5 2 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 7 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 2 1 6 Conclusion Although Augustine used two different versions of the quotations from Ecclesiastes 1:2, this did not influence his intellectual development of the interpretation of the understanding of vanity. In his thinking, the whole created world is marked by mutability and finiteness; it is a world that is stamped with sin, and this is clearly seen in the life of the created man. He struggles with the futility of his mortal existence and the resulting divisions as a consequence of inherited sin. This spiritual perception of the futility of creation, including human existence, which we find in Augustine’s work, was then adopted and inserted into the monastic context by Pope Gregory I (Lichner 2017,354–381; Lichner 2019, 49–58) and is also found, as we have said, in Reformation theology. The analysis of Augustine’s works clearly indicates his inner experience with vanity. He pointed to three kinds of problems concerning the lives of consecrated persons: property (Lat. lucrum), debauchery (Lat. stuprum), and desire for honors (Lat. honores) that represented the vanity of creation for him. In this spirit, we interpret Augustine’s spiritual conversion, described by him in his Confessiones only several years before his episcopal service. In the sixth book of the Confessions, Augustine admits his desire: “I was burning with the desire for honors, profit and marriage” (Augustinus 1981, 79). In the eighth book he describes the conversion of his will through the well-known phrase tolle lege –“take up and read”. He concludes his description with the following words: “You have drawn myself to you and all of a sudden I was seeking neither a woman nor any hope of this world anymore.” (Augustinus 1981, 132). The theological thinking of St. Augustine, the theologian of Hippo, has been interpreted differently in history. The French patrologist Aimé Solignac distinguishes between two interpretive traditions of Augustine’s thinking: a light tradition emphasizing the author’s ingenious ideas, and a dark tradition that made him responsible for the pessimistic image of man in the Latin West (Solignac 1988, 835–849). When interpreting Augustine, we must first of all realize that he was a rhetoric and therefore often used a whole range of linguistic means. Many texts on vanity are marked by the use of hyperbole, which in literary theory we classify among the tropes. Hyperbole is a deliberate exaggeration to point out that the futility of creation is vanity only if it is diverted from its primary focus on God, who created everything. Man was created in order to ascend to God, and he must realize that the created world should help him with this, but also that this world, as well as man, is marked by vanity, which seeks a goal in itself. Augustine is in love with God, and if what God created as good begins to stray from Him, then it becomes for him “vanity over vanity”. When looking at God, Augustine overflows with the exaltation of God’s splendor, and the actions of those who want to turn him away from Him are only the “vanities of vain people”. Commenting on verse 2 of Psalm 146, around the year 395, he wrote the following words: “What is better in heaven than the Sun, the Moon, the stars? All this is very good, for God created everything all that is very good. The beauty of the work is visible everywhere, which highlights the Creator. Do you admire the construction? Love the Creator! Do not be interested in that which is made such that it would depart the one who created it.” (Augustinus 1956, 2108). Acknowledgement The study originated as a partial outcome of the grant no. APVV-17-0001 under the sponsorship of the Slovak Research and Development Agency.
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