Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Ecclesiastes 1:2
There are 11 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 632, footnote 9 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)
Book VII (HTML)
Chapter L (HTML)
... conceive me;” also, “They are estranged from the womb;” which is followed by the singular expression, “They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.” Besides, our wise men have such a contempt for all sensible objects, that sometimes they speak of all material things as vanity: thus, “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that subjected the same in hope;” at other times as vanity of vanities, “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, all is vanity.”[Ecclesiastes 1:2] Who has given so severe an estimate of the life of the human soul here on earth, as he who says: “Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity?” He does not hesitate at all as to the difference between the present life of the soul and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 52, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
On the Morals of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
Popular Renown and Inquisitiveness are Condemned in the Sacred Scriptures. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 107 (In-Text, Margin)
... said, "Be not conformed to this world," —for the point is to show that a man is conformed to whatever he loves,—to this authority, then, if I seek for a parallel passage in the Old Testament, I find several; but there is one book of Solomon, called Ecclesiastes, which at great length brings all earthly things into utter contempt. The book begins thus: "Vanity of the vain, saith the Preacher, vanity of the vain; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?"[Ecclesiastes 1:2-3] If all these words are considered, weighed, and thoroughly examined, many things are found of essential importance to those who seek to flee from the world and to take shelter in God; but this requires time and our discourse hastens on to other ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 303, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
On Marriage and Concupiscence. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
The Rise and Origin of Evil. The Exorcism and Exsufflation of Infants, a Primitive Christian Rite. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2310 (In-Text, Margin)
... shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me;” or again, how “man was made like unto vanity: his days pass away like a shadow;” or again, “behold, Thou hast made my days old, and my existence as nothing before Thee; nay, every man living is altogether vanity;” or how the apostle says, “every creature was made subject to vanity;” or how it is written in the book of Ecclesiastes, “vanity of vanities; all is vanity: what profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?”[Ecclesiastes 1:2-3] and in the book of Ecclesiasticus, “a heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam from the day that they go out of their mother’s womb to the day that they return to the mother of all things;” or how again the apostle writes, “in Adam all die;” or how holy ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 297, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, Matt. vii. 7, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you;’ etc. An exhortation to alms-deeds. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2160 (In-Text, Margin)
... have no wish that they should remain in poverty. “Let them lay up for themselves in store.” I do not bid them lose their goods, but I show them whither to remove them. “Let them lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may hold on the true life.” The present then is a false life; let them lay hold on the true life. “For it is vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. What so great abundance hath man in all his labour, wherewith he laboureth under the sun?”[Ecclesiastes 1:2-3] Therefore the true life must be laid hold upon, our riches must be removed to the place of the true life, that we may find there what we give here. He maketh this exchange of our goods who also changeth ourselves.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 9, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm IV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 94 (In-Text, Margin)
3. “O ye sons of men, how long heavy in heart” (ver. 2). Let your error, says he, have lasted at least up to the coming of the Son of God; why then any longer are ye heavy in heart? When will ye make an end of crafty wiles, if now when the truth is present ye make it not? “Why do ye love vanity, and seek a lie?” Why would ye be blessed by the lowest things? Truth alone, from which all things are true, maketh blessed. For, “vanity is of deceivers, and all is vanity.”[Ecclesiastes 1:2] “What profit hath a man of all his labour, wherewith he laboureth under the sun?” Why then are ye held back by the love of things temporal? Why follow ye after the last things, as though the first, which is vanity and a lie? For you would have them abide with you, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 566, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
He. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5173 (In-Text, Margin)
... appearance prudently, courageously, temperately, and righteously; and when they have reached this they have reached their reward: vain men, and vain reward. …Moreover, if it be a vain thing to do good works for the sake of men’s praises, how much more vain for the sake of getting money, or increasing it, or retaining it, and any other temporal advantage, which cometh unto us from without? Since “all things are vanity: what is man’s abundance, with all his toil, wherein he laboureth under the sun?”[Ecclesiastes 1:2-3] For our temporal welfare itself finally we ought not to do our good works, but rather for the sake of that everlasting welfare which we hope for, where we may enjoy an unchangeable good, which we shall have from God, nay, what God Himself is unto ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 651, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5810 (In-Text, Margin)
... himself, a prayer when he was in the cave.” That which is the cave, the same is also the prison. Two things have we set before us to understand, but when we have understood one, both will be understood. A man’s deserts make a prison. For in one dwelling place one man finds a house, another a prison.…To some then it has seemed that the “cave” and “prison” are this world; and this the Church prayeth, that it may be brought out of prison, that is, from this world, from under the sun, where all is vanity.[Ecclesiastes 1:2] Beyond this world then God promiseth that we shall be in some sort of rest; therefore perhaps do we cry concerning this place, “Bring my soul out of prison.” Our soul by faith and hope is in Christ; “Your life is hid with Christ in God.” But our ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 427, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)
Homily XIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1551 (In-Text, Margin)
... a soft couch, had now the pavement for their bed; and how they who had enjoyed so constant an attendance of female servants and eunuchs, and every sort of outward distinction, were now bereft of all these things; and grovelling at the feet of every one, beseeching him to lend help by any means in his power to those who were undergoing examination, and that there might be a kind of general contribution of mercy from all; I exclaimed, in those words of Solomon, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”[Ecclesiastes 1:2] For I saw both this and another oracle fulfilled in every deed, which saith, “All the glory of man is as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth away.” For then indeed, wealth, and nobility, and notoriety, and the patronage ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 440, footnote 3 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)
Homily XV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1622 (In-Text, Margin)
... and every one of those who sit down together can say to his neighbour but this, “We are nothing, and our wickedness is inexpressible!” What can be more full of wisdom than these words, when we both acknowledge the insignificance of our nature, and accuse our own wickedness, and account present things as nothing? Giving utterance, though in different words, to that very sentiment of Solomon—that sentiment which is so marvellous and pregnant with Divine wisdom—“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”[Ecclesiastes 1:2] He who enters the house of mourning, weeps forthwith for the departed, even though he be an enemy. Seest thou how much better that house is than the other? for there, though he be a friend, he envies; but here, though he be an enemy, he weeps. This ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 465, footnote 2 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)
Homily XIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1760 (In-Text, Margin)
... that they confirm the credibility of these doctrines by their actions. For of the fact that we have an immortal soul, and that we shall hereafter render an account of what we have done here, and stand before a fearful Tribunal, their minds are at once thoroughly persuaded, and they have also regulated their whole course of life by such hopes as these; and have become superior to all worldly show, instructed as they have been by the sacred Scriptures, that “all is vanity, yea, vanity of vanities,”[Ecclesiastes 1:2] and they do not greedily long for any of those things which seem to be so splendid.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 73, footnote 6 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pammachius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1125 (In-Text, Margin)
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity.”[Ecclesiastes 1:2] But if all created things are good, as being the handiwork of a good Creator, how comes it that all things are vanity? If the earth is vanity, are the heavens vanity too?—and the angels, the thrones, the dominations, the powers, and the rest of the virtues? No; if things which are good in themselves as being the handiwork of a good Creator are called vanity, it is because they are compared with things which are better still. For example, compared with a lamp, a ...