Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
BY WHAT SCRIPTURAL TESTIMONIES THEY MAKE USE OF. Besides all this, they have also invented an unspeakable [number of apocryphal and spurious writings], which they bring forward to the amazement of the foolish, and of those who do not know the writings of truth. Among these they also use that falsehood, that when the Lord was a child and was learning his letters, when his teacher said to him, as is customary, "Say Alpha," he answered, "Alpha." Then, when the teacher told him to say "Beta," the Lord is said to have replied, "Explain to me first what Alpha itself signifies, and only afterward shall I disclose Beta to you." And they explain this as though he alone knew the Unknown, which he showed forth under the type of Alpha.
Certain other things found in the Gospel they twist into this same character. Such as his answer to his mother, when he was twelve years old: "Did you not realize that I am bound to occupy myself with what belongs to my Father?" — this "Father," whom they [his parents] did not know, they say he was announcing to them. And that for this reason he sent out his disciples to the twelve tribes, to announce to them the God they did not know. And to the one who said to him, "Good Master," they say he confessed that he who is truly good is God, by answering, "Why do you call me good? There is none good but the Father who is in heaven" — for they now say the heavens are called Aeons. And for this reason, they say, he did not answer those who said to him, "By what authority do you do this?" but by his own counter-question rather confounded them, thereby, they interpret, showing forth the unspeakable nature of the Father, in that he did not tell them. And also in his saying, "Many times have I longed to hear this very word, yet had no one who could tell it to me," they say he shows that there is one who is truly the one God, whom they [his hearers] did not know. Further, in that when he came close to Jerusalem, he mourned over the city and declared, "If only you, even you, had recognized on this day what belongs to your peace — but it is now concealed from your eyes," they say he made manifest [the unknown Father]. And again, in saying, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, learn from me," they say he was announcing the Father of truth. For what they did not know, they say, this he promised to teach them.
And as the crown of the above, and as it were the culmination of their rule, they bring forward this: "I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and have revealed them to little children. Even so, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight. Everything has been handed over to me by my Father; and none recognizes the Father but the Son, nor does anyone recognize the Son but the Father, together with whomever the Son chooses to reveal him." In these words, they say, he most plainly showed that before his coming no one had openly known the Father of truth; and they wish to adapt this to mean that, whereas the Maker and Fashioner [of the world] has always been known by all, it is of the Father unknown to all — whom they themselves proclaim — that the Lord said these things.