Canonised Father of the Church
Irenaeus of Lyons
Bishop in Gaul who had heard Polycarp as a boy; the first great theologian of Tradition, of the fourfold Gospel, and of salvation as the recapitulation of all things in Christ.
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- Dates
- around 130 - around 202 — Both dates are approximate. The tradition that he died a martyr is late and not securely attested.
- Region
- Asia Minor, then Gaul
- See
- Lugdunum (Lyons)
- Language of composition
- Greek
- Commemoration
- 23 August (Orthodox Church in America and other Orthodox jurisdictions) — Julian-calendar jurisdictions observe the date thirteen days later on the civil calendar.
Life
Irenaeus grew up in Asia Minor, where as a boy he heard Polycarp of Smyrna, and became bishop of Lyons in Gaul after the persecution of 177. He wrote in Greek for a Latin-speaking city, on the frontier of the empire, against teachers whose systems had reached even there.
His great work, conventionally called Against Heresies, sets out the teaching of various Gnostic schools at length and then answers them. The exposition is so detailed that when Gnostic texts were recovered at Nag Hammadi in the twentieth century, they largely confirmed his reporting.
Works
Generally accepted as authentic
- Against Heresies, Book I
- Against Heresies, Book II
- Against Heresies, Book III
- Against Heresies, Book IV
- Against Heresies, Book V
- The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching —
Theological and spiritual contribution
Against the claim that the apostles left a secret teaching to a few, Irenaeus argues that if there were such a secret it would have been left with the men to whom the apostles entrusted the churches — and those churches teach publicly, everywhere, the same thing. This is the earliest sustained argument for what Orthodoxy calls tradition: not a second body of information, but the same faith held in the open, in every place, in continuity.
He is the first writer to argue that there are four Gospels, neither more nor fewer. The reasons he gives — four zones, four winds, four faces of the cherubim — are not the reasons a modern historian would give, and it is worth being honest about that. What the passage establishes is that by his time the fourfold Gospel was a settled fact he was defending, not a proposal he was making.
His account of salvation turns on recapitulation: the Son becomes what we are so that human life, gone wrong in Adam, may be gathered up and set right in him. Creation and body are good, and are not to be escaped but healed.
Controversy and reception
Irenaeus intervened when Victor of Rome moved to break communion with the churches of Asia over the date of pascha, urging that a difference of practice should not divide churches that share the faith. Eusebius preserves the episode, and it is one of the earliest recorded arguments about the limits of a bishop's authority beyond his own church.
In their own words
Every quotation below was located in the archived text of the edition named, at the locator given, by the build's own quotation check.
As I have already observed, the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. She also believes these points [of doctrine] just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth.
It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are.
Related in this archive
-
Polycarp of Smyrna
Bishop of Smyrna and a link between the apostolic generation and the later second century; Irenaeus, who heard him as a boy, says he had been instructed by apostles.
-
Scripture and Holy Tradition
Not two sources of information, but one life in which Scripture is read.
-
How Scripture was formed
A gradual ecclesial process, not a single decision — and certainly not one taken at Nicaea.
-
Irenaeus: the Gospels are four
The earliest surviving argument that there are four Gospels, neither more nor fewer — made in defence of something already settled.
-
Scripture within Holy Tradition
Not two sources of information, but one life in which the Scriptures are read.
Your notes
Sources for this page
- Tier C The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book I, Chapter X translated edition of primary texts The unity of the Church's faith throughout the world. Source record (opens in a new tab)
- Tier C The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book III, Chapters 1-4 translated edition of primary texts The apostolic tradition and the succession of bishops. Source record (opens in a new tab)
- Tier C The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter XI.8 translated edition of primary texts The fourfold Gospel. Source record (opens in a new tab)
- Tier C Eusebius: Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine Eusebius, Church History, Book V, Chapter 24 translated edition of primary texts Irenaeus's letter to Victor on the Paschal controversy. Source record (opens in a new tab)
Tiers are explained in the methodology. No page on this site has been reviewed or approved by any bishop, priest, synod or seminary.