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foreknowledge and thus confessed that, foreseeing his destruction, he did not write; but those who wrote, being convicted of ignorance for not having foreseen the destruction, were not prophets. And Simon: Since things concerning God (as you said) can be understood from the comparison to creation, how is it possible to recognize the rest in the law, being from the tradition of Moses and happening to be true and mixed with falsehoods? And Peter said: A certain passage in the written law has been unerringly recorded according to the providence of God, so as to clearly show which of the written things are true, and which are false. And Simon: Tell us what this is. And Peter said: I will tell you at once. It is written in the first book of the law, towards the end: «A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until he comes for whom it is; and he is the expectation of the nations». If anyone, therefore, is able to understand the one who has come after the ruler and leader failed from Judah, and who is to be expected by the nations, this one from the things fulfilled <...> to recognize the one who has come as true; by obeying his teaching he will know which of the scriptures are true, and which are false. And Simon: I understand that you are speaking of your Jesus, as being the one prophesied by the scripture; let it be granted, therefore, that this is so. Tell me then, how did he teach you to distinguish the scriptures? And Peter: That the true are mixed with the false, I remember him somewhere blaming the Sadducees, saying: «For this reason you err, not knowing the true things of the scriptures, for which cause you are ignorant of the power of God». And if he suggested that they were ignorant of the true things of the scriptures, it is clear that there were false things. But also in saying: «Become approved money-changers», as there are approved and counterfeit words. And in saying: «Why do you not understand what is reasonable in the scriptures?» he establishes the mind more surely than one who judges well of his own accord. And it is clear that even when the scriptures were at hand, he sent them to scribes and teachers as those who knew the true things of the real law. And also his saying: «I did not come to destroy the law» and his appearing to destroy it, was a sign that the things he destroyed were not of the law. And in saying: «Heaven and earth will pass away, but not one jot or one tittle shall pass away from the law» he indicated that the things which pass away before heaven and earth are not of the real law. Since, therefore, while heaven and earth still stand, sacrifices, kingdoms, the prophecies «among those born of women», and all such things have passed away, as not being the commandments of God (for which reason indeed he says: «Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up»), for this reason he himself, being a true prophet, said: «I am the gate of life; he who enters through me enters into life» as there being no other teaching able to save. Wherefore also he cried out, saying: «Come to me, all you who labor», that is, those who are seeking the truth and not finding it, and again: «My sheep hear my voice» and at another time: «Seek and you will find», as the truth is not lying in plain sight. But also a voice was heard from heaven as a witness, saying: «This

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πρόγνωσιν καὶ οὕτως ὡμολόγησεν, ὅτι τὸν ἀφανισμὸν αὐτοῦ προειδὼς οὐκ ἔγραψεν· οἱ δὲ γράψαντες τῷ τὸν ἀφανισμὸν μὴ προεγνωκέναι ἐπ' ἀγνωσίας ἐλεγχθέντες, προφῆται οὐκ ἦσαν. καὶ ὁ Σίμων· Ἐπειδὴ τὰ περὶ θεοῦ (ὡς ἔφης) ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τὴν κτίσιν παραβολῆς ἔστιν νοῆσαι, πῶς τὰ λοιπὰ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ, ἐκ παραδόσεως Μωυσέως ὄντα καὶ ἀληθῆ τυγχάνοντα καὶ τοῖς ψευδέσιν μεμιγμένα ἐπιγνῶναί ἐστιν δυνατόν; καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἔφη· Περικοπή τις ἐν τῷ γραφέντι νόμῳ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ πρόνοιαν ἀπταίστως ἐπεμνημονεύθη, ὥστ' ἂν σαφῶς δεῖξαι τῶν γεγραμ- μένων ποῖά ἐστιν ἀληθῆ, ποῖα δὲ ψευδῆ. καὶ ὁ Σίμων· Τίς ἐστιν αὕτη μήνυσον ἡμῖν. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἔφη· Aὐτίκα ἐρῶ. γέγραπται ἐν τῷ πρώ- τῳ τοῦ νόμου βιβλίῳ πρὸς τοῖς τελευταίοις· «Oὐκ ἐκλείψει ἄρχων ἐξ Ἰούδα οὐδὲ ἡγούμενος ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτοῦ, ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ οὗ ἔστιν· καὶ αὐτὸς προσδοκία ἐθνῶν». ἐάν τις οὖν τὸν μετὰ τὸ ἐξ Ἰούδα ἐκλεῖ- ψαι ἄρχοντα καὶ ἡγούμενον ἐληλυθότα καὶ ὑπὸ ἐθνῶν προσδοκᾶσθαι μέλλοντα νοῆσαι δυνηθῇ, οὗτος τὴν περικοπὴν ἐκ τῶν ἀποτελεσθέντων <...> ἀληθῆ τὸν ἐληλυθότα ἐπιγνῶναι· οὗ τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ πειθόμενος γνώσεται τίνα ἐστὶν τῶν γραφῶν τὰ ἀληθῆ, τίνα δὲ τὰ ψευδῆ. καὶ ὁ Σίμων· Συνίημι ὅτι τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὑμῶν λέγεις ὡς αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῆς γραφῆς προφητευθέντα· δεδόσθω τοιγαροῦν οὕτως ἔχειν. λέγε τοίνυν πῶς ὑμᾶς διακρίνειν τὰς γραφὰς ἐδίδαξεν; καὶ ὁ Πέτρος· Ὅτι μέμικται τὰ ἀληθῆ τοῖς ψευδέσι, μέμνημαί που αὐτὸν αἰτιώμενον τοὺς Σαδδου- καίους εἰπεῖν· «∆ιὰ τοῦτο πλανᾶσθε, μὴ εἰδότες τὰ ἀληθῆ τῶν γραφῶν, οὗ εἵνεκεν ἀγνοεῖτε τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ θεοῦ». εἰ δὲ τὰ ἀληθῆ τῶν γραφῶν ἀγνοεῖν αὐτοὺς ὑπέβαλεν, δῆλον ὡς ὄντων ψευδῶν· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ φῆναι· «Γίνεσθε τραπεζῖται δόκιμοι», ὡς δοκίμων καὶ κιβδήλων λόγων ὄντων. καὶ τῷ εἰπεῖν· «∆ιὰ τί οὐ νοεῖτε τὸ εὔλογον τῶν γραφῶν;» βε- βαιότερον τοῦ αὐθαιρέτως εὐγνωμονοῦντος τίθησιν τὸν νοῦν. τὸ δὲ καὶ τῶν γραφῶν προκειμένων ἐπὶ γραμματεῖς καὶ διδασκάλους πέμπειν ὡς τοῦ ὄντως νόμου εἰδότας τὰ ἀληθῆ, δῆλόν ἐστιν. τὸ δὲ καὶ εἰπεῖν αὐτόν· «Oὐκ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι τὸν νόμον» καὶ φαίνεσθαι αὐτὸν καταλύοντα σημαίνοντος ἦν ὅτι ἃ κατέλυεν οὐκ ἦν τοῦ νόμου. τὸ δὲ καὶ εἰπεῖν· «Ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσονται, ἰῶτα ἓν ἢ μία κεραία οὐ μὴ παρέλθῃ ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου» τὰ πρὸ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς παρερχόμενα ἐσήμανεν μὴ ὄντα τοῦ ὄντως νόμου. ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς ἔτι συνεστώτων παρῆλθαν θυσίαι, βασιλεῖαι, αἱ «ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν» προφητεῖαι καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, ὡς οὐκ ὄντα θεοῦ προστάγματα (ἔνθεν γοῦν λέγει· «Πᾶσα φυτεία, ἣν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ πατὴρ ὁ οὐράνιος, ἐκριζωθήσεται»), διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸς ἀληθὴς ὢν προφήτης ἔλεγεν· «Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ πύλη τῆς ζωῆς· ὁ δι' ἐμοῦ εἰσερχόμενος εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὴν ζωήν» ὡς οὐκ οὔσης ἑτέρας τῆς σσζειν δυναμένης διδασκαλίας. διὸ καὶ ἐβόα λέγων· «∆εῦτε πρὸς μὲ πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες», τουτέστιν οἱ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ζητοῦντες καὶ μὴ εὑρί- σκοντες αὐτήν, καὶ πάλιν· «Τὰ ἐμὰ πρόβατα ἀκούει τῆς ἐμῆς φωνῆς» καὶ ἄλλοτε· «Ζητεῖτε καὶ εὑρίσκετε», ὡς μὴ προδήλως κειμένης τῆς ἀλη- θείας. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ οὐρανῶν μάρτυς φωνὴ ἠκούσθη λέγουσα· «Oὗτός