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evil” <and what> I quoted from Isaiah? 1.8 But someone will say: if you can even refer to the savior the “he does not know,” and can say such a thing about the savior and take him as a “child,” does it not cause you to stumble to say these things about the “only-begotten,” about the “firstborn of all creation,” about the one proclaimed before his conception according to the “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you”? and he says: “I do not know how to speak”? See if you can see something worthy and great concerning the savior in this passage, that by not knowing some things, he is greater not knowing than knowing them, and I use his own voice testifying, that he does not know some things. For he says to those who say to him: Did we not in your name “eat,” and in your name “drink,” and “in your name cast out demons” and “do many mighty works”? “Depart from me, I never knew you.” Does then the “I never knew you” said there by the savior represent his power as lesser or as greater and more wonderful, because he did not know the worse and those who are perishing? For he knew the things that differ and are better, and “the Lord knows those who are his,” and “if anyone does not know, he is not known.” Therefore the sinner is not known by God. One of the hearers will say to me: you have shown that he does not know sinners, you have shown that he does not know “those who work iniquity”; for they are not worthy of his knowledge; for how will you show that “I do not know how to speak,” said by the savior, is great and glorious? To speak is human, to speak is to use a dialect, so as to speak the tongue, say, of the Hebrews or of the Greeks <or of some others>. If you ascend to the savior and know him as the Word “in the beginning with God,” you will see that he does not know how to speak, since speaking is human, but because what he knows is greater than speaking; and if you compare the tongues of angels with the tongues of men, and know that he is greater even than angels, as the apostle testified in the epistle to the Hebrews, you will say that he was greater even than the tongue of angels, when “the Word was God with the Father.” Therefore he learns and as it were takes up the knowledge not of great things, but of inferior and smaller things; and just as I learn, forcing myself to lisp, when I converse with children—for not knowing how to speak childishly, so to speak, I, being perfect, force myself to converse with children—in the same way the savior also, being indeed “in the Father” and existing in the majesty of the glory of God, does not speak human things, he does not know how to speak to those below, but when he comes into a human body, he says in the beginning: “I do not know how to speak, for I am younger,” younger because of his bodily birth, but older according to “firstborn of all creation,” younger, because he came “at the end of the ages” <and> has come to this life later. Therefore he says “I do not know how to speak,” I know things greater than speaking, I know things greater than this human voice; Do you want me to speak to men? I have not yet taken up a human dialect, I have your dialect, O God, I am your Word, O God, I know how to converse with you, to men 1.9 “I do not know how to speak,” “I am younger.” <“Do not say, ‘I am younger,’”> for to all to whom I will send you, you shall go; thus “he stretches out his hand, touches his mouth, gives him words, and gives him words concerning the kingdoms, ‘to root out’;” but he did not have need of words that root out, when he was “in <the> Father,” he had no need of words that tear down and destroy worse things; for nothing there was worthy of being torn down, nothing was worthy of being rooted out. It is a great thing, therefore, as the “I do not know you, for you are workers of iniquity,” thus said by the savior because of the exceeding greatness of his glory, the “I do not know how 1.10 to speak” being equivalent to ‘I do not know how to speak human things’; and whether it is said to Jeremiah or to the savior: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you,” having read Genesis and observed the things said about the creation of the world you will find, that the

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πονηρίᾳ» <καὶ ἃ> παρεθέμην ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου; 1.8 Ἀλλ' ἐρεῖ τις· εἰ καὶ δύνασαι ἐπὶ τὸν σωτῆρα ἀναγα γεῖν τὸ «οὐκ οἶδεν», καὶ δύνασαι λέγειν ἐπὶ τὸν σωτῆρα τὸ τοιοῦτο καὶ «παιδίον» αὐτὸν λαμβάνειν, οὐ προσκόπτει σοι ταῦτα λέγειν περὶ τοῦ «μονογενοῦς», περὶ τοῦ «πρω τοτόκου πάσης κτίσεως», περὶ τοῦ πρὶν συλλήψεως εὐαγγελισθέντος κατὰ τὸ «πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σέ, καὶ δύναμις ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι»; καὶ λέγει· «οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι λαλεῖν»; Ὅρα εἰ δύνασαί τι ἀξιόλογον καὶ μέγα περὶ τὸν σωτῆρα ἐν τῷ τόπῳ ἰδεῖν, ὅτι τινὰ μὴ ἐπι στάμενος, μείζων ἐστὶ μὴ ἐπιστάμενος ἢ ἐπιστάμενος αὐτά, καὶ χρῶμαι αὐτοῦ τῇ φωνῇ μαρτυροῦντος, ὅτι τινὰ οὐκ ἐπίσταται. Λέγει γοῦν τοῖς φάσκουσιν αὐτῷ· Οὐ τῷ ὀνόματί σου «ἐφάγομεν», καὶ τῷ ὀνόματί σου «ἐπίο μεν», καὶ «τῷ ὀνόματί σου δαιμόνια ἐξεβάλομεν» καὶ «δυνάμεις πολλὰς ἐποιήσαμεν»; «Ἀποχωρεῖτε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, οὐδέποτε ἔγνων ὑμᾶς.» Ἆρα τὸ «οὐδέποτε ἔγνων ὑμᾶς» ἐκεῖ λεγόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐλάττονα τὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ παρίστησιν ἢ μείζονα καὶ θαυμασιωτέραν, διότι τοὺς χείρονας καὶ τοὺς ἀπολλυμένους οὐκ ἔγνω; ἔγνω γὰρ τὰ διαφέροντα καὶ κρείττονα, καὶ «ἔγνω κύριος τοὺς ὄντας αὐτοῦ», καὶ «εἴ τις ἀγνοεῖ, ἀγνοεῖται». Οὐκοῦν ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς ἀγνοεῖται ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. Ἐρεῖ μοί τις τῶν ἀκροατῶν· ἔδειξας ὅτι οὐκ οἶδε τοὺς ἁμαρτωλούς, ἔδειξας ὅτι οὐκ οἶδε «τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν ἀνομίαν»· οὐ γὰρ ἄξιοί εἰσι τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ· πῶς γὰρ παραστή σεις μέγα καὶ ἔνδοξον εἶναι τὸ «οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι λαλεῖν» λεγόμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος; Τὸ λαλεῖν ἀνθρώπινόν ἐστι, τὸ λαλεῖν διαλέκτῳ χρήσασθαί ἐστιν, ὥστε εἰπεῖν Ἑβραίων, φέρε εἰπεῖν, φωνὴν ἢ Ἑλλήνων <ἢ ἄλλων> τινῶν. Ἐὰν ἀναβῇς ἐπὶ τὸν σωτῆρα καὶ εἰδῇς αὐτὸν λόγον «ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν», ὄψει ὅτι οὐκ ἐπίσταται λαλεῖν ἀνθρω πίνου ὄντος τοῦ λαλεῖν, ἀλλ' ἐπεί ἐστι μεῖζον ὃ ἐπίσταται τοῦ λαλεῖν· ἐὰν δὲ καὶ ἀγγέλων γλώσσας συγκρίνῃς ἀνθρώ πων γλώσσαις, καὶ εἰδῇς ὅτι οὗτος μείζων ἐστὶ καὶ ἀγγέλων, ὡς ἐμαρτύρησεν ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἑβραίους ὁ ἀπόστολος ἐπι στολῇ, ἐρεῖς ὅτι καὶ τῆς ἀγγέλων γλώσσης μείζων ἦν, ὅτε «θεὸς ἦν λόγος πρὸς τὸν πατέρα». Μανθάνει οὖν καὶ οἱονεὶ ἀναλαμβάνει ἐπιστήμην οὐ μεγάλων, ἀλλ' ὑπο δεεστέρων καὶ μικροτέρων· καὶ ὥσπερ μανθάνω βια ζόμενος ἐμαυτὸν ψελλίζειν, ὅτε παιδίοις διαλέγομαι-οὐ γὰρ ἐπιστάμενος παιδιστί, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, λαλεῖν, βιάζο μαι τέλειος ὢν διαλέγεσθαι παιδίοις-, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ὁ σωτήρ, ὢν μὲν «ἐν τῷ πατρὶ» καὶ ἐν τῇ μεγαλειό τητι τῆς δόξης τοῦ θεοῦ τυγχάνων, οὐ λαλεῖ ἀνθρώπινα, οὐκ οἶδε φθέγγεσθαι τοῖς κάτω, ὅτε δὲ ἔρχεται εἰς σῶμα ἀνθρώπινον, λέγει κατὰ τὰς ἀρχάς· «Οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι λαλεῖν, ὅτι νεώτερος ἐγώ εἰμι», νεώτερος δὲ διὰ τὴν γένεσιν τὴν σωματικήν, πρεσβύτερος δὲ κατὰ τὸ «πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως», νεώτερος, ὅτι «ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων» ἦλθεν <καὶ> ὕστερον τῷ βίῳ ἐπιδεδήμηκε. Λέγει οὖν τὸ «οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι λαλεῖν», οἶδά τινα μεί ζονα τοῦ λαλεῖν, οἶδά τινα μείζονα τοῦ φθόγγου τούτου τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου· θέλεις με λαλεῖν ἀνθρώποις; οὔπω διάλεκτον ἀνθρωπίνην ἀνείληφα, ἔχω διάλεκτον σοῦ, τοῦ θεοῦ, λόγος εἰμὶ σοῦ, τοῦ θεοῦ, σοὶ οἶδα προσδιαλέγεσθαι, ἀνθρώποις 1.9 «οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι λαλεῖν», «νεώτερός εἰμι». <«Μὴ λέγε ὅτι νεώτερος ἐγώ εἰμι,> ὅτι πρὸς πάντας οὓς ἐὰν ἐξαποστείλω σε πορεύσῃ»· οὕτως «ἐκτείνει τὴν χεῖρα, ἅπτεται τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, δίδωσιν αὐτῷ λόγους, καὶ δίδωσιν αὐτῷ λόγους διὰ τὰς βασιλείας, ἵν' ἐκριζώσῃ»· οὐ χρείαν δὲ εἶχεν ἐκριζούντων λόγων, ὅτε ἦν «ἐν <τῷ> πα τρί», οὐ χρείαν εἶχε κατασκαπτόντων λόγων καὶ καθαι ρούντων τὰ χείρονα· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἦν ἄξιον κατασκαφῆς ἐκεῖ, οὐδὲν ἦν ἄξιον ἐκριζώσεως. Μέγα οὖν ἐστιν, ὡς τὸ «οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς, ὅτι ἐργάται ἐστὲ ἀνομίας», οὕτως ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος λεγόμενον διὰ τὸ ὑπερβάλλον μέγεθος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ, ἴσον δυνάμενον τῷ οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι λαλεῖν ἀνθρώπινα τὸ «οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι 1.10 λαλεῖν»· εἴτε δὲ πρὸς τὸν Ἱερεμίαν εἴτε πρὸς τὸν σωτῆρα λέγεται· «Πρὸ τοῦ με πλάσαι σε ἐν κοιλίᾳ ἐπίσταμαί σε», ἀναγνοὺς τὴν Γένεσιν καὶ τηρήσας τὰ εἰρημένα περὶ τῆς κτίσεως τοῦ κόσμου εὑρήσεις, ὅτι ἡ