1-13:1
ΠΡΟΣ δὲ τούτοις ἀμύθητον πλῆθος ἀποκρύφων καὶ νόθων γραφῶν, ἃς αὐτοὶ ἔπλασαν, παρεισφέρουσιν εἰς κατάπληξιν τῶν ἀνοήτων, καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀληθείας μὴ ἐπισταμένων γράμματα. Προσπαραλαμβάνουσι δὲ εἰς τοῦτο κᾀκεῖνο τὸ ῥᾳδιούργημα, ὡς τοῦ Κυρίου τὰ διὰ παιδὸς ὄντος καὶ μανθάνοντος τὸ ἀλφάβητον τοῦ διδασκάλου αὐτῷ φήσαντος, καθὼς ἔθος ἐστὶν, εἰπὲ ἄλφα, ἀποκρίνασθαι τὸ ἄλφα. Πάλιν τε τὸ βῆτα τοῦ διδασκάλου κελεύσαντος εἰπεῖν, ἀποδοὺς κρίνασθαι τὸν Κύριον· σύ μοι πρότερον εἰπὲ τί ἐστι τὸ ἄλφα, καὶ τότε σοι ἐρῶ τί ἐστι τὸ βῆτα. Καὶ τοῦτο ἐξηγοῦνται, ὡς αὐτοῦ μόνου τὸ ἄγνωστον ἐπισταμένου, ὃ ἐφανέρωσεν ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τοῦ ἄλφα
Besides these things, they bring in an untold multitude of apocryphal and spurious writings, which they themselves forged, for the astonishment of the foolish and of those who do not understand the letters of the truth. And for this purpose they take up also that piece of trickery: that when the Lord was a child and was learning the alphabet, and his teacher said to him, as is customary, "Say alpha," he answered "alpha"; but again, when the teacher bade him say "beta," the Lord answered, "You first tell me what alpha is, and then I will tell you what beta is." And this they expound as though he alone understood the unknown, which he revealed in the place of the alpha.
除這些事以外,他們還引進無數他們自己捏造的偽經與假冒之作,為要使愚昧人和那些不明白真理之話語的人感到驚奇。為此他們也採用那一段把戲:據說主還是孩童、正在學字母時,老師照慣例對他說:「念 alpha」,他就回答「alpha」;但老師再吩咐他念「beta」時,主卻回答說:「你先告訴我 alpha 是甚麼,然後我才告訴你 beta 是甚麼。」這事他們便解釋為:惟有主一人明白那不可知者,而祂藉著 alpha 這字母的位置,把它顯明了出來。
1-13:2
Ἔνια δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ κειμένων εἰς τοῦτον τὸν χαρακτῆρα μεθαρμόζουσιν· ὡς τὴν πρὸς τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ δωδεκαετοῦς ὄντος ἀπόκρισιν· Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Πατρός μου δεῖ με εἶναι; Ὃν οὐκ ἤδεισαν, φασὶ πατέρα κατήγγελλεν αὐτοῖς· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐκπέμψαι τοὺς μαθητὰς εἰς τὰς δώδεκα φυλὰς, κηρύσσοντας τὸν ἄγνωστον αὐτοῖς Θεόν. Καὶ τῷ εἰπόντι αὐτῷ, Διδάσκαλε ἀγαθὲ, τὸν ἀληθῶς ἀγαθὸν Θεὸν ὡμολογηκέναι εἰπόντα, Τί με λέγεις ἀγαθόν; εἷς ἐστὶν ἀγαθὸς, ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Οὐρανοὺς δὲ νῦν τοὺς Αἰῶνας εἰρῆσθαι λέγουσι. Καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀποκριθῆναι τοῖς εἰποῦσιν αὐτῷ, Ἐν ποία δυνάμει τοῦτο ποιεῖς; ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀντεπερωτήσει ἀπορῆσαι αὐτοὺς, τὸ ἄῤῥητον τοῦ πατρὸς, ἐν τῷ μὴ εἰπεῖν, δεδειχέναι αὐτὸν ἐξηγοῦνται. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ εἰρηκέναι, Πολλάκις ἐπεθύμησα ἀκοῦσαι ἕνα τῶν λόγων τούτων, καὶ οὐκ ἔσχον τὸν ἐροῦντα, ἐμφαίνοντός φασι δεῖν εἶναι διὰ τοῦ ἑνὸς τὸν ἀληθῶς ἕνα Θεὸν, ὃν οὐκ ἐγνώκεισαν. Ἔτι ἐν τῷ προσσχόντα αὐτὸν τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ δακρῦσαι ἐπʼ αὐτὴν, καὶ εἰπεῖν· Εἰ ἔγνως καὶ σὺ σύμερον τὰ πρὸς εἰρήνην, ἐκρύβη δὲ ἀπό σου· διὰ τοῦ ἐκρύβη ῥήματος, τὸ ἀπόκρυφον τοῦ Βοθοῦ δεδηλωκέναι. Καὶ πάλιν εἰπόντα· Δεῦτε πρός με πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, κᾀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς· καὶ μάθετε ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ, τὸν τῆς ἀληθείας πατέρα κατηγγελκέναι.Ὃ γὰρ οὐκ ᾔδεισαν, φησὶ, τοῦτο αὐτοῖς ὑπέσχετο διδάξειν Ἀπόδειξιν δὲ τὸν τῶν ἀνωτάτω, καὶ οἱονεὶ κορωνίδα τῆς ὑποθέσεως αὐτῶν φέρουσι ταῦτα· Ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι πάτερ κύριε τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅτι ἀπέκρυψας ἀπὸ σοφῶν καὶ συνετῶν, καὶ ἀπεκάλυψας αὐτὰ νηπίοις· οὐὰ, ὁ πατήρ μου, ὅτι ἔμπροσθέν σου εὐδοκία μοι ἐγένετο. Πάντα μοι παρεδόθη ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρός μου· καὶ οὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν Πατέρα, εἰ μὴ ὁ Υἱὸς, καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν, εἰ μὴ ὁ Πατὴρ, καὶᾦ ἂν ὁ Υἱὸς ἀποκαλόψῃ. Ἐν τούτοις διαῤῥίδυν φασὶ δεδειχέναι αὐτὸν, ὡς τὸν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν παρεξευρημένον πατέρα ἀληθείας πρὸ τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ μηδενὸς πώποτε ἐγνωκότος· καὶ κατασκευάζειν θέλουσιν, ὡς τοῦ ποιητοῦ καὶ κτίστου ἀεὶ ὑπὸ πάντων ἐγνωσμένου· καὶ ταῦτα τὸν Κύριον εἰρηκέναι περὶ τοῦ ἀγνώστου τοῖς πᾶσι Πατρὸς, ὃν αὐτοὶ καταγγέλλουσι
Some of the things also that lie in the Gospel they refashion to this same character: as his answer to his mother when he was twelve years old, "Do you not know that I must be about my Father's business?"—they say he was announcing to them a Father whom they did not know; and that for this reason he sent forth the disciples to the twelve tribes, proclaiming to them the unknown God. And to him who said, "Good Teacher," they say he confessed the truly good God when he said, "Why do you call me good? There is one who is good, the Father in the heavens." And by "heavens" here, they say, the Aeons are meant. And by his not answering those who said to him, "By what power do you do this?" but reducing them to perplexity by a counter-question, they explain that he showed forth the ineffability of the Father by not speaking. Moreover, in his saying, "Often have I desired to hear one of these words, and I had no one to tell it to me," they say he was indicating that, through the "one," there must be the truly one God, whom they had not known. Further, in his drawing near to Jerusalem and weeping over it, and saying, "If you too had known, even this day, the things that make for peace—but it is hidden from you"—by the word "hidden" he made plain the hiddenness of Bythos. And again, in saying, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; and learn from me," he announced the Father of truth. "For what they did not know," he says, "this he promised to teach them." And as a proof, and as it were the crowning point of their hypothesis, they bring forward these words: "I confess to you, Father, Lord of the heavens and of the earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes. Yes, my Father, for so it was well-pleasing before you. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knew the Father except the Son, and the Son except the Father, and he to whom the Son may reveal him." In these words, they say, he showed expressly that the Father of truth, whom they themselves have invented, was known to no one whatever before his coming; and they wish to establish that the Maker and Creator was always known by all. And these things, they say, the Lord spoke concerning the Father who is unknown to all—whom they themselves proclaim.
他們也把福音書中所載的一些話,改造成這同樣的格調:如他十二歲時對母親的回答:「豈不知我應當以我父的事為念麼?」他們便說,他是在向他們宣告一位他們所不認識的父;又說,正因如此,他差遣門徒往十二支派去,向他們傳揚那位他們所不認識的神。對那稱他「良善的夫子」的人,他們說,他是承認了那位真正良善的神,因他說:「你為甚麼稱我是良善的?除了一位,就是在諸天裡的父以外,再沒有良善的。」他們說,這裡的「諸天」乃是指眾伊涌。又因他沒有回答那些問他「你仗著甚麼權柄作這事」的人,反以反問使他們無言以對,他們便解釋說,他乃是藉著不開口,顯明了父的不可言喻。再者,他說:「我多次切願聽見這些話中的一句,卻沒有人能告訴我」,他們便說,他是在指明:藉著那「一」,必有那真正獨一的神,是他們所未曾認識的。此外,他臨近耶路撒冷,為它哀哭,說:「巴不得你在這日子知道關係你平安的事,無奈這事現在隱藏,叫你的眼看不出來」——他們說,他藉「隱藏」一詞,表明了深淵(Bythos)的隱密。他又說:「凡勞苦擔重擔的,可以到我這裡來,我就使你們得安息;你們當學我」,他們便說,他是宣告了那真理之父。他說:「他們所不知道的,他應許要教導他們。」作為證據,並彷彿作為他們整個假設的冠冕,他們提出這些話:「父啊,天地的主,我感謝你!因為你將這些事向聰明通達人就藏起來,向嬰孩就顯出來。父啊,是的,因為你的美意本是如此。一切所有的,都是我父交付我的;除了父,沒有人知道子;除了子和子所願意指示的,沒有人知道父。」他們說,他藉這些話明明指出:他們自己所杜撰那位真理之父,在他降臨以前,是從來無人認識的;他們又想藉此確立:那位創造主、創造者,卻一向是眾人所認識的;並說主說這一切,乃是論到那為眾人所不認識、而他們自己所宣揚的父。