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bringing to mind those things which he says he has enjoyed through every sense, with both the eyes finding things for pleasure and the soul having everything according to its desire without hindrance; then he interprets that first utterance, which he made in the introduction of his discourse, having declared that all 5.352 things are vanity. For he says that looking at these things he made a declaration about human life, that *All is vanity*, whatever sense perceives and is practiced by men for enjoyment. *For I looked upon all my works, which my hands had done, and on all my labor, in which I had labored to do them, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there is no advantage under the sun.* For all the power and activity of the senses has as its limit this life under the sun, but the sensate nature is not able to cross beyond and come to a conception of the goods that lie above. Therefore, having considered all these and such things, he instructs our life not to be disposed in wonder towards any of the things here, wealth, ambition, rule over subjects, delights and luxuries and drinking-parties and whatever else is considered to be of value, but to see that one end of all such things is vanity, of which no surplus is found for what comes after. For just as those who write on water are active with the hand in writing, tracing the forms of the letters on the liquid, but nothing of the marks remains in its shape, but the effort of writing is in the writing alone; for the surface of the water always follows the hand, smoothing over what has been marked; so every effort 5.353 and activity for enjoyment disappears in the things that are happening. For when the activity has ceased, the enjoyment is also wiped away, and nothing is stored up for what comes after, nor is any trace or remnant of gladness left for those who took pleasure, once the activity involving pleasure has passed. This is what the word means when it says that *There is no advantage under the sun* for those who labor at such things, the end of which is vanity; from which may we too be kept outside by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

HOMILY V

Now our mystical instruction into the higher lessons comes from the great guide of the church. For having first purified souls through the preceding words and having removed them from every desire arising in men in connection with vanity, he thus brings to the truth the mind that has shaken off the burden of vanities from its shoulders like some cargo. Let the church be instructed in such a thing as in a dogma, learning through the present teaching that 5.354 the beginning of the life of virtue is to get outside of vice. For even the great David, making a certain introductory instruction to the pure life in his psalms, does not begin his discourse from the perfection of those things contemplated in the beatitude. For he did not say in the first place that the one who prospers in all things is blessed, the one likened to a tree, rooted by the streams of water, who remains ever-green in good things, who in the proper seasons reaps the fruit of his own life, but he made the beginning of blessedness the departure from evil things, as it is not possible to become good otherwise, before washing off the filth of vice. So, therefore, this great Ecclesiastes first removes the vanities with his word, so that just as in the case of a sick body, when the disease has been cleansed by the proper treatments, the good of health automatically arises. For this reason he inveighed in his discourse against vanity, he said that sense perception is not a safe criterion of the good, he brought into view the non-existence in things eagerly sought, he separated our desiring disposition from bodily enjoyment; and thus he indicates the

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ἐπίνοιαν ἄγουσα, ὧν ἀπολελαυ κέναι φησὶ διὰ πάσης αἰσθήσεως, τῶν τε ὀφθαλμῶν τὰ πρὸς ἡδονὴν εὑρισκόντων τῆς τε ψυχῆς ἐχούσης πᾶν τὸ κατ' ἐπιθυμίαν ἀκώλυτον· τότε τὴν πρώτην ἑρμηνεύει φωνήν, ἣν ἐν προοιμίοις τοῦ λόγου πεποίηται, μάταια εἶναι τὰ 5.352 πάντα ἀποφηνάμενος. φησὶ γὰρ πρὸς ταῦτα βλέπων περὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς ἀποφήνασθαι, ὅτι Πάντα ματαιότης ἐστίν, ὅσα ἥ τε αἴσθησις βλέπει καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰς εὐφροσύνην ἐπιτηδεύεται. Ἐπέβλεψα γὰρ ἐγὼ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ποιήμασί μου, οἷς ἐποίησαν αἱ χεῖρές μου, καὶ ἐν παντὶ μόχθῳ μου, ᾧ ἐμόχθησα τοῦ ποιεῖν, καὶ ἰδοὺ τὰ πάντα ματαιότης καὶ προαίρεσις πνεύματος, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι περισσεία ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον. πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ τῶν αἰσθήσεων δύναμίς τε καὶ ἐνέργεια ὅρον ἔχει τὴν ὑφ' ἡλίῳ ζωήν, τὸ δὲ ἐπέκεινα διαβῆναι καὶ τῶν ὑπερκειμένων ἀγαθῶν ἐν περινοίᾳ γενέσθαι ἡ αἰσθητικὴ φύσις οὐ δύναται. ταῦτα οὖν πάντα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα κατασκεψάμενος παιδεύει τὸν βίον τὸ πρὸς μηδὲν τῶν ὧδε θαυμαστικῶς διατίθεσθαι, πλοῦτον, φιλοτιμίαν, τὴν κατὰ τῶν ὑποχειρίων ἀρχήν, θυμηδίας τε καὶ τρυφὰς καὶ συμπόσια καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο τῶν τιμίων εἶναι νενόμισται, ἀλλ' ὁρᾶν, ὅτι ἓν τέλος τῶν τοιούτων πάντων ἡ ματαιότης ἐστίν, ἧς περισσεία εἰς τὸ ἐφεξῆς οὐχ εὑρίσκεται. καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ καθ' ὕδατος γράφοντες ἐνεργοῦσι μὲν διὰ τῆς χειρὸς τὴν γραφὴν τοὺς τύπους τῶν χαρακτήρων ἐν τῷ ὑγρῷ διαγράφοντες, μένει δὲ τῶν χαραγμάτων οὐδὲν ἐπὶ σχήματος, ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ γράφειν σπουδὴ ἐν μόνῳ τῷ γράφειν ἐστίν· ἕπεται γὰρ ἀεὶ τῇ χειρὶ ἡ τοῦ ὕδατος ἐπιφάνεια τὸ κεχαραγ μένον ἐπιλεαίνουσα· οὕτως πᾶσα ἡ ἀπολαυστικὴ σπουδὴ 5.353 καὶ ἐνέργεια τοῖς γινομένοις ἐναφανίζεται. παυσαμένης γὰρ τῆς ἐνεργείας ἐξηλείφθη καὶ ἡ ἀπόλαυσις, καὶ οὐδὲν εἰς τὸ ἐφεξῆς τεταμίευται οὐδὲ ὑπελείφθη τι τοῖς ἡδομένοις ἴχνος εὐφροσύνης ἢ λείψανον, παρελθούσης τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἡδονὴν ἐνεργείας. τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὃ σημαίνει ὁ λόγος εἰπών, ὅτι Οὐκ ἔστι περισσεία ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον τοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα πονοῦσιν, ὧν τὸ πέρας ματαιότης ἐστίν· ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἔξω γενοίμεθα χάριτι τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Εʹ

Νῦν ἡμῖν παρὰ τοῦ μεγάλου τῆς ἐκκλησίας καθηγεμόνος ἡ ἐπὶ τὰ ὑψηλότερα τῶν μαθημάτων γίνεται μυσταγωγία. προκαθήρας γὰρ τὰς ψυχὰς διὰ τῶν προλαβόντων λόγων καὶ πάσης ἀποστήσας τῆς κατὰ τὸ μάταιον ἐγγινομένης τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπιθυμίας οὕτω προσάγει τῇ ἀληθείᾳ τὸν νοῦν οἷόν τι φορτίον ἐξ ὤμων τὴν ἀχθηδόνα τῶν ματαίων ἀπο σεισάμενον. τὸ δὲ τοιοῦτον ὡς ἐν δόγματι παιδευέσθω ἡ ἐκκλησία, μαθοῦσα διὰ τῆς παρούσης διδασκαλίας, ὅτι 5.354 ἀρχὴ τοῦ κατ' ἀρετὴν βίου ἐστὶ τὸ τῆς κακίας ἐκτὸς γενέσθαι. καὶ γὰρ ὁ μέγας ∆αβὶδ εἰσαγωγικήν τινα πρὸς τὴν καθαρὰν πολιτείαν ὑφήγησιν ἐν ταῖς ψαλμῳδίαις ποιούμενος οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς τελειότητος τῶν ἐν τῷ μακαρισμῷ θεωρουμένων τοῦ λόγου ἄρχεται. οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν ἐν πρώτοις μακαριστὸν εἶναι τὸν ἐν πᾶσι κατευοδούμενον, τὸν ὡμοιωμένον τῷ ξύλῳ, τὸν ἐν ταῖς διεξόδοις τῶν ὑδάτων ἐρριζωμένον, τὸν ἀειθαλῆ ἐν τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς διαμένοντα, τὸν ἐν τοῖς καθήκουσι χρόνοις τὸν καρπὸν τοῦ ἰδίου βίου δρεπόμενον, ἀλλ' ἀρχὴν μακαρισμοῦ τὴν ἀπόστασιν τῶν κακῶν ἐποιήσατο, ὡς οὐκ ἐνδεχόμενον ἄλλως ἀγαθὸν γενέσθαι, πρὶν ἀποκλύσασθαι τῆς κακίας τὸν ῥύπον. οὕτω τοίνυν καὶ ὁ πολὺς οὗτος ἐκκλησιαστὴς ὑπεξαιρεῖ πρῶτον τῷ λόγῳ τὰ μάταια, ἵνα καθάπερ ἐπὶ σώματος κάμνοντος ταῖς καθηκούσαις ἐπιμελείαις ἐκκαθαρ θέντος τοῦ ἀρρωστήματος αὐτομάτως τὸ ἀγαθὸν τῆς ὑγείας ἐγγένηται. διὰ τοῦτο κατέδραμε τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ματαιότητος, εἶπεν οὐκ ἀσφαλὲς τοῦ καλοῦ κριτήριον εἶναι τὴν αἴσθησιν, ὑπ' ὄψιν ἤγαγε τὸ ἐν τοῖς σπουδαζομένοις ἀνύπαρκτον, ἐχώρισε τὴν ἐπιθυμητικὴν ἡμῶν διάθεσιν τῆς σωματικῆς ἀπολαύσεως· καὶ οὕτως ὑποδείκνυσι τὸ