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Son, but more clearly than that one, yet that not even this one has precise comprehension. For he said that he sees him as he is and knows him, but that he knows him precisely, and in the same way as he knows himself, he has not yet declared this. Do you wish, then, that we should confirm this also from the Scriptures, and from the very voice of Christ? Let us therefore hear what he says to the Jews: “As the Father knows me, I also know the Father.” What more precise knowledge do you want than this, then? Ask the one who contradicts: Does the Father know the Son precisely, and does he have all knowledge of him precisely, and does nothing concerning the Son escape his notice, but is the knowledge complete? Yes, he says. Therefore, when you hear that the Son also knows him just as he knows the Son, seek nothing more, since the knowledge is thus made equal in precision. For elsewhere, indicating this very thing, he said: “No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” But he reveals, not as much as he himself knows, but as much as we are able to receive. For if Paul does this, how much more so Christ; for he says to his disciples: “I could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to carnal; as to infants in Christ I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able.” But he said this only to the Corinthians, one says. What then, if we show that he knew other things also, which no man had yet learned, and he departed knowing them alone of all men? And where is this to be found? In the epistle to the Corinthians; for this is he who says that “I heard unutterable words, which it is not lawful for a man to speak.” But yet even he, having then heard unutterable words which it is not lawful for a man to speak, has partial knowledge and much that is lacking of what is to come. For the same one who said these things has also said those things, that “We know in part and we prophesy in part,” and: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child,” and: “Now I see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.” So that from these things all their awkwardness has been refuted by us; for when the substance itself is unknown, not that it is, but what it is, it would be the height of madness even to give it a name. And yet, even if it were clear and knowable, it would not even then be safe for us to impose a name on the substance of the Master from ourselves and by our own devising. For if Paul did not dare to impose names on the powers above, but having said that He “seated Christ above all rule and authority and power and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come,” and having taught us that there are certain names of the powers which we shall then know, he did not dare to place other names for them himself, nor to meddle with those very ones. Of what pardon or what defense would those be worthy who dare these things concerning the substance of the Master? But when the substance itself is unknown, it is necessary to turn away from them as from madmen. For that God is unbegotten is clear; but that this is the name of his substance no prophet has said, no apostle has hinted, no evangelist. And very reasonably so; for those who are ignorant of the substance itself, how were they to say its name? And what am I to say about the divine Scriptures, when the obviousness of the absurdity and the excess of the transgression is so great that not even the Greeks who strayed from the truth ever attempted to say such a thing? For not one even of them dared to set forth a definition of the divine substance and to comprehend it in a single name. And why do I speak of the divine substance, when philosophizing about the nature of incorporeal beings they did not set forth a complete definition of even this, but a certain dim explanation and sketch rather than a definition? But what is their clever argument? “Do you not know, then, what you worship?” he says. Indeed, one ought not even to have answered this, since so much proof has been given from the Scriptures that it is impossible to know what God is in substance; but since we do not speak for the sake of enmity, but so that

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Υἱόν, ἀλλ' ἐκείνης μὲν σαφέστερον, τὴν μέντοι ἀκριβῆ κατάληψιν μηδὲ τοῦτον ἔχειν. Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν ὁρᾷ ὅπερ ἐστὶ καὶ γινώσκει εἶπεν, ὅτι δὲ ἀκριβῶς αὐτὸν γινώσκει, καὶ οὕτως ὡς αὐτὸς ἑαυτόν, οὔπω τοῦτο ἐδήλωσε. Βούλεσθε οὖν καὶ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῶν Γραφῶν πιστωσώμεθα, καὶ ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ φωνῆς; Οὐκοῦν ἀκούσωμεν τί φησι πρὸς τοὺς Ἰουδαίους· «Καθὼς γινώσκει με ὁ Πατήρ, κἀγὼ γινώσκω τὸν Πατέρα.» Τί ταύτης ἀκριβέστερον βούλει τῆς γνώσεως λοιπόν; Ἐρώτησον τὸν ἀντιλέγοντα· οἶδεν ἀκριβῶς τὸν Υἱὸν ὁ Πατήρ, καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ ἀκριβῶς τὴν γνῶσιν ἔχει, καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτὸν λανθάνει τῶν κατὰ τὸν Υἱόν, ἀλλ' ἀπηρτισμένη ἐστὶν ἡ εἴδησις; Ναί, φησίν. Οὐκοῦν, ὅταν ἀκούσῃς ὅτι καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς οὕτως αὐτὸν οἶδεν ὡς αὐτὸς τὸν Υἱόν, μηδὲν ἔτι ζήτει πλέον, οὕτω μετὰ ἀκριβείας τῆς γνώσεως ἐξισαζούσης. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ τοῦτο αὐτὸ ἐμφαίνων ἔλεγεν· «Οὐδεὶς γινώσκει τὸν Υἱόν, εἰ μὴ ὁ Πατήρ, οὐδὲ τὸν Πατέρα τις ἐπιγινώσκει, εἰ μὴ ὁ Υἱὸς καὶ ᾧ ἐὰν βούληται ὁ Υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψαι.» Ἀποκαλύπτει δέ, οὐχ ὅσον αὐτὸς οἶδεν, ἀλλ' ὅσον ἡμεῖς χωροῦμεν. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ Παῦλος τοῦτο ποιεῖ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὁ Χριστός· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνός φησι τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς· «Οὐκ ἠδυνήθην ὑμῖν λαλῆσαι ὡς πνευματικοῖς, ἀλλ' ὡς σαρκικοῖς· ὡς νηπίους ἐν Χριστῷ γάλα ὑμᾶς ἐπότισα, οὐ βρῶμα· οὔπω γὰρ ἠδύνασθε.» Ἀλλὰ Κορινθίοις τοῦτο, φησίν, ἔλεγε μόνον. Τί οὖν, ἂν δείξωμεν εἰδότα καὶ ἕτερά τινα, ἃ μηδεὶς ἀνθρώπων ἔμαθεν ἤδη, καὶ ἀπῆλθε μόνος αὐτὰ τῶν πάντων ἀνθρώπων εἰδώς; Καὶ ποῦ τοῦτο ἔστιν εὑρεῖν; Ἐν τῇ πρὸς Κορινθίους ἐπιστολῇ· οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ λέγων ὅτι «Ἤκουσα ἄρρητα ῥήματα, ἃ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι.» Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ αὐτὸς οὗτος καὶ τότε ἀκούσας ἄρρητα ῥήματα, ἃ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι, μερικὴν ἔχει γνῶσιν καὶ πολὺ τῆς μελλούσης ἀποδέουσαν. Αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ ταῦτα εἰπὼν κἀκεῖνα εἴρηκεν ὅτι «Ἐκ μέρους γινώσκομεν καὶ ἐκ μέρους προφητεύομεν» καί· «Ὅτε ἤμην νήπιος, ὡς νήπιος ἐλάλουν, ὡς νήπιος ἐφρόνουν, ὡς νήπιος ἐλογιζόμην» καί· «Ἄρτι βλέπω δι' ἐσόπτρου ἐν αἰνίγματι, τότε δὲ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον.» Ὥστε ἐκ τούτων ἡμῖν ἅπασα αὐτῶν ἡ σκαιωρία διελήλεγκται· ὅταν γὰρ αὐτὴ ἡ οὐσία ἀγνοῆται, οὐχ ὅτι ἔστιν, ἀλλὰ τί ἐστιν, ἐσχάτης ἂν εἴη μανίας καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῇ τιθέναι. Καίτοι γε καὶ εἰ δήλη καὶ γνώριμος ἦν, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἦν ἡμῖν ἀσφαλὲς αὐτοὺς οἴκοθεν καὶ παρ' ἑαυτῶν προσηγορίαν ἐπιτιθέναι τῇ τοῦ ∆εσπότου οὐσίᾳ. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ Παῦλος ταῖς ἄνω δυνάμεσιν οὐκ ἐτόλμησεν ὀνόματα ἐπιτιθέναι, ἀλλ' εἰπὼν ὅτι «Ἐκάθισε τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπάνω πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ παντὸς ὀνόματος ὀνομαζομένου, οὐ μόνον ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι», καὶ διδάξας ἡμᾶς ὅτι ἔστι τινὰ ὀνόματα τῶν δυνάμεων ἃ τότε εἰσόμεθα, οὐκ ἐθάρρησεν ἕτερα αὐτὸς ἀντ' ἐκείνων θεῖναι, οὐδὲ αὐτὰ ἐκεῖνα περιεργάσασθαι. Τίνος ἂν εἶεν συγγνώμης ἄξιοι ἢ ποίας ἀπολογίας οἱ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ ∆εσπότου οὐσίας ταῦτα τολμῶντες; Ὅταν δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ οὐσία ἀγνοῆται, καθάπερ τοὺς παραπαίοντας αὐτοὺς ἀποστρέφεσθαι χρή. Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἀγέννητός ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς δῆλον· ὅτι δὲ τοῦτό ἐστιν αὐτοῦ τῆς οὐσίας τὸ ὄνομα οὐδεὶς προφήτης εἶπεν, οὐδεὶς ἀπόστολος ᾐνίξατο, οὐδεὶς εὐαγγελιστής. Καὶ μάλα εἰκότως· οἱ γὰρ αὐτὴν τὴν οὐσίαν ἀγνοοῦντες, πῶς ὄνομα αὐτῆς λέγειν ἤμελλον; Καὶ τί λέγω περὶ τῶν θείων Γραφῶν, ὅπου γε τοσαύτη τῆς ἀτοπίας ἡ περιφάνεια καὶ τῆς παρανομίας ἡ ὑπερβολὴ ὡς μηδὲ τοὺς τῆς ἀληθείας ἀποπλανηθέντας Ἕλληνας ἐπιχειρῆσαί ποτέ τι τοιοῦτον εἰπεῖν; Οὐδεὶς γὰρ οὐδὲ ἐκείνων ἐτόλμησε θείας οὐσίας ὅρον ἐκθέσθαι καὶ ἑνὶ ὀνόματι περιλαβεῖν. Καὶ τί λέγω θείας οὐσίας, ὅπου γε περὶ τῆς τῶν ἀσωμάτων φύσεως φιλοσοφοῦντες οὐδὲ ταύτης ἀπηρτισμένον ὅρον ἐξέθεντο, ἀλλ' ἀμυδράν τινα ἐξήγησιν καὶ ὑπογραφὴν μᾶλλον ἢ ὅρον; Ἀλλὰ τίς ὁ σοφὸς αὐτῶν λόγος; Οὐκ οἶδας οὖν ὃ σέβεις; φησί. Μάλιστα μὲν οὐδὲ ἀποκρίνασθαι πρὸς τοῦτο ἔδει, τοσαύτης ἀποδείξεως ἐκ τῶν Γραφῶν γεγενημένης ὅτι ἀδύνατον εἰδέναι τί τὴν οὐσίαν ἐστὶν ὁ Θεός· ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐ πρὸς ἔχθραν φθεγγόμεθα, ἀλλ' ὥστε