Eclesiastes 3
Evagrius Ponticus · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Eclesiastes 3:11
I have seen, he says, the material world that preoccupies human minds, that which God gave to the human race prior to its cleansing so that they would occupy themselves. He means here that the beauty of the material world is temporal, not eternal. For, after cleansing, the one who is pure no longer needs to view material things only as a diversion of the mind. Rather, he can also use them in spiritual contemplation. — SCHOLIA ON ECCLESIASTES 15:3.10-13
Eclesiastes 3:15
If those are "blessed who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" and at the same time the kingdom of heaven is the totality of the ideas of the things that have been and will come into being, then it follows that the persecuted are blessed because they have insight into the knowledge of created things. — SCHOLIA ON ECCLESIASTES 19:3.15
Eclesiastes 3:19
By "fate" he means everything that is part of the life of anyone in this world, whether that person is righteous or unrighteous—things such as life, death, sickness, health, affluence, poverty, loss of limbs, of wives, children or possessions. In all these it is impossible to discern between the righteous and unrighteous before the last judgment. He also says that both have in common the fact that they are taken from dust and will return to dust. They also have one soul, not by number but by nature. For the Spirit, he says, "is one [and the same] in all." Here he calls a man, who was born in honor, a beast instead of labeling him as someone of understanding. It is because of his foolish desires that he is compared with the senseless beasts and that he ends up becoming like them. And not even through their acts can the righteous and unrighteous be clearly distinguished before the day of judgment, because a good number of the unrighteous become righteous and are elevated, while a good number of the righteous abandon virtue and are debased. "What is the advantage of the righteous over the ungodly?" In this present time, he says, there is no advantage. Everything is vanity except for the spiritual joy that naturally occurs to each according to his deeds and virtues. — SCHOLIA ON ECCLESIASTES 21:3.19-22