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a prophet among you, giving you signs and wonders, and that sign and that wonder should come to pass, and he should say to you: Let us go and worship other gods, which your fathers did not know, you shall not listen to that prophet; let your hands be the first to stone him. for he has tempted you to turn away from the Lord your God. But if you should say in your heart: How did he perform that sign or that wonder, you will surely know that the tempter was tempting to see if you fear the Lord your God.” Now that the tempter was tempting has been said, but it appears otherwise after the exile to Babylon. For God, who knows all things (as can be shown from many things), would not have tempted, so that He Himself might know, He who foreknows all things. But if you wish, let us make a discourse about this, and I shall show that God foreknows. And that he is ignorant is a falsehood, and this has been shown to have been written for temptation. Thus we, O Simon, can be scandalized neither by the scriptures nor by any other, nor are we deceived into accepting many gods, nor do we assent to any word spoken against God. For we ourselves also know from the scriptures that angels have been called gods, I mean, for instance, the one who spoke at the bush and wrestled with Jacob, but also the one born, Emmanuel, [and] the one called mighty God. But indeed Moses also became a god to Pharaoh, while in reality he was a man. And also the idols of the nations. But to us there is one God, one who made the creations and ordered all things, whose son is the Christ, whom we obey and thereby discern from the scriptures the things that are false. Moreover, being supplied by the fathers with the true things of the scriptures, we know only one who made both the heavens and the earth, the God of the Jews and of all who choose to worship him. The fathers, dogmatizing truly about this One with a God-loving mind, delivered him to us, so that we might know that if anything is said against God, it is a falsehood. But I will say something even more exceedingly: If this is not as I have said, may it fall to me and to those who love the truth to risk danger for the sake of the good name of the God who made us. When Simon heard these things, he said: Since you say that a prophet who gives signs and wonders, but speaks of another god, ought not to be believed, along with knowing that he also owes death, therefore your teacher too, having given signs and wonders, was reasonably put to death. And Peter answered: Our Lord neither declared that there are gods besides the one who created all things, nor proclaimed himself to be God, but reasonably he blessed the one who said he was the Son of God who ordered all things. And Simon answered: Does it not therefore seem to you that the one from God is God? And Peter said: How can this be, tell us. For we cannot say this to you, because we have not heard it from him. And besides this, it is the Father's property not to have been begotten, but the Son's to have been begotten; and what is begotten cannot be compared with what is unbegotten or self-begotten. And Simon said: Even if he is not the same in origin? And Peter said: He who is not in all respects the same as another cannot have all the same titles as he. And Simon: This is to assert, not to prove. And Peter: Because of

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ἐν σοὶ προφήτης, διδούς σοι σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα, καὶ ἔλθῃ τό τε σημεῖον ἐκεῖνο καὶ τὸ τέρας, ἐρεῖ δέ σοι· Πορευθέντες λατρεύσωμεν θεοῖς ἑτέροις, οἷς οὐκ ᾔδεισαν οἱ πατέρες σου, οὐκ ἀκούσεσθε τοῦ προφήτου ἐκείνου· ἐν πρώτοις ἔστωσαν αἱ χεῖρές σου λιθοβολῆσαι αὐτόν. ἐπείρασεν γάρ σε ἀποστῆναι ἀπὸ κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου. ἐὰν δὲ εἴπῃς ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου· Πῶς ἐποίησεν τὸ σημεῖον ἐκεῖνο ἢ τὸ τέρας, γινώσκων γνώσῃ ὅτι ὁ πειράζων ἐπείραζεν ἰδεῖν εἰ φοβῇ κύριον τὸν θεόν σου». ὅτι δὲ ὁ πειράζων ἐπείραζεν, εἴρητο, ἑτέρως δὲ μετὰ τὴν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα μετοικε- σίαν φαίνεται. οὐ γὰρ ἂν ὁ τὰ πάντα γινώσκων θεός (ὡς ἐκ πολλῶν ἔστιν δεῖξαι) ἐπείραζεν, ἵνα γνῷ αὐτός, ὁ τὰ πάντα προγινώσκων. εἰ δὲ βούλει, περὶ τούτου τὸν λόγον ποιησώμεθα, καὶ δείξω προγινώσκοντα τὸν θεόν. τὸ δὲ ἀγνοεῖν αὐτὸν ψεῦσμα Χν καὶ τοῦτο πρὸς πειρασμὸν γρα- φὲν ἀποδέδεικται. οὕτως ἡμεῖς, ὦ Σίμων, οὔτε ἀπὸ γραφῶν οὔτε ὑφ' ἑτέρου τινὸς σκανδαλισθῆναι δυνάμεθα οὔτε πολλοὺς θεοὺς ἀπο- δέξασθαι ἀπατώμεθα οὐδὲ λόγῳ τινὶ κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ λεγομένῳ συν- τιθέμεθα. ἴσμεν γὰρ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν ἀγγέλους θεοὺς λεχθέντας, λέγω δὲ ὡς ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς βάτου λαλήσας καὶ τῷ Ἰακὼβ παλαί- σας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν γεννώμενον Ἐμμανουὴλ [καὶ] τὸν λεγόμενον θεὸν ἰσχυρόν. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ Μωυσῆς θεὸς Φαραὼ ἐγενήθη, τῷ δὲ ὄντι ἄν- θρωπος ἦν. ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα τῶν ἐθνῶν. ἡμῖν δὲ εἷς θεός, εἷς ὁ τὰς κτίσεις πεποιηκὼς καὶ διακοσμήσας τὰ πάντα, οὗ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς υἱός, ᾧ πειθόμενοι ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν τὰ ψευδῆ ἐπιγινώσκομεν. ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἐκ πατέρων ἐφοδιαζόμενοι τῶν γραφῶν τὰ ἀληθῆ ἕνα μόνον οἴδαμεν τὸν πεποιηκότα τούς τε οὐρανοὺς καὶ τὴν γῆν, θεὸν Ἰουδαίων καὶ πάντων τῶν σέβειν αὐτὸν αἱρουμένων. τοῦτον καὶ θεοφιλεῖ λογισμῷ ἀληθῆ δογματίσαντες οἱ πατέρες παρέδοσαν ἡμῖν, ἵνα εἰδῶμεν ὅτι, εἴ τι κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ λέγεται, ψεῦ- δός ἐστιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπερβαλλόντως τι ἐρῶ· Eἰ τοῦτο οὕτως ὡς ἔφην οὐκ ἔχει, ἐμοὶ γένοιτο καὶ τοῖς τἀληθὲς ἀγαπῶσιν περὶ εὐφημίας τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἡμᾶς θεοῦ κινδυνεύειν. Ταῦτα ὁ Σίμων ἀκούσας ἔφη· Ἐπειδὴ καὶ τῷ τὰ σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα διδόντι προφήτῃ, ἄλλον δὲ θεὸν λέγοντι φὴς μὴ δεῖν πιστεύειν μετὰ τοῦ εἰδέναι ὅτι καὶ θάνατον ὀφείλει, οὐκοῦν καὶ ὁ διδάσκαλός σου ση- μεῖα καὶ τέρατα δεδωκὼς εὐλόγως ἀνῃρέθη. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἀπεκρίθη· Ὁ κύ- ριος ἡμῶν οὔτε θεοὺς εἶναι ἐφθέγξατο παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα τὰ πάντα οὔτε ἑαυτὸν θεὸν εἶναι ἀνηγόρευσεν, υἱὸν δὲ θεοῦ τοῦ τὰ πάντα διακο- σμήσαντος τὸν εἰπόντα αὐτὸν εὐλόγως ἐμακάρισεν. καὶ ὁ Σίμων ἀπε- κρίνατο· Oὐ δοκεῖ σοι οὖν τὸν ἀπὸ θεοῦ θεὸν εἶναι; καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἔφη· Πῶς τοῦτο εἶναι δύναται, φράσον ἡμῖν. τοῦτο γὰρ ἡμεῖς εἰπεῖν σοι οὐ δυνάμεθα, ὅτι μὴ ἠκούσαμεν παρ' αὐτοῦ. πρὸς τούτοις δὲ τοῦ πα- τρὸς τὸ μὴ γεγεννῆσθαί ἐστιν, υἱοῦ δὲ τὸ γεγεννῆσθαι· γεννητὸν δὲ ἀγεννήτῳ ἢ καὶ αὐτογεννήτῳ οὐ συνκρίνεται. καὶ ὁ Σίμων ἔφη· Eἰ καὶ τῇ γενέσει οὐ ταὐτόν ἐστιν; καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἔφη· Ὁ μὴ κατὰ πάντα τὸ αὐτὸ ὤν τινι τὰς αὐτὰς αὐτῷ πάσας ἔχειν προσωνυμίας οὐ δύναται. καὶ ὁ Σίμων· Τοῦτο λέγειν ἐστίν, οὐκ ἀποδεικνύειν. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος· ∆ιὰ