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do you think? But if, having been seen and made a disciple by him in a single hour, you became an apostle, proclaim his words, interpret his teachings, love his apostles, do not fight with me who was his companion. For you have set yourself against me, who am a solid rock, the foundation of the church. If you were not an adversary, you would not have slandered me and reviled the preaching proclaimed through me, so that I might not be believed when I say what I myself heard from the Lord in person, clearly as if I were condemned and you were approved. Or if you call me "condemned," you are accusing God who revealed Christ to me, and you bring charges against him who blessed me on account of the revelation. But since you truly wish to cooperate with the truth, learn first from us what we learned from him, and having become a disciple of the truth, become our co-worker. When Simon heard these things, he said: Far be it from me to become a disciple of either him or you. For I am not ignorant of what I ought to know; but what I asked as if I were learning, was so that I might know if you are able to show the clearness of a vision to be clearer. But you said what you wanted, you did not show it. And now tomorrow I will come and debate with you about the God whom you claim to be the creator, and I will show that he is not the highest and good, and I will prove that your teacher said the same things to me, but that you did not understand. And having said these things, he went out, not willing to hear the things he had proposed.

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φρονεῖς; εἰ δὲ ὑπ' ἐκείνου μιᾶς ὥρας ὀφθεὶς καὶ μαθητευθεὶς ἀπόστολος ἐγένου, τὰς ἐκείνου φωνὰς κήρυσσε, τὰ ἐκείνου ἑρμήνευε, τοὺς ἐκείνου ἀποστόλους φίλει, ἐμοὶ τῷ συγγενομένῳ αὐτῷ μὴ μάχου· πρὸς γὰρ στερεὰν πέτραν ὄντα με, θεμέλιον ἐκκλησίας, ἐναντίος ἀνθέστηκάς μοι. εἰ μὴ ἀντικείμενος ᾖς, οὐκ ἄν με διαβάλλων τὸ δι' ἐμοῦ κήρυγμα ἐλοι- δόρεις, ἵνα ὃ παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου αὐτὸς παρὼν ἀκήκοα λέγων μὴ πιστεύω- μαι, δηλονότι ὡς ἐμοῦ καταγνωσθέντος καὶ σοῦ εὐδοκιμοῦντος. ἢ εἰ «κατε- γνωσμένον» με λέγεις, θεοῦ τοῦ ἀποκαλύψαντός μοι τὸν Χριστὸν κατ- ηγορεῖς, καὶ τοῦ ἐπὶ ἀποκαλύψει μακαρίσαντός με καταφέρεις. ἀλλ' ἐπείπερ ἀληθῶς τῇ ἀληθείᾳ συνεργῆσαι θέλεις, μάθε πρῶτον παρ' ἡμῶν, ἃ ἡμεῖς παρ' ἐκείνου ἐμάθομεν, καὶ μαθητὴς ἀληθείας γεγονὼς γενοῦ ἡμῖν συνεργός. Ταῦτα ὁ Σίμων ἀκούσας ἔφη· Ἀπείη μοι τὸ εἴτε ἐκείνου εἴτε σοῦ γενέσθαι μαθητήν. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀγνοῶ ἃ δεῖ γινώσκειν· ἃ δὲ ὡς μανθάνων ἐπυθόμην, ἵνα εἰδῶ εἰ δύνασαι ὀπτασίας ἐνάργειαν ἐναργεστέραν δεῖξαι. σὺ δὲ ὡς ἠθέλησας εἶπες, οὐκ ἔδειξας. καὶ νῦν αὔριόν σοι εἰς τὸν περὶ θεοῦ, οὗ διισχυρίζῃ δημιουργοῦ, ἐλθὼν καὶ διαλεχθεὶς δείξω μὴ αὐτὸν εἶναι ἀνώτατον καὶ ἀγαθόν, καὶ τὸν σὸν δὲ διδάσκαλον τὰ αὐτά μοι εἰρη- κέναι, σὲ δὲ μὴ νενοηκέναι ἐλέγξω. καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν ἐξῄει, εἰς ἃ προέτεινεν οὐ θελήσας ἀκοῦσαι.