9. Then too there is that other saying, which is indeed well said, but by them ill understood—I mean: ‘Of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels, neither the Son.’ It also has a true meaning. From the words ‘neither the Son’ they suppose that by his ignorance he makes it clear he is a creature. It is not so. God forbid! For as, when he said, ‘he created me’, he spoke as a man; so too he spoke as a man when he said, ‘neither the Son’. And there is good reason why he spoke thus. For he was made man, as it is written, and it belongs to men to be ignorant, as it belongs to them to hunger and the rest. For they do not know unless they hear and learn. Therefore, inasmuch as he was made man, he displays the ignorance which belongs to men: firstly, to show that he really has a human body; secondly, that, having in his body the ignorance of men, he might redeem his humanity from all its imperfections* and cleanse it and offer it perfect and holy to the Father.

What further excuse will the Arians discover? What else will they devise to chatter about? They have been convicted of ignorance as to ‘The Lord created me for his works’. They have been shown to have no understanding of: ‘Of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels, neither the Son.’ By saying, ‘He created’ he signifies his human nature, that he became man and was created. But by saying, ‘I and the Father are one’, and, ‘He that hath seen me hath seen the Father’, and, ‘I am in the Father and the Father in me’, he signifies his eternity and that he is one in essence with the Father. So likewise when he says, . knoweth no one . . . neither the Son’, once more he speaks as a man, for it belongs to men to be ignorant. But when he says, ‘No man knoweth the Father save the Son’, nor the Son save the Father, by how much more does he know things originate! In the Gospel according to John the disciples said to the Lord: ‘Now know we that thou knowest all things.’ So it is clear that there is nothing of which he is ignorant, for he is the Word through whom all things came to be. But as ‘all things’ includes ‘that day’, it will come to be through him—though in their ignorance the Arians explode ten thousand times over!

Καὶ γὰρ κἀκεῖνο πάλιν τὸ καλῶς μὲν εἰρημένον, κακῶς δὲ νοούμενον παρ' αὐτοῖς· φημὶ δὴ τὸ, «Περὶ τῆς ἡμέρας ἢ τῆς ὥρας ἐκείνης οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, οὐδὲ οἱ ἄγγελοι, οὐδὲ ὁ Υἱὸς,» καλὸν ἔχει τὸν νοῦν. Ἐκεῖ νοι μὲν γὰρ νομίζουσιν ἐκ τοῦ λέγειν, «οὐδὲ ὁ Υἱὸς,» ὅτι ἀγνοῶν δηλοῖ, ὅτι κτίσμα ἐστίν. Οὐκ ἔστι δὲ οὕ τως· μὴ γένοιτο! καὶ γὰρ ὥσπερ λέγων, «Ἔκτισέ με,» ἀνθρωπίνως εἴρηκεν· οὕτως λέγων, «οὐδὲ ὁ Υἱὸς,» ἀνθρωπίνως εἴρηκε. Καὶ τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ οὕτως εἰρηκέναι ἔχει τὸ εὔλογον. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος γέγονεν, ὡς γέγραπται, ἀνθρώπων δὲ ἴδιον τὸ ἀγνοεῖν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ πεινᾷν, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα (οὐ γὰρ γινώσκουσιν, ἐὰν μὴ ἀκούσωσι καὶ μάθωσι), διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὡς ἄνθρωπος γεγονὼς, ἐπιδείκνυται· πρῶτον μὲν, ἵνα δείξῃ, ὅτι ἀληθῶς ἀνθρώπινον ἔχει σῶμα· ἔπειτα δὲ, ἵνα καὶ, τὴν ἄγνοιαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν τῷ σώματι ἔχων, ἀπὸ πάντων λυτρωσάμενος καὶ καθαρίσας, τελείαν καὶ ἁγίαν παραστήσῃ τῷ Πατρὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα. Ποίαν ἔτι πρόφασιν εὑρήσουσιν οἱ Ἀρειανοί; Τί λοιπὸν ἐπινοήσαντες γογγύσουσι; Κατεγνώσθησαν μὴ εἰδότες τὸ, «Κύριος ἔκτισέ με εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ.» Καὶ ἐδείχθησαν μὴ νοοῦντες τὸ, «Περὶ δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, οὐδὲ οἱ ἄγγελοι, οὐδὲ ὁ Υἱός.» Καὶ γὰρ ὥσπερ λέγων μὲν τὸ, «ἔκτισε,» τὸ ἀνθρώ πινον σημαίνει, ὅτι ἄνθρωπος γέγονε καὶ ἐκτίσθη· λέγων δὲ, «Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν,» καὶ, «Ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα,» καὶ, «Ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ Πατρὶ, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί,» τὴν ἀϊδιότητα καὶ τὸ πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα ὁμοούσιον σημαίνει· οὕτως λέγων, «Οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, οὐδὲ ὁ Υἱὸς,» ὡς ἄνθρωπος πάλιν λέγει· ἀνθρώπων γὰρ ἴδιον τὸ ἀγνοεῖν. Λέγων δὲ, «Οὐδεὶς οἶδε τὸν Πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ Υἱὸς, οὐδὲ τὸν Υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ Πατὴρ,» οἶδε πολλῷ πλέον τὰ γενητά. Οἱ μὲν οὖν μαθηταὶ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἰωάννην ἔλεγον τῷ Κυρίῳ· «Νῦν οἴδαμεν, ὅτι πάντα οἶδας.» Εὔδη λον οὖν, ὅτι οὐδέν ἐστιν ὃ ἀγνοεῖ, Λόγος ὢν, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο. Τῶν δὲ πάντων οὖσα καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη, πάντως δι' αὐτοῦ γενήσεται, κἂν διαῤῥαγῶσι μυριάκις τῇ ἑαυτῶν ἀγνοίᾳ οἱ Ἀ ρειανοί.