Commentary on Ecclesiastes
It should be noted that here 'bosom' is used as a synonym for the soul; for no one would say that the mind rests in the sensible bosom. Regarding Ecclesiastes 7:10, do not say: 'What happened that the days that were before were better than these?' because you did not inquire about this in wisdom. If 'the fear of the Lord adds days' (Eccl 7:1), it is for us to enjoy the good or better days of holy knowledge.
To think that things are given to the elders according to time and the first things of knowledge is not wise; for even if something is ancient, it is not necessarily worthy of honor, since even evil is ancient, but it is not worthy of being honored because of time, if 'not the long-lived are wise, nor do the elders understand judgment' (Eccl 7:15).
Regarding 'good wisdom with inheritance, and abundance to those who behold the sun' (Eccl 7:11), and 'for wisdom is like the shadow of silver, and an abundance of knowledge will vivify the one beside it' (Eccl 7:12): just as those who behold the sun possess something more than those who have beheld it but no longer behold it, so those who happen to have wisdom and have authority over it have possessed something more—this is what is meant by 'with inheritance'—than those who received it and fell from it through their own lawlessness. For everyone who has acquired wisdom and lost it first acquired a shadow of wisdom and not wisdom, and later it seems as if a man had acquired a shadow of silver but had not acquired silver; for wisdom is by nature not something merely received, but it vivifies the one who possesses it through knowledge.
Regarding 'there is a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and there is a godless man living in his wickedness' (Eccl 7:15-16), destruction is called so, as is the abandonment through testing, as in the case of Job: 'I have perished, for he says, and I have become a stranger' (Job 3:23). 'But from me a little,' says the...
Greek
ἀναπαύσεται Σημειωτέον ὅτι κόλπον ἄντικρυς ἐνταῦθα τὴν ψυχὴν ὀνομάζει· οὐ γὰρ ἄν τις εἴποι τὸ θυμὸν ἐν τῷ αἰσθητῷ ἀναπαύσασθαι κόλπῳ. 59 7, 10 μὴ εἴπῃς· τί ἐγένετο ὅτι αἱ ἡμέραι αἱ πρότερον ἦσαν ἀγαθαὶ ὑπὲρ ταύτας; ὅτι οὐκ ἐν σοφίᾳ ἐπηρώτησας περὶ τούτου Εἰ «φόβος κυρίου προστίθησιν ἡμέρας», ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐστι τὸ ἀγαθῶν ἢ ἀγαθωτέρων ἀπολαύειν τῶν τῆς ἁγίας γνώσεως ἡμερῶν. Τὸ δὲ νομίζειν τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις κατὰ τὸν χρόνον καὶ τὰ πρωτεῖα τῆς γνώσεως δίδοσθαι οὐ σοφῶν· οὐδὲ γὰρ εἴ τι ἀρχαῖον, τοῦτο καὶ τιμῆς ἄξιον, ἐπειδὴ παλαιὰ μὲν πάντως καὶ ἡ κακία, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ καὶ τιμᾶσθαι διὰ τὸν χρόνον ἀξία, εἴπερ «οὐχ οἱ πολυχρόνιοί εἰσι σοφοὶ οὐδ' οἱ γέροντες οἴδασι κρίμα». 60 7, 11 ἀγαθὴ σοφία μετὰ κληροδοσίας, καὶ περισσεία τοῖς θεωροῦσιν τὸν ἥλιον· 7, 12 ὅτι ἐν σκιᾷ αὐτῆς ἡ σοφία ὡς σκιὰ τοῦ ἀργυρίου, καὶ περισσεία γνώσεως τῆς σοφίας ζωοποιήσει τὸν παρ' αὐτῆσ Ὥσπερ ἔχουσί τι περισσὸν οἱ θεωροῦντες τὸν ἥλιον τῶν τεθεωρηκότων μέν, μηκέτι δὲ θεωρούντων, οὕτω κέκτηνταί τι πλέον οἱ τυχόντες σοφίας καὶ ἐξουσιάσαντες αὐτῆς–τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ «μετὰ κληροδοσίας»–τῶν λαβόντων καὶ ἐκπεσόντων αὐτῆς δι' οἰκείας παρανομίας. Ὅτι πᾶς ὁ κτησάμενος σοφίαν καὶ ἀπολέσας αὐτὴν πρῶτον μὲν σκιὰν σοφίας καὶ οὐ σοφίαν ἐκτήσατο, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ ἔοικεν ἀνθρώπῳ σκιὰν ἀργυρίου κατεσχηκότι, ἀργύριον δὲ μὴ κτησαμένῳ· ἡ γὰρ σοφία πέφυκεν οὐ λαμβανομένη, ἀλλὰ συνοῦσα ζωοποιεῖν διὰ τῆς γνώσεως τὸν κεκτημένον αὐτήν. 61 7, 15.2–3 ἔστιν δίκαιος ἀπολλυόμενος ἐν δικαίῳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔστιν ἀσεβὴς μένων ἐν κακίᾳ αὐτοῦ Ἀπώλεια λέγεται καὶ ἡ διὰ δοκιμὴν ἐγκατάλειψις, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰώβ· «ἀπωλόμην γάρ, φησί, καὶ ἔξοικος ἐγενόμην.» 62 «Ἐμοῦ δὲ παρὰ μικρόν, φησὶν ὁ
About this text
Evagrius's notes on Ecclesiastes: vanity, toil, and where lasting meaning hides.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 40 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.