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And Peter said: I will answer what you wish, concerning the saying: “No one has known the Father except the Son—nor does anyone know the Son except the Father and those to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” First, I am amazed how, though this saying has countless interpretations, you chose the most dangerous part, saying that the word was spoken with a view to ignorance of the Creator and of all things under him. For in the first place, the saying can be spoken to all the Jews, who thought David was the father of Christ and did not know that Christ himself was a Son and the Son of God. Therefore it is appropriately said, “No one has known the Father,” since instead of God, all were saying David. And to add the saying, “nor does anyone know the Son,” since they did not know that he was the Son, and to say “to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” is correctly said; for he who was Son from the beginning was alone designated, that he might reveal to whom he wishes. And so it is possible for Adam the first-formed not to have been ignorant of him, nor Enoch who pleased God not to have known him, nor Noah the just not to have understood him, nor Abraham the friend not to have comprehended him, nor Isaac not to have perceived him, nor Jacob who wrestled not to have believed in him, and for him not to have been revealed to all the worthy among the people. But if (as you say) it shall be for knowing through Jesus that he is now revealed to all, how is it not most unjust for you to say that those men did not know him—who were seven pillars to the world and were able to please the most just God—and yet for so many now from the gentiles, who are impious in every way, to know him? Were these men, better than all, not deemed worthy to know? And how is this good, which is not just? Unless perhaps you wish to call good not the one who benefits those who have acted justly, but the one who loves the unjust even if they do not believe, to whom he also reveals the secret things, which he was unwilling to reveal to the just. For such a thing befits neither a good nor a just one, but one who has hated the pious. Are you not he, Simon, the ‘Standing One,’ who is so audacious as to say these things that were never spoken? And Simon, angered at this, said: I blame your teacher for saying: “I thank you, Lord of heaven and earth, that what was hidden from the wise, you have revealed to nursing infants.” And Peter: In this way, he said, the word was not spoken; but I will speak first as if it had been spoken just as it seemed to you. Our Lord, even if he had said, “What things were hidden from the wise, these the Father has revealed to infants,” not even so would he be thought to signify another God and Father besides the one who created the world. For it is possible that the hidden things he spoke of belong to the Creator himself, since Isaiah also said: “I will open my mouth in parables and I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.” Do you then acknowledge the prophet, who was not ignorant of the hidden things, which Jesus says were hidden from the wise, but revealed to infants? And how was the Creator ignorant, when his prophet Isaiah was not ignorant? But in truth our Jesus did not say, “What things were hidden,” but he said what seems harsher; for he said, “You have revealed them to nursing infants.” But to say “you have hidden” implies that they were once known to them. For with them is the key of the kingdom of heaven

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Καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἔφη· Ἀποκρινοῦμαι εἰς ὃ θέλεις, περὶ τοῦ· «Oὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱός-οὐδὲ τὸν υἱόν τις οἶδεν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ καὶ οἷς ἂν βούληται ὁ υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψαι». πρῶτον μὲν θαυμάζω πῶς τοῦ λόγου τούτου μυρίας ἔχοντος ἐκδοχὰς σὺ τὸ ἐπικινδυνότερον ἐξελέξω μέρος, πρὸς ἀγνωσίαν τοῦ δημιουργοῦ καὶ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πάντων φήσας εἰρῆσθαι τὸν λόγον. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ δύναται ὁ λόγος εἰρῆσθαι πρὸς πάντας Ἰουδαίους, τοὺς πατέρα νομίζοντας εἶναι Χριστοῦ τὸν ∆αυὶδ καὶ αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν Χριστὸν υἱὸν ὄντα καὶ υἱὸν θεοῦ μὴ ἐγνωκέναι. διὸ καὶ οἰκείως εἴρηται· «Oὐ- δεὶς ἔγνω τὸν πατέραή, ἐπεὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν ∆αυὶδ πάντες ἔλεγον. τὸ δὲ ἐπάξαντα εἰπεῖν ὡς «οὐδὲ τὸν υἱόν τις οἶδεν», ἐπεὶ αὐτὸν υἱὸν ὄντα οὐκ ᾔδεισαν, καὶ τὸ εἰπεῖν «οἷς ἂν βούληται ὁ υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψαι» ὀρθῶς εἴρηται· ὁ γὰρ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ὢν υἱὸς μόνος ὡρίσθη, ἵνα οἷς βού- λεται ἀποκαλύψῃ. καὶ οὕτως δύναται Ἀδὰμ ὁ πρωτόπλαστος αὐτὸν μὴ ἀγνοεῖν οὐδὲ Ἐνὼχ ὁ εὐαρεστήσας μὴ εἰδέναι οὔτε Νῶε ὁ δίκαιος μὴ ἐπίστασθαι οὔτε Ἀβραὰμ ὁ φίλος μὴ συνιέναι, οὐκ Ἰσαὰκ μὴ νενοη- κέναι, οὐκ Ἰακὼβ ὁ παλαίσας μὴ πεπιστευκέναι, καὶ πᾶσιν τοῖς ἐν τῷ λαῷ ἀξίοις μὴ ἀποκεκαλύφθαι. εἰ δέ (ὡς φής) ἔσται διὰ τὸ εἰδέναι διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ νῦν πᾶσιν ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι, πῶς οὐκ ἀδικώτατον λέγεις ἐκείνους μὲν μὴ ἐγνωκέναι, ἑπτὰ στύλους ὑπάρξαντας κόσμῳ καὶ δικαιο- τάτῳ θεῷ εὐαρεστῆσαι δυναμένους, καὶ τοσούτους δὲ νῦν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀσεβεῖς ὄντας κατὰ πάντα γνῶναι; οὗτοι παντὸς κρείττονες γνῶναι οὐ κατηξιώθησαν; καὶ πῶς ἐστι τοῦτο ἀγαθόν, ὃ μὴ δίκαιόν ἐστιν; ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ ἀγαθὸν θέλεις λέγειν οὐ τὸν εὐεργετοῦντα τοὺς δικαιοπρα- γήσαντας, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἀγαπῶντα τοὺς ἀδίκους κἂν μὴ πιστεύωσιν, οἷς καὶ τὰ ἀπόρρητα ἀποκαλύπτει, ἃ δικαίοις ἀποκαλύψαι οὐκ ἠθέλησεν. τὸ γὰρ τοιοῦτον οὔτε ἀγαθῷ οὔτε δικαίῳ προσήκει, ἀλλὰ τῷ εὐσεβεῖς με- μισηκότι. μήτι σὺ εἶ, Σίμων, ὁ ἑστώς, ὁ ταῦτα οὕτως μήποτε ·ηθέντα εἰπεῖν ἀποθρασυνόμενος; Καὶ ὁ Σίμων ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἀγανακτήσας ἔφη· Τὸν σὸν διδάσκαλον αἰτιῶ εἰπόντα· «Ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι, κύριε τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅτι, ἅπερ ἦν κρυπτὰ σοφοῖς, ἀπεκάλυψας αὐτὰ νηπίοις θηλάζουσιν». καὶ ὁ Πέτρος· Oὕτω μέν, ἔφη, ὁ λόγος οὐκ ἐλέχθη· ἐρῶ δὲ πρῶτον, ὡς οὕτως εἰρημένον ὥσπερ σοι ἔδοξεν. ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν, εἴπερ καὶ εἰρήκει· «Ἅτινα ἦν κρυπτὰ σοφοῖς, ταῦτα νηπίοις ἀπεκάλυψεν ὁ πατήρ», οὐδὲ οὕτως ἄλλον θεὸν καὶ πατέρα σημαίνειν ἐνομίζετο παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα τὸν κόσμον. ἐνδέχεται γὰρ αὐτοῦ εἶναι τοῦ δημιουργοῦ τὰ κρυπτὰ ἃ ἔλεγεν, τῷ καὶ τὸν Ἠσαίαν εἰπεῖν· «Ἀνοίξω τὸ στόμα μου ἐν παραβολαῖς καὶ ἐξερεύξομαι κεκρυμμένα ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου». τὸν οὖν προφήτην ὁμολογεῖς, ὃς τὰ κεκρυμμένα οὐκ ἠγνόει, ἅτινα ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀπὸ σοφῶν κεκρύφθαι λέγει, νηπίοις δὲ ἀποκεκαλύφθαι; πῶς δὲ ὁ δημιουργὸς ἠγνόει τοῦ προφήτου αὐτοῦ μὴ ἀγνοοῦντος Ἠσαίου; ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἡμῶν τῷ ὄντι οὐκ εἶπεν· «Ἅτινα [οὐκ] ἦν κρυπτά», ἀλλὰ τὸ δοκοῦν τραχύτερον εἴρηκεν· εἶπεν γάρ· «Ἀπεκάλυψας αὐτὰ νηπίοις θηλάζουσιν». τὸ δὲ εἰπεῖν «ἀπέκρυψας», ὥς ποτε ἐγνω- σμένων αὐτοῖς. παρ' αὐτοῖς γὰρ ἡ κλεὶς τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν