Virtue and Knowledge

Εἶδον σὺν τὸν περισπασμόν, ὃν ἔδωκεν ὁ θεὸς τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ περισπᾶσθαι ἐν αὐτῷ. Σὺν τὰ πάντα ἐποίησεν καλὰ ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ καί γε σὺν τὸν αἰῶνα ἔδωκεν ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν, ὅπως μὴ εὕρῃ ὁ ἄνθρωπος τὸ ποίημα, ὃ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός, ἀπ' ἀρχῆς καὶ μέχρι τέλους. Ἔγνων ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἀγαθὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς εἰ μὴ τοῦ εὐφρανθῆναι καὶ τοῦ ποιεῖν ἀγαθὸν ἐν ζωῇ αὐτοῦ· καί γε πᾶς ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὃς φάγεται καὶ πίεται καὶ ἴδῃ ἀγαθὸν ἐν παντὶ μόχθῳ αὐτοῦ, δόμα θεοῦ ἐστιν.   Εἶδον, φησί, τὰ αἰσθητὰ πράγματα περισπῶντα, τὴν διάνοιαν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἅπερ ἔδωκεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸ τῆς καθάρσεως τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἵν᾿ἐν αὐτοῖς περισπῶνται. Πρόσκαιρον δὲ αὐτῶν τὴν καλλονὴν λέγει καὶ οὐκ ἀΐδιον· μετὰ γὰρ τὴν κάθαρσιν οὐκ ἔτι ὡς περισπῶντα τὸν νοῦν αὐτοῦ μόνον ὁ καθαρὸς τὰ αἰσθητὰ πράγματα καθορᾷ, ἀλλ᾿ὡς ἐγκείμενα αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν πνευματικὴν θεωρίαν. Ἀλλως γὰρ τυποῦται ὁ νοῦς τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς διὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἐπιβάλλων αἰσθητῶς, καὶ ἄλλως διατίθεται τοὺς λόγους τοὺς ἐναποκειμένους τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς θεωρῶν· ἀλλ᾿ αὕτη μὲν ἡ γνῶσις καθαροῖς μόνον ἐπισυμβαίνει, ἡ δὲ διὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων κατανόησις τῶν πραγμάτων καὶ καθαροῖς καὶ ἀκαθάρτοις. Διὸ καὶ περισπασμὸν πρόσκαιρον εἶπεν αὐτὴν θεοῦ δεδομένην· προνοούμενος γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς ψυχῆς ἔδωκεν αὐτῇ αἰσθήσεις καὶ πράγματα αἰστητά, ὅπως ἐν αὐτοῖς περισπωμένη καὶ νοηματιζομένη ἐκφεύγῃ τοὺς μέλλοντας αὐτῇ παρὰ τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἐμβάλλεσθαι λογισμούς. Ἔδωκε δὲ αὐτοῖς, φησί, καὶ τὸν αἰῶνα, τουτέστι τοὺς λόγους τοῦ αἰῶνος· αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἣν ἐντὸς ἔχειν ἡμᾶς εἶπεν ὁ κύριος, ἥτις καλυπτομένη ὑπὸ τῶν παθῶν οὐχ εὐρίσκεται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. Ἔγνων οὖν, φησίν, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι τὰ πράγματα ἀγαθά ἀλλ᾿ οἱ λόγοι τῶν πραγμάτων, ἐφ᾿ οἷς καὶ εὐφραίνεσθαι πέφυκεν ἡ φύσις ἡ λογικὴ καὶ ἐργάζεσθαι τὸ ἀγαθόν· οὐδὲν τρέφει καὶ ποτίζει τὸν νοῦν ὡς ἀρετὴ καὶ γνῶσις θεοῦ. Εὐάγριος ὁ Ποντικός, Εἰς Τον Ἐκκλησιασην

I have seen the occupation that God has given to the sons of men by which they are occupied. All the things he has made are beautiful in his time and he has also set the ages in their heart, that man may not discover the work that God has performed from the beginning even until the end. I know that there is no good in them, except to rejoice and to do good in his life.  And every man who eats and drinks  and sees good in all his work, it is a gift of God. 1   I have seen, he says, sensible objects  that occupy the thoughts of men, which God gave to men before their purification in order that they might be occupied by them. He says their beauty is temporal and not eternal, for after purification the mind of the purified is no more distracted by sensible objects, but he is absorbed in spiritual contemplation. It is one thing for the mind to be stamped in a sensible way when intent on the perception of sensible things, and it is a different thing to contemplate by means of sensed things the inner meanings they contain, but this latter knowledge is attained only by the pure, while understanding by sensible objects is of both the pure and the impure. This is why he speaks of this temporal occupation as being given by God, God in his providence towards the sensing soul having given it senses and sensible objects so that occupied by these and thinking upon them, it may escape the thoughts thrown at it by adversaries. It says He has given them even the ages, that is, the meanings of the ages, because it is there that we have the kingdom of heaven within us, as the Lord has said; 2 but being obscured beneath passions it is not found by men. I have seen, he says, that it is not things that are good, but rather the meaning of them, on account of which rational nature has grown to rejoice and to do good. Nothing so feeds and waters the mind as virtue and the knowledge of God.   Evagrius Ponticus, On Ecclesiastes  1 Eccl 3.10-13 2 Lk 17.21