it abide throughout their entire lives. This is the good work done in us in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

It is time to examine what Ecclesiastes now teaches us. We have learned at the outset that he who summons every creature, seeks the lost, gathers the scattered into one and ponders over this earthly existence which lies under heaven. This region, as Ecclesiastes states [1.13], is the realm of [J.315] deception, vanity and insubstantiality. We have learned in the second homily through the person of Solomon about his condemnation of pleasure and passion that we may worthily relinquish both their strong ability to excite us and their forms which men eagerly pursue.

What do we learn from this third homily? I think it especially applies to the Church and the failure of its members to live up to their confession, for the passion of shame gives birth to innumerable unbecoming activities. However, shame can be a great, powerful shield to ward off sin. I think that God bestowed this shield upon our nature to keep our souls from evil conduct. Shame and disgrace have a certain compatibility which serves to deflect sin, provided that they are used for the soul's disposition. Shame, not fear, often instructs us to shun unbecoming behavior, but it rightly chastens persons who have fallen into disgrace [J.316] not to commit this sin again. If we wish to describe [M.652] the difference between shame and disgrace, we may call the latter is an intensification of the former, whereas shame is somewhat milder than disgrace. We see both their difference and similarity in the color of a person's face which manifests the various passions. Red indicates shame, a natural sympathy between soul and body, where the heat around one's heart boils up to manifest itself on the face. This bright, red, livid color appears when a person commits a fault, for fear combines with bile to produce blushing. Passion of this kind belongs to persons who admit their improper behavior yet no longer indulge in it. If this is so and if the book [of Ecclesiastes] says that passion can prevent us from transgressions [J.317], we should consider the Church's teaching as expressed through the confession of sins because this practice arms the soul against falling by mean of the shield offered by shame. Just as gluttony collects ill humors in oneself and a hot iron cures inflammation resulting from a cut as though it were a teaching for the next life while keeping in mind the body's cauterized wound, so the shame produced by passion will instruct a person for this future life if he accuses himself and reveals the secrets of his memory.

Such are the Church's teachings which we now find in the book of Ecclesiastes. The Church freely proclaims them before everyone as though they were written on a column so that ignorance and silence of them may be more glorious than speaking. Ecclesiastes says that it is impossible to accurately state whether or not these [doctrines] he has in mind are for our benefit. He utters words about virtue, yet a person considering them does not willingly [J.318] appropriate them. But if from personal experience Ecclesiastes condemns the apparent existence [of vanity] to make us avoid a similar situation, or if he freely rejects the enjoyment coming from pleasure in order to diligently train his senses through unpleasant experiences, let us willingly pay attention to his words and draw our own conclusions. We will now respond to anyone who claims that Ecclesiastes' experience results in pleasure. Persons who traverse the sea and explore its depths in the hope of finding pearls exert themselves in profitable labor, not in pleasure. If Solomon [M.653] resembles these men and devotes himself to fishing, he becomes submerged in pleasure; he is not filled with sea salt which to me represents pleasure but seeks that which is profitable for his mind in these depths. In my opinion this example may blunt our bodily inclinations by [J.319] restraining our desires because nature always has in store more vehement movements to hinder this process. A teacher faithful in such matters feels that people are no longer prone to detestable behavior once he has taught them the vanity of their experiences. He says that physicians are especially inclined to this when they diagnose illnesses in different bodies. Doctors who impart more sound advice for healing know that they have already been cured and conduct themselves as a result of this experience.

Let us now see what he who had suffered in his own life now says for our healing. "I enlarged my work, I built my houses" [2.4]. The text begins with a condemnation, for God does not perform this work but my own work which "I enlarged," that is, the one delighting my senses. This work is of one general kind yet is subtly divided into many to serve pleasure. Once a person has immersed himself in material things, his eye rushes to every place where pleasure comes to birth. Just as water flows through many channels from one fountain and does not diminish by dividing into many channels [J.320], so one pleasure with its various manifestations flows everywhere in life's different pursuits when united to the necessities of any given circumstance.

Life has provided a necessary a habitation for human nature; it is more feeble than the irregularities of warmth and cold, thereby requiring that we have a house in which to live. However, pleasure does violence by transgressing the bounds of its usefulness. If a person does not provide for his body's needs but has his eyes fixed on pleasure, he suffers as a consequence for it because he did not allow heaven to come under his roof; no longer can he have the sun's rays within his dwelling. Therefore he extends the circumference of his house as much as possible, making its area as big as the earth itself. He makes his walls exceedingly high and arranges the house's interior with various kinds of furniture to enhance its beauty. Whether or not a stone comes from [J.321] Lacaena, Thessalos, or Carystos, or iron in the floor is from Nilica and Numidia, Phrygian rock is included whose purple hue combines with marble's whiteness. It provides various delights for greedy eyes [M.656] by being an enormous diffusion of color depicted in white. How numerous must be the shapes and forms cut both by water and iron and by mens' hands who spent day and night sawing these objects! None of their efforts has satisfied their craving for creating vain ornaments; furthermore, they use various dyes for tainting the purity of glass in order to enhance its visual appeal. How can anyone claim that the skillful work [J.322] of carving tools can change trees back into trees again which yield branches, foliage and fruit? I will remain silent with regard to the gold included in this ornamentation and the light, thin material used as a coating. Greedy eyes look upon such work along with the vain adornment of ivory above entrances where nails or similar devices serve to fasten gold or silver. Who call tell of the house's floors resplendent with various colored stones which provide pleasure for one's feet? This is unnecessary for living, but greed is still not satisfied despite its search for such useless things. Some buildings are made for public walkways; still others are for strolling around in while others include [J.323] gates. Flamboyant doors and brightly colored gates are useless except for making an impression. Splendid lavers provide abundant water; the gymnasium is lavishly constructed with different kinds of marble; colonnades support the entire house with pillars from Numidia, Thessalika, or Soenita; copper on statues is fashioned into as many forms as greed desires; marble idols and pictures on tablets induce the eyes to commit fornication; art reveals through [J.324] imitation that which is invisible and whatever can then be seen is a cause for admiration and beauty.

How can anyone individually recount all the more endeavors which are preferable and to which man applies himself and are subject to condemnation and reproach? The more material structures abound in their magnificence, the more the soul's ugliness is censured. A person who attends to himself truly adorns his own dwelling so that when God abides there, he has various kinds of material which contribute to this [M.657] building. I know that gold shines in such works when unearthed by insights from scripture and that purified silver represents divine eloquence whose splendor shines forth through the truth. The splendor of the various stones adorning this temple's walls and pavement are the virtues, a true image of the beauty adorning this house. Let self-control lay down the pavement since it does not allow the building's inhabitant to be troubled by the dust of earthly mindedness. Let the hope for heaven adorn the roof. The soul's eye does not gaze upon images fashioned by chisels [J.325]; rather, it will see the archetypal beauty adorned with something of greater value than gold and silver.

If we must describe the masonry, then let incorruptibility and impassibility mold the house which justice and freedom will adorn. Let humility and patience shine in another part of the house along with piety befitting God. Let love [agape], the noble craftsman, fashion all these virtues in a marvelous way. If you desire baths in your house for cleansing the stains of your soul, you can use that bath which the great David delighted in each night [Ps 6,7.2]. Let the columns supporting the soul's courtyard not be of Phrygian marble or porphyry but stability in every good which is far more precious. This house forbids statues and pictures which [J.326] are deceptive imitations of truth because it already has an abundance of images of the truth. If you desire a place in which to walk about, you have the commandments. Wisdom says "I walk in the ways of righteousness and am conversant with the paths of judgment" [Prov 8.20]. How lovely it is when such [adornments] arouse the soul to carefully examine the commandments, to be trained in them and make us return to the place from which we started! This occurs when we fulfil the commandments which spur us on both a second and a third time, for the least detail of their piety never wearies us. The person who adorns his own dwelling cares little about earthly affairs. He is unconcerned with metals, does not traverse the sea to India to purchase ivory nor does he hire skilled workmen; rather, one's own house furnishes such material whose wealth consists in the exercise of free will. [NB: the Migne text does not resume until J.328.12] Our human nature yoked to the flesh offers healing provided that it is not deprived of any need. If necessary, we must warm this [J.327] chamber [the body] alone and provide it with shade when the sun burns us. A garment provides covering for the naked body; it does not have to be purple, scarlet, gold thread nor silk from Seres whose garments are woven from gold and purple. Similarly, food relieves hunger and provides pleasure by means of culinary techniques. If we are content with few advantages, our needs are cared for while we glorify God's work, not our own, so we need not make public our vanity as we learn from the words, "I enlarged my work" [2.4], not God's. Compelled by vain desires instead of need, I enlarged the dwelling of my flesh.

We correctly assume that the text [Ecclesiastes] offers further elucidation to what we have just read, that is, mental incoherence and the indignity of drunkenness. "I enlarged my work, built my houses" to which Ecclesiastes adds "I planted [J.328] my vineyards." The words "I enlarged" and what follows commonly mean abundance. The text does not mean the expansion of personal needs by the planting of vines. "I planted my vineyards," that is, I have provided material to burn fuel through the increase of pleasures because my mind sank low just as strong drink covers the mind with earth. "I planted my vines." I have not exercised self-control, Ecclesiastes says, like the drunken Noah [Gen 9.20+] because this lovely plant is both an object of pity and ridicule after it is stripped. [NB: the Migne text resumes here]

The more well-disposed sons of Noah pitied their father's indecency while others laughed and ridiculed him. Vineyards contain an entire list of passions which are [M.660] aggravated by wine, for who does not know that an immoderate use of wine fuels undiscipline? It includes a multitude of pleasures, youthful outrage, unbecoming old age [J.329], disgrace for women, a drug for madness, insanity, obnoxiousness for the soul, death to the mind and alienation from virtue. Drunkenness produces unreasonable laughter and crying, spontaneous tears, hollow boasting, irrational fear, indifference to fear, no reason for arrogance, thoughtless generosity and the promise of unfulfilled work. We may omit further unbecoming behavior such as indecent drowsiness, drunken stupor, unsteady feet and the twisting of one's neck which cannot remain steady. What kind of abomination makes a person commit incest with one's daughter? How was Lot deceived [Gen 19.30-38] to perpetrate a deed of which he was unaware? What new names were mysteriously given to those children? How did the mothers of such a polluted birth become sisters of their own children? How did a son have both a father and grandfather? Did not wine, which makes the mind irrational, cause this tragedy of disobedience? Did not inebriation form the subject of this story [J.330] and its excesses contribute to the invention of fables? The text says that Noah's children made him drunk [Gen 19.33,35]. The story refers this tragedy to life, namely, that drunkenness can rob us of our senses. Oh, how those women carry off wine with evil intent from the Sodomites! What miserable friendship they offer their father from such a wicked cup! How much better it would have been to corrupt that wine along with the Sodomites before the tragedy occurred! With so many examples of evil stemming from wine each day, Ecclesiastes shamelessly admits that he not only used wine but made certain to have it in abundance. "I have planted my vineyards." "I did not lack flourishing vines, that is, a spiritual, fruitful vine entwined with the branches of life and tendrils of love united to my own; they are adorned with graceful habits and nourished with the sweet, mature clusters of virtue instead of leaves" [2819]. [J.331 & M.661] As Proverbs says [12.11], he who plants these vines in his own soul tends the wine which gladdens the heart and works his own land [Sir 40.20]. The law requires from this farmer of wine-producing thoughts that he eliminate spurious roots planted with virtues, irrigate his soul with doctrine and cut away with a critical mind anything superficial or unreasonable. Blessed is this man who, because of his husbandry, presses his cluster in the cup of wisdom!

But the person whose mind is fixed on earth does not know about this and what it includes. He lavishes exquisite beauty upon these gardens and orchards [Eccl 2.5]. What need is there need for so many orchards instead of one? What use to me is a garden's produce whose food is for the sick? If I had been in paradise [paradeisos], I would not desire many orchards [paradeisoi]. If I lived well and ate solid food, I would not bother with vegetables, food appropriate for those who are sick. But once pleasure unites itself to necessity, desire transgresses its bounds [J.332] by possessing extravagant homes with expensive roofs and open air enclosures whose space provide delight. Cultivated trees are always green and bushy; they take the place of thatching in order that the the enclosure might enhance the home along with every kind of skillfully cultivated herb which clothes the earth's surface. Thus each room in the house strikes one's eyes as pleasant. At all times and in every season one may see delightful things: vegetation in the winter, flowers blossoming before their season, climbing vines entwining themselves to other branches and elegant ivy growing around trees and blending with other growth. The pleasure offered to eye and tongue signify a union obtained from different plants. All these plants to which horticultural skill is applied are not required to support life but are for our undisciplined desires.

Ecclesiastes says that he cultivated [J.333] these plants in gardens and orchards. "I have planted every kind of fruit tree" [2.5], that is, many kinds of trees. The delights of this open enclosure and roofed in space are irrigated to yield fruit which their respective habitats require: on earth that which belongs to it, in the air through trees and in the water whatever belongs to the sea. In order to both delight and deceive one's eyes, [M.664] the pool is constructed for swimming and washing while the overflow is put at the service of making orchards blossom. "I have made pools of water to water timber-bearing wood" [2.6]. If the orchard's fountain were mine, that is, the teaching of virtues which irrigate the soul, I would hold in contempt the transient waters of this world whose pleasures pass away. Therefore, nothing can be better than the divine fountain which irrigate and make the soul's virtues grow. It flows in a narrow channel [J.334] to make a grove of good deeds flourish in our souls through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

The topic of [Ecclesiastes'] confession detains us because for by speaking about himself he lists all those characteristics enabling us to recognize the vanity of this life. It is as though he now puts a greater censure upon mens' deeds and accuses them of passion due to their arrogance. Among those things he includes is an expensive home, many vineyards, beautiful gardens, pools and orchards, do we find a person who regards himself as lord over his fellow man? "I obtained servants, maidens, servants born to me in my house" [2.7]. Do you see here a pride which makes false pretensions? Such words as these rise up against God. As prophecy has told us [Ps 118.91], all things serve [God] whose power is over them. As for the person who appropriates to himself [J.335] what belongs to God and attributes to himself power over the human race as if he were its lord, what other arrogant statement transgressing human nature makes this person regard himself as different from those over whom he rules? "I obtained servants and maidens." What are you saying? You condemn man who is free and autonomous to servitude, and you contradict God by perverting the natural law. Man, who was created as lord over the earth, you have put under the yoke of servitude as a transgressor and rebel against the divine precept. You have forgotten the limit of your authority which consists in jurisdiction over brutish animals. Scripture says that man shall rule birds, beasts, fish, four-footed animals and reptiles [Gen 1.26]. How can you transgress the servitude bestowed upon you and raise yourself against man's freedom by stripping yourself of the servitude proper to beasts? "You have subjected all things to man," the psalmist prophetically cries out [Ps 8.7-8], referring to those subject to reason as "sheep, oxen, and cattle" [M.665].

Do sheep and oxen beget [J.336] men for you? Irrational beasts have only one kind of servitude. Do these form a paltry sum for you? "He makes grass grow for the cattle and green herbs for the service of men" [Ps 103.14]. But once you have freed yourself from servitude and bondage, you desire to have others serve you. "I have obtained servants and maidens." What value is this, I ask? What merit do you see in their nature? What small worth have you bestowed upon them? What payment do you exchange for your nature which God has fashioned? God has said, "Let us make man according to our image and likeness" [Gen 1.26]. Since we are made according to God's likeness and are appointed to rule over the entire earth, tell me, who is the person who sells and buys? Only God can do this; however, it does not pertain to him at all "for the gifts of God are irrevocable" [Rom 11.29]. Because God called human nature to freedom which had become addicted to sin, he would not subject it to servitude again. If God did not subject freedom to slavery, who can deny his lordship? How does the ruler of the entire earth obtain dominion [J.337] since every possession requires payment? How can we properly estimate the earth in its entirety as well as its contents? If these things are inestimable, tell me, how much greater is man's value who is over them? If you mention the entire world you discover nothing equivalent to man's honor. He who knows human nature says that the world is not an adequate exchange for man's soul. When the Lord of the earth bought man, he acquired nothing more precious. He will then proclaim this surpassing possession along with the earth, island, sea and everything in them.

What is the deposit God puts down? What will he receive from the contract by which he has received possession? Does an account, written agreement or small amount of money deceive you in order to obtain the image of God? Oh, what a delusion! If the contract perishes, moths corrode the letters and dripping water brings destruction, where are your pledges of domination? I see nothing more than a title [J.338] under your control. What authority enhances your nature? It is neither time, beauty, honor nor virtue. These yield a life similarly dominated by passions of both soul and body with you as its lord: suffering and cheerfulness, joy and sadness, grief and pleasure, wrath and fear, pain and death. Do not these belong to both slave and lord who breathe the same air and look upon the sun? Does not food [M.668] nourish them both? Do not they have the same intestines? Do not both become dust in death? Is there not one standard? Is there not a common rule and a common hell? How can you who are equal in all things have superiority so that as man, you consider yourself as man's ruler and say "I have servants and maidens" as if they were goats or cattle? When Ecclesiastes said that "I have servants and maidens" he also speaks of his prosperity in flocks and herds: "I also had abundant possessions of flocks and herds," both of which were subject to his authority.

Ecclesiastes proceeds to mention great sins [J.339] and cries out that avarice is the root of all evil. "I collected for myself both silver and gold" [2.8]. What is more harmful than gold mixed with earth in those locations where the Creator had originally placed it? What is more advantageous for you than the earth's bounty which the Creator has made? Do not fruit trees contribute to your nourishment? Then why do you violate the bounds of authority? Show what the Creator has bestowed upon you such as mining, digging, burning and gathering what you have not scattered. This is not an accusation against gathering metal from the earth to manufacture money but since the mind cannot be free of avarice, Ecclesiastes adds "The special treasures of kings and princes" [2.8]. Kings gather wealth from provinces, a clear indication that they impose burdens, collect taxes and take money from their subjects. And so Ecclesiastes says that he gathers gold and silver. But whether or not this is true, I know that a great benefit lies in store for the person who collects such material possessions. [J.340] Let us exchange neither a mina, drachma or talent with avaricious persons; instead, let us hasten to turn everything into gold. As soon as possible let us exchange the earth, sand, mountains plains and vales for this material. What contribution do these have for happiness? If one sees in the universe what he now beholds on a small scale, how can such wealth benefit the soul or body? How can gold make a person wise, ingenious, contemplative, skilled, dear to God, pure, lacking passion and free from evil? Or if this is not the case, what good is there in being strong in body or in seeing one's life prolonged for many years and free from illness and harm? However, [M.669] no one is so vain nor inattentive to human nature to realize that these benefits are available for men even though a great amount of money is available for everyone.

We now observe many wealthy persons living pitiful lives; if it were not for people capable of healing them, they would not deem life worth living. If neither body nor soul benefits from [J.341] our opinion of gold's abundance, then how much more futile is it to prove gold's value to persons who possess it! For what material advantage is our lack of taste, smell, hearing or the sense of touch? As for me, let no one offer food or clothing in exchange for gold. The person who gives bread or clothing for gold exchanges a benefit for something useless in order to live, whereas anyone who takes nourishing food instead of gold lives. What profit, advise, lesson, warning or consolation for bodily pains can we derive from such material aggrandizement? A greedy person counts money, stores it up, signs documents, seals them, denies requests and swears falsely to another unfaithful person. Such is his happiness, the goal of his efforts and pleasure, as long as prosperity fuels his false oaths. However, this person claims that gold's appearance is lovely; it is more beautiful than the color of fire, the star's beauty and the sun's rays. Who hinders your enjoyment so that [J.342] you must provide pleasure for your eyes through gold's beautiful color? Yet Ecclesiastes says that fire goes out, the sun sets and our pleasure derived from such beauty is transitory. Tell me, how does gold differ from lead when it becomes dark? But Ecclesiastes says that necklaces, buckles, girdles, armlets, crowns and such adornments come neither from fire nor the stars. Trust in material objects leads to the highest form of vanity. With this in mind I now ask what type of perso