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if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” And when he said, “Which ones?” he sent him to those of the law. But he would not have sent him back to the commandments of the just one if he meant some other good. That the just is one thing and the good is another, I myself also confess, but that it belongs to the same one to be good and just, you are ignorant of. For he is good, being long-suffering now to those who repent and receiving them, but he is just when, in judging, he assigns to each according to their deserts. And Simon said: How then, when the creator was known, who both formed Adam and was known to the just according to the law, and in addition to the just and the unjust and to the whole world, does your teacher, having come after all of them, say: 'No one has known the Father except the Son, just as no one knows the Son except the Father and those to whom the Son wills to reveal him'? But he would not have said these things, unless he were announcing some father who is in secret, whom the law also calls Most High, from whom neither a good nor an evil voice was heard (as Jeremiah also testifies in the Lamentations), who, according to the number of the sons of Israel who entered into Egypt, who are seventy, and having marked off the boundaries of the nations with seventy languages, gave the Hebrews as a portion to his own son, who is also called 'Lord' and who adorned heaven and earth, and appointed him to be god of gods, and by gods I mean those who have received the other portions of the nations. Laws therefore came forth from all the said gods to their own portions (which are the other remaining nations), and likewise also from the son, the lord of all, came forth the law that is established among the Hebrews. And it was decreed that this should be so, in order that if anyone should take refuge in the law of someone, he might become of that one's portion, whose law indeed he undertook to practice. No one has known the Most High Father who is in secret, just as no one has known of his son that he is a son. For instance, you, in giving the properties of the secret Most High to the son, do not know that he is a son, being the father of Jesus, who among you is called Christ. When Simon had said these things, Peter said to him: Can you testify about that one himself that you believe thus, not the one whom you now say is in secret, but the one in whom you believe yet do not confess? For you are talking nonsense, defining some things in place of others; wherefore if you testify that you believe these things which you are saying, I will answer you—but if you stand debating with me things which you do not believe, you force me to strike at empty air. And Simon said: I have heard it from one of your disciples. And Peter said: Do not bear false witness. And Simon said: Do not revile me, most rash one. And Peter: Until you name the one who said it, you are a liar. And Simon: Suppose that I have invented these things or have also heard them from another; answer me regarding these things. For if it cannot be refuted, I have learned this to be the truth. And Peter: If it is a human invention, I do not answer to it; but if you are possessed by the suspicion of it as being true, confess this very thing to me, and I myself also have something to say about it. And Simon: Once for all, it seems to me that this is so. If you have anything to say to these things, answer. And Peter said: If this is so, you are committing the greatest impiety. For if it belongs to the son who adorned heaven and earth to reveal to whomever he wills his father who is in secret, you most greatly

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δὲ θέλεις εἰς τὴν ζωὴν εἰσελθεῖν, τήρησον τὰς ἐντολάς». τοῦ δὲ εἰπόν- τος· «Ποίας;» ἐπὶ τὰς τοῦ νόμου ἔπεμψεν. οὐκ ἂν δὲ ἕτερόν τινα ἀγαθὸν σημαίνων ἐπὶ τὰς τοῦ δικαίου ἀνέπεμπεν ἐντολάς. ὅτι δὲ τὸ δίκαιον ἄλλο ἐστὶν καὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἕτερον, καὶ αὐτὸς ὁμολογῶ, ἀλλ' ὅτι τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν τὸ ἀγαθῷ εἶναι καὶ δικαίῳ, ἀγνοεῖς. ἀγαθὸς γάρ ἐστιν μετανοοῦσι μὲν νῦν μακροθυμῶν καὶ ἀποδεχόμενος αὐτούς, δίκαιος δέ ἐστιν, ὅταν κρίνων τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ ἀπονέμῃ. καὶ ὁ Σίμων ἔφη· Πῶς οὖν ἐγνωσμέ- νου τοῦ δημιουργοῦ, τοῦ καὶ τὸν Ἀδὰμ πλάσαντος καὶ τοῖς κατὰ νόμον δικαίοις ἐγνωσμένου, προσέτι δὲ δικαίοις καὶ ἀδίκοις καὶ ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ, ὁ διδάσκαλός σου μετὰ πάντας ἐκείνους ἐληλυθὼς λέγει· «Oὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱός, ὡς οὐδὲ τὸν υἱόν τις οἶδεν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ καὶ οἷς ἂν βούληται ὁ υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψαι»; ταῦτα δὲ οὐκ ἂν ἔλεγεν, εἰ μὴ πα- τέρα τινὰ ἐν ἀπορρήτοις ὄντα ἀνήγγελλεν, ὃν καὶ ὕψιστον ὁ νόμος λέγει, ἀφ' οὗ οὔτε ἀγαθὴ οὔτε κακὴ ἠκούσθη φωνή (ὡς ἐν τοῖς θρήνοις καὶ Ἱερεμίας μαρτυρεῖ), ὅστις κατὰ ἀριθμὸν τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ, οἳ εἰσῆλθον εἰς Aἴγυπ- τον, οἵ εἰσιν ἑβδομήκοντα, καὶ πρὸς τὰ ὅρια τῶν ἐθνῶν περιγράψας γλώσ- σαις ἑβδομήκοντα, τῷ αὑτοῦ υἱῷ τῷ καὶ «κυρίῳ» λεγομένῳ καὶ οὐρανὸν καὶ γῆν διακοσμήσαντι, τοὺς Ἑβραίους ἔδωκεν μερίδα καὶ αὐτὸν θεὸν θεῶν εἶναι διώρισεν, θεῶν δὲ λέγω, οἵτινες τὰς ἄλλας τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰλήφασιν μερίδας. νόμοι οὖν προῆλθον ἀπό τε πάντων τῶν λεχθέντων θεῶν ταῖς αὐτῶν μερίσιν (ἅτινά ἐστιν τὰ λοιπὰ ἄλλα ἔθνη), ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ πάντων κυρίου ὁ παρὰ Ἑβραίοις κείμενος προῆλθε νόμος. τοῦτο δὲ οὕτως ἔχειν ὡρίσθη, ἵνα, εἴ τις νόμῳ τινὸς προσφύγῃ, ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκείνου γένηται μερίδος, οὗ δὴ καὶ τὸν νόμον πράττειν ἀνεδέξατο. οὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν ἐν ἀπορρήτοις ὕψιστον πατέρα ὄντα, ὡς οὐδὲ τὸν τούτου υἱὸν ὅτι υἱός ἐστιν. αὐτίκα γοῦν σὺ τὰ τοῦ ἀπορρήτου ὑψίστου ἴδια διδοὺς τῷ υἱῷ οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι υἱός ἐστιν, πατὴρ ὑπάρχων τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ καθ' ὑμᾶς λεγομένου Χριστοῦ. ταῦτα τοῦ Σίμωνος εἰπόντος ὁ Πέτρος ἔφη πρὸς αὐτόν· ∆ύνα- σαι αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον διαμαρτύρασθαι ὅτι οὕτως πιστεύεις, οὐχ ὃν νῦν ἐν ἀπορρήτοις λέγεις, ἀλλ' ὃν σὺ πιστεύων οὐχ ὁμολογεῖς; ἄλλα γὰρ ἀντ' ἄλλων ὁρίζων φλυαρεῖς· διὸ ἐὰν διαμαρτύρῃ ὅτι ἃ λαλεῖς ταῦτα πιστεύεις, ἀποκρίνομαί σοι-εἰ δὲ ἕστηκας συζητῶν ἐμοὶ ἃ μὴ πιστεύεις, κατὰ κενοῦ με παίειν ἀναγκάζεις. καὶ ὁ Σίμων ἔφη· Παρά τινος τῶν σῶν μαθητῶν ἀκήκοα. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἔφη· Μὴ ψευδομαρτύρει. καὶ ὁ Σίμων ἔφη· Μή με λοι- δόρει, προπετέστατε. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος· Μέχρις ἂν εἴπῃς τὸν εἰπόντα, ψεύ- στης εἶ. καὶ ὁ Σίμων· Νόμιζε ἐμὲ ταῦτα πλάσαι ἢ καὶ παρὰ ἄλλου ἀκη- κοέναι· πρὸς ταῦτά μοι ἀπόκριναι. ἐὰν γὰρ ἀνατραπῆναι μὴ δυνηθῇ, ἔμαθον τοῦτο εἶναι τὴν ἀλήθειαν. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος· Eἰ ἀνθρώπινόν ἐστιν πλάσμα, οὐκ ἀποκρίνομαι εἰς αὐτό· εἰ δὲ ὑπονοίᾳ αὐτοῦ κεκράτησαι ὡς ἀληθοῦς, τοῦτο αὐτό μοι ὁμολόγησον, καὶ ἔχω τι καὶ αὐτὸς περὶ τούτου λέγειν. καὶ ὁ Σίμων· Ἅπαξ μοι δοκεῖ τοῦτο οὕτως ἔχειν. σὺ πρὸς ταῦτα εἰ ἔχεις τι λέγειν, ἀπόκριναι. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἔφη· Eἰ τοῦτο οὕτως ἔχει, τὰ μέγιστα ἀσεβεῖς. εἰ γὰρ υἱοῦ ἐστιν τοῦ οὐρανὸν καὶ γῆν διακοσμήσαντος τὸ ᾧ βούλεται ἀποκαλύπτειν τὸν ἐν ἀπορρήτοις αὐτοῦ πατέρα, σὺ μέγιστα