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is signified by "vain things"; as if one should say: "and you will know where you were, when you trusted in vain things", that is, in temporary things. It can also mean sins themselves. "in vain" he has taken it who rises early in the morning and drinks wine and stays late so as to be inflamed by wine; for "Woe to them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!". Otherwise again, they are eager to rise from dawn and to hasten to law courts, which is followed by committing injustice. This one "has taken his soul in vain". And what is said in Isaiah to some people is in harmony with this: "the strength of your spirit is vain". Here spirit is the mind/will. This is similar to what was said about the virgin, that just as in body, so also in spirit she is holy, by will and by mind. "Vain", therefore, "is the strength of your spirit". If then someone distresses his mind and will with the "cares of this life" for vain things, he has a vain strength. They spend the power of thinking on vain things. It is possible to see such people as even more wicked. They spend the entire strength of their mind on these things. A second interpretation of: "who has not taken his soul in vain": God made man rational, not so that he might only have reason and do nothing according to it; for he has made him rational for this reason, that he might receive virtue and practice it. "He has taken his soul in vain" not because God gave it thus, but because he himself has taken it thus. As if one might say, for example: he has made man of soul and body, and there are certain movements of the soul, and there are also of the body. We have the activity of our members: walking, doing something with our hands, seeing. If someone, therefore, let's say, having feet never walks, in a way he has his feet "in vain". And also toward an anagogical interpretation: what follows the preceding verses compels one to interpret them anagogically as well. "The earth" is "the Lord's", that "good and noble heart" which received the seed that Jesus sowed and bore fruit a hundredfold, or sixty, or thirty. I have often said that the same intelligible things can be understood in several ways, as when I said the soul is called both a sheep and a plant. Here, therefore, the same earth is both earth and the inhabited world. When, therefore, it bears fruit in the practical virtues, it is the earth having its fullness. But when it has the divine gifts of the spirit, it is the inhabited world having its inhabitants. It is not desolate; for it has not been said: "Come, and let us forsake her", as was said to the slandered inhabited world. And this is the synagogue of the Jews. And this extends also to every soul which was formerly inhabited, but is forsaken for its own fault. Therefore, this is connected to what follows: "He has founded it upon the seas". The place around the earth is called sea and seas, and the condition of those living here. Amidst storms and in saltiness it has its being—I mean, its dwelling—upon these seas he has founded it. And this sea receives the dragnet of Jesus, so that from it good creatures, the virtuous, may be caught. And if these friends of virtue who are hunted are said to be hunted out of the sea in one way, so that they may be outside of it, and in another way to be founded upon the sea; for here they are founded, so that they might appear "founded and rooted in love". "And upon the rivers" which flow from the belly of the one who has the spirit they are prepared, so that they may receive these rivers that flow from the belly of each of the faithful. And the rivers are the different gifts of the spirit. To the one being questioned who wishes to learn: "Who is it that ascends to the mountain of the Lord and stands in his holy place"? an answer is given: "You ask who it is that ascends and stands? He who is innocent in his hands and pure in his heart, who has not taken his soul in vain"; this is he.

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ματαίων σημαίνεται· ὡς ἐὰν λέγῃ· "καὶ γνώσῃ ὅπου ἦσθα, ὅτε ἐπεποίθεις ἐπὶ τοῖς ματαίοις", ἐπὶ τοῖς προσκαίροις. δύναται καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα. "ἐπὶ ματαίῳ" αὐτὴν ἔλαβεν ὁ ἐγειρόμενος τὸ πρωὶ καὶ πίνων τὸν οἶνον καὶ μένων τὸ ὀψὲ ὥστε ὑπὸ τοῦ οἴνου συνκαίεσθαι· "οὐαὶ" γὰρ "οἱ ἐγειρόμενοι τὸ πρωὶ καὶ τὸ σίκερα διώκοντες καὶ μένοντες τὸ ὀψέ· ὁ δὲ οἶνος αὐτοὺς συνκαύσει". ἄλλως πάλιν σπουδὴν ἔχουσιν ἐξ ἕω ἀνίστασθαι καὶ σπεύδειν ἐπὶ δικαστήρια, οἷς παρέπεται τὸ ἀδικεῖν. οὗτος "ἐπὶ ματαίῳ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἔλαβεν". συνᾴδει καὶ τὸ ἐν Ἰσαίᾳ λεγόμενον πρός τινας· "ματαία ἡ ἰσχὺς τοῦ πνεύματος ὑμῶν". ὧδε πνεῦμα ἡ γνώμη. παραπλησίως τοῦτο καὶ τῷ εἰρημένῳ περὶ τῆς παρθένου, ὅτι ὥσπερ σώματι, οὕτω καὶ πνεύματι ἁγία ἐστίν, γνώμῃ καὶ νῷ. "ματαία" οὖν "ἡ ἰσχὺς τοῦ πνεύματος ὑμῶν". ἐάν τις οὖν τὸν νοῦν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν γνώμην ὀδυνᾶται ταῖς "βιωτικαῖς φροντίσεσιν" εἰς τὰ μάταια, ματαίαν τὴν ἰσχὺν ἔχει. τὴν τοῦ νοεῖν δύναμιν εἰς τὰ μάταια ἀναλίσκουσιν. ἔστιν γοῦν ἰδεῖν τοὺς τοιούτους καὶ κακουργοτέρους. πάνυ ὅλην τὴν ἰσχὺν τοῦ νοῦ εἰς ταῦτα ἀναλίσκουσιν. δευτέρα ἀπόδοσις εἰς τό· "ὃς οὐκ ἔλαβεν ἐπὶ ματαίῳ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ"· κατεσκεύασεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον λογικόν, οὐχ ἵνα μόνον ἔχῃ λογισμὸν καὶ μηδὲν κατ' αὐτὸν πράττῃ· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ τὸν λογικὸν πεποίηκεν, ἵνα δέχηται ἀρετὴν καὶ ἐνεργῇ αὐτήν. "ἐπὶ ματαίῳ τὴν ψυχὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἔλαβεν" οὐ θεοῦ οὕτως αὐτὴν δεδωκότος, ἀλλὰ αὐτοῦ οὕτως αὐτὴν εἰληφότος. ὡς εἴ τις λέγοι οἷον· πεποίηκεν ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώμα τος τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καί εἰσίν τινα τῆς ψυχῆς κινήματα, εἰσὶν δὲ καὶ τοῦ σώματος. ἔχομεν ἐνέργειαν μελῶν τὸ βαδίζ̣ειν̣, τὸ διὰ χειρῶν τι ποιεῖν, τὸ ὁρᾶν. ἐάν τις οὖν, φέρε, πόδας ἔχων μηδέποτε βαδίζῃ, τρόπον τινὰ "ἐπὶ ματαίῳ" τοὺς πόδας ἔχει. καὶ πρὸς ἀναγωγὴν δέ· τὰ ἑξῆς τῶν προτέρων στίχων βιάζεται καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀναγαγεῖν. "τοῦ κυρίου" ἐστὶν "ἡ γῆ" ἐκείνη "ἡ καρδία ἡ καλὴ καὶ ἀγαθὴ" ἡ δεξαμένη ὃν ἔβαλεν Ἰησοῦς σπόρον καὶ ἑκατονταπλασίω ἐκαρποφόρησεν ἢ εἰς ἑκατὸν καὶ ἑξήκοντα καὶ τριάκοντα. πολλάκις εἶπον, ὅτι τὰ νοητὰ δύναται κατὰ πλείονας ἐπινοίας τὰ αὐτὰ λαμβάνεσθαι, ὅτε ἔλεγον τὴν ψυχὴν λέγε68 σθαι καὶ πρόβατον καὶ φυτόν. ἐνταῦθα οὖν ἡ αὐτὴ γῆ καὶ γῆ ἐστιν καὶ οἰκουμένη. ὅταν οὖν καρποφορῇ τὰς πρακτικὰς ἀρετάς, γῆ ἐστιν πλήρωμα ἔχουσα. ὅταν δὲ τὰ θεῖα χαρίσματα ἔχῃ τοῦ πνεύματος, οἰκουμένη ἐστὶν ἔχουσα τοὺς κατοικοῦντας. οὔκ ἐστιν ἔρημος· οὐ γὰρ εἴρηκεν· "δεῦτε καὶ ἐνκαταλείψωμεν αὐτήν", ὡς τῇ διαβαλλομένῃ οἰκουμένῃ εἴρηται. αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ τῶν Ἰουδαίων συναγωγή. τοῦτο δὲ παρατείνει καὶ εἰς πᾶσαν ψυχὴν ἔχουσαν μὲν πρότερον τὸ οἰκεῖσθαι, παρ' ἰδίαν δὲ αἰτίαν ἐνκαταλειπομένην. συνάπτεται οὖν τούτοις τό· "αὐτὸς ἐπὶ θαλασσῶν ἐθεμελίωσεν αὐτήν". θάλασσα καὶ θάλασσαι ὁ περὶ γῆν τόπος ὀνομά ζεται καὶ ἡ κατάστασις τῶν ἐνταῦθα διαγόντων. ἐν τρικυμίαις καὶ ἐν ἁλμυρότητι ἐχούσης τὸ εἶναι, τὴν οἴκησιν λέγω, ἐπὶ τούτων τῶν θαλασσῶν ἐθεμελίωσεν. αὕτη δὲ ἡ θάλασσα λαμβάνει τὴν Ἰησοῦ σαγήνην, ἵνα ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀγρευθῶσιν καλὰ ζῷα, οἱ σπουδαῖοι. ἐὰν δὲ οἱ τῆς ἀρετῆς φίλοι οὗτοι οἱ θηρευόμενοι, ἄλλως λέγονται θηρεύεσθαι ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης, ἵν' ἐκτὸς αὐτῆς γένωνται, καὶ ἄλλως ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάττης τεθεμελιῶσθαι· ὧδε γὰρ θεμελιοῦνται, ἵν' "ἐν ἀγάπῃ τεθεμελιωμένοι καὶ ῥεριζωμένοι" ἀναφανῶσιν. "καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ποταμῶν" τῶν ῥεόντων ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας τοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα ἔχοντος ἑτοιμάζονται, ἵνα δέχωνται τοὺς ποταμοὺς τούτους τοὺς ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας ἑκάστου τῶν πιςτῶν ῥέοντας. εἰσὶν δὲ τὰ διάφορα τοῦ πνεύματος χαρίσματα οἱ ποταμοί. πρὸς τὸν ἀνακρινόμενον μαθεῖν θέλοντα· "τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἀναβαίνων εἰς τὸ ὄρος τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἱστάμενος εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν ἅγιον"; ἀπόκρισις φέρεται· "ζητεῖς τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἀναβαίνων καὶ ἱστάμενος; ὁ ταῖς χερσὶν ἀθῷος καὶ καθαρὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὁ μὴ λαβὼν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐπὶ ματαίῳ"· οὗτός