Saint Irenaeus

Lives of the Saints

by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. edition

[1894]

June 28.—ST. IRENÆUS, Bishop, Martyr.

THIS Saint was born about the year 120. He was a Grecian, probably a native of Lesser Asia.

His parents, who were Christians, placed him under the care of the great St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. It was in so holy a school that he learned that sacred science which rendered him afterward a great ornament of the Church and the terror of her enemies.

St. Polycarp cultivated his rising genius, and formed his mind to piety by precepts and example; and the zealous scholar was careful to reap all the advantages which were offered him by the happiness of such a master. Such was his veneration for his tutor’s sanctity that he observed every action and whatever be saw in that holy man, the better to copy his example and learn his spirit. He listened to his instructions with an insatiable ardor, and so deeply did he engrave them on his heart that the impressions remained most lively even to his old age.

In order to confute the heresies of his age, this father made himself acquainted with the most absurd conceits of their philosophers, by which means he was qualified to trace up every error to its sources and set it in its full light. St. Polycarp sent St. Irenæus into Gaul, in company with some priest; he was himself ordained priest of the Church of Lyons by St. Pothinus. St. Pothinus having glorified God by his happy death, in the year 177, our Saint was chosen the second Bishop of Lyons.

By his preaching, he in a short time converted almost that whole country to the Faith. He wrote several works against heresy, and at last, with many others, suffered martyrdom about the year 202, under the Emperor Severus, at Lyons.

Reflection.—Fathers and mothers, and heads of families, spiritual and temporal, should bear in mind that inferiors “will not be corrected by words” alone, but that example is likewise needful.

Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr Memorial Gn 15:1-12, 17-18/Mt 7:15-20 (373).

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/irenaeus-of-lyons-614
CATHOLICISM SAINTS ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS

*Irenaeus (/ɪrɪˈneɪəs/; Greek: Εἰρηναῖος Eirēnaios; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the development of Christian theology by combating heresy and defining Catholic orthodoxy. Originating from Smyrna, he had seen and heard the preaching of Polycarp, who in turn was said to have heard John the Evangelist, and thus was the last-known living connection with the Apostles.Chosen as bishop of Lugdunum, now Lyon, his best-known work is Against Heresies, often cited as Adversus Haereses, a refutation of gnosticism, in particular that of Valentinus. To counter the doctrines of the gnostic sects claiming secret wisdom, he offered three pillars of orthodoxy: the scriptures, the tradition handed down from the apostles, and the teaching of the apostles’ successors. Intrinsic to his writing is that the surest source of Christian guidance is the Church of Rome, and he is the earliest surviving witness to regard all four of the now-canonical gospels as essential.

He is recognized as a saint in the Catholic Church, which celebrates his feast on 28 June, and in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, which celebrates the feast on 23 August.

Irenaeus is honored in the Church of England and in the Episcopal Church on 28 June. Pope Francis declared Irenaeus the 37th Doctor of the Church on 21 January 2022.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irenaeus

**Irenaeus was a famous Greek apologist against the Gnostic movements of early Christianity, and the bishop of the Roman city of Lugdunum in the province of Gaul, presently Lyon, France. The foremost Christian theologian of the 2nd century, he is best known for his work ‘Adversus Haereses’ (Against Heresies), written circa 180 AD. Almost all of his writings were denunciations of theological rivals that challenged the emerging Christian orthodoxy, in concordance with the Church of Rome. He is credited with one of the earliest lists of the biblical canon that includes all the four gospels, which is now part of the New Testament. He was also among the first to use the principle of apostolic succession to refute heretics and theological opponents – which professes that bishops are the direct and uninterrupted line of succession from the Apostles of Jesus Christ, and that their exclusive authority and special powers were handed down to them from the apostles themselves. Irenaeus is arguably the most important link between the apostolic church and later Christianity, as well as the obvious connection between eastern and western orthodoxies owing to his place of origin and his seminal work to strengthen the Catholic church.

***Legacy

Irenaeus is recognized as a martyr and a saint by both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and also considered a distinguished ‘Father of the Church’. The former celebrates ‘Irenaeus’ feast day’ on June 28, and the latter, on August 23.

He had a profound influence on the next generation of Christian theologians, including Hippolytus and Tertullian. His writings were first translated to English by John Keble and published in 1872.

While the Gnostics denied it, Irenaeus upheld the validity of the Old Testament. Even though he did not actually refer to two different bibles in his writings, he did pave the way for this terminology to be adopted by Judeo-Christian scholarship.

Modern scholars rely almost entirely on the writings of Irenaeus while reconstructing Gnostic teachings, as he included in them a comprehensive review of Gnostic views before proceeding to refute them. The discovery of the Gnostic library near Najʿ Ḥammādī in Egypt in the 1940s confirmed the precision with which he reported Gnostic doctrines before attacking them.

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

Rom 8:19–21