CHURCH FATHERS

T.

IRENAEUS

OF

With a view to missionary work, he

journeyed to Gaul where he was ordained

LUGDUNUM

by Pothius bishop of Lyons who [later]

suffered martyrdom in the persecution of

St. Irenaeus: Life

Marcus Aurelius, A.D. 178. Irenaeus was

Keen detective work is required to know

a man for whom no biography exists, of
whom there is no portrait, whose letters
have been reduced to scraps in fact his
major extant work

has survived only

thanks to the services of a translator

(Rufinus) whose concern was to render it
orthodox exceeded by desire to render it

nominated to succeed him as bishop by

Pope Eleutherius, to whom he had been
sent on an ecclesiastical mission. In this
office he showed great untiring zeal and
energy for the good of the churches in
Gaul.2

The new bishop divided his

activities between the duties of a pastor

and of a missionary () and his writings.3

accurately.1 However, though scanty, we

do have some information regarding the
man.

St.

Ireneaus

was born in

Proconsular Asia, or at least in some

Writings
Of his writings, two have reached us in
their entirety in a Latin version:

province bordering thereon, in the first half

of the second century; the exact date is

Against

Heresies

(Adversus

haereses)

controverted, between the years 115 and

125, according to some, or, according to

Proof of the Apostolic Preaching

others, between 130 and 142. He suffered

martyrdom under Septimius Severus with

In which he wrote mainly to rebut the

many of his flock in June 28th, 202. It is

heresy of Gnosticism which was spreading

certain

young,

fast in Gaul and elsewhere and had thus

Irenaeus had seen and heard the holy

become a great threat and also a nag to

Bishop Polycarp (d. 155) at Smyrna. His

Catholicism at the time. Three [out of the

deep attachment to the Christian doctrine

many] controversial issues of the heresy

did not prevent him from studying the

taught that:

that,

while

still

very

Greek poets and philosophers, especially

Homer and Plato.

creator of this visible world cannot

2

Ma ry Ann Donovan, One Right Reading: A Guide to

Ireneaus, (Mi nnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1997), 7.

The God of the Old Testament, as

Berna rd Schmid, Manual of Patrology, (St. Loui s : JB.

Iberder, 1903), 102.
3 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08130b.htm

CHURCH FATHERS

be the real God whom Christ

Irenaeus further observes that since the

revealed but the inferior demiurge.

writings (liter) of Moses are the words of

Christ, He (Christ) does Himself declare to

Christ was the revealer of the

hitherto unknown high and all
perfect God to men. By this
illumination,

all

spiritual

men

who were capable of receiving this

knowledge would be led back to
the realm of the good God.

the Jews, as John has recorded in the

Gospel: If you had believed Moses, you
would have believed me: for he wrote of
me. But if you do not believe his writings,
neither will you believe my words. From
this Irenaeus infers that if this is the case
with regard to Moses (that his are the

To them, the material world was

words of Christ), so too are the words of

evil therefore, Christ could not

the other prophets Christs words as well.

have had a real incarnation; his

And

appearance was either as Docetic

Abraham as having said to the rich man,

and

as a temporary

with reference to all those who were still

indwelling of the man Jesus, or as

alive: If they do not obey Moses and the

an apparent birth from a Virgin

prophets, neither, if any one were to rise

Mother

from the dead and go to them, will they

Ghostly,

without

partaking

of

again,

the Lord Himself exhibits

believe him.

material nature.4
Doctrine of Irenaeus against the

Irenaeus further reacts by commenting on

Gnostics

a text, the interpretation of which is in

contention

1 That the God of the Old Testament is

the God of The New and the One and
Only True God

between

him

and

his

opponents. He notes that Jesus said: do

not swear at all, either by Heaven, for it is
the throne of God, or by the earth for it is

To counter the first argument noted above,

his footstool, or by Jerusalem for it is the

Irenaeus notes that our Lord Jesus Christ

city of the great king (Matt 5:34-35). The

confesses the same Being as (His) Father,

text alludes to Isaiah 66:1 Heaven is my

as do Moses, David and Esaias (Isaiah),

throne, and earth is my footstool. Irenaeus

where He says: I confess to thee, O

then reports the Gnostic teaching thus:

Father,

these malicious ones say: If heaven is the

Lord

of

heaven

and

earth.

throne of God and the earth Gods

4

Cf. Hubert Jedin, Handbook of Church History,

Volume I, (London: Burns and Oates, 1965), p. 183.

footstool, but it is said heaven and earth

CHURCH FATHERS
with them will also

If the stubble were a creature of God,

certainly pass this God who is sited upon

never would it have been parted from

will pass away,

the grain of wheat! Or again, if the

them, therefore this isnt the God who is

vine twigs were made by God, never

above all things. As Ireneaus remarks,

would they be cut down when they

such a statement comes from one who

have been stripped of grapes. But just

does not know what God is; rather they

as these things were made principally

think that God is like human beings who

on account of the fruit growing on

them so with Jerusalem.5

sits contained, and not that God is the one

who contains. Ireneaus understands that a

Jerusalem bore its fruit, the fruit of liberty

specific note of the Creator God as distinct

and now is abandoned. So it is for all that

from the things of creation is that the

begins in time that must necessarily end in

Creator is the one in who all else is, but

time. And the One True God did not

who is in no other. The Gnostic reading

begin in time hence He will not end in

contradicts

time.

this

position

and

it

also

misunderstands the passing of Heaven and

2. That Christ is the Revealer of the One

earth.

True God, and that the One True God is

Ireneus says that David resolved this latter

the revealer of Christ

question in Ps 102: 25-28. According to

the psalmist heaven and earth will pass out

Having demonstrated that the God of the

but God and his servants will remain for

Old Testament is the God of the New, St.

ever. While God is quite different from

Irenaeus continues to argue that Christ is

created things that are limited and passing,

there

is

commonality

nevertheless
between

a
God

kind

of

and

the

the only revealer of God who was known

from the beginning through the Word with
whom they co-existed. He highlights that

servants of God in that both will live for

Christ, in revealing himself to his disciples

ever.

as the Word who imparts knowledge of the

To

clarify

this

commonality

Ireneaus moves to his final section of the

Matthean passage, referring to Jerusalem.
The Gnostics say that the city would not
have been destroyed if were truly the city
of the great King. This says Irenaeus, is
like saying:

Father and who reproves the Jews who

rejected this Word, declared that: No man
knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither
knoweth any man the Father, save the Son,
and he to whom the Son has willed to
reveal [Him]. But the Gnostics according

(AH IV. 4, 1 SC 100: 416)

CHURCH FATHERS
to Irenaeus read same verse thus: No man

person; that without God there is no

knew the Father, but the Son; nor the Son,

knowledge of God. But that God should be

but the Father, and he to whom the Son

known is the will of the Father. For they

has willed to reveal [Him];

know Him to whom the Son will reveal

The problem that Irenaeus finds with this

Him.7

Gnostic variant is the shift of tenses which

For Irenaeus, the Father reveals the Son

has the effect of asserting that the Father

precisely

was not known before the coming of

instrumentality He might be manifested to

Christ.6 He therefore argues that, if Christ

all, and might receive those righteous ones

did then [only] begin to have existence

who believe in Him into incorruption and

when He came into the world as man, and

everlasting enjoyment (now, to believe in

if the Father did remember only in the

Him is to do His will); but He shall

times of Tiberius Csar to provide for the

righteously shut out into the darkness,

wants of men, and His Word was shown to

those who do not believe, and who do

have

His

consequently avoid His light. The Father

that]

therefore has revealed Himself to all, by

neither then was it necessary that another

making His Word visible to all; and,

God should be proclaimed, but rather that

conversely, the Word has declared to all,

the reasons for so great carelessness and

the Father and the Son since He has

neglect on His part should be made the

become visible to all. And therefore the

subject of investigation.

righteous judgment of God shall fall upon

not

creatures;

always

coexisted

with

[it may be remarked

His interpretation of the text allows for

more subtlety. Certainly it means that the
invisible Father is known through the
Word and the inexpressible is expressed
by the Word; in turn the word is known
only by the Father. But Irenaeus insists
that the Lord did not say that the Father
and the Son can be known in no way at all,
rather what he taught is that no one is able
to know God unless God teaches the

Ma ry Ann Donovan, op. cit., p.103.

so

that

through

His

all who, like others, have seen, but have

not, like others, believed. For Irenaeus
therefore, it is not sufficient to have the
knowledge revealed by Christ in order to
be led back to the realm of the good God
as the Gnostics claimed. One should also
believe in Him and carry out His will. It is
in this way that one procures for himself
the salvation of God. Instead, unbelief and
acting contrary to the will of God brings

Ibid.

CHURCH FATHERS
about

judgement

and

eternal

condemnation.8

beforehand

the

blessing

of

salvation

according to the ministration of the Word

3. That Christ was True Man Born of the

Blessed Virgin Mary
Following from the above two discourses
about God St. Irenaeus in Book Five
Chapter One defends the Humanity of
Christ. Irenaeus articulates his discourse
from what is observable of Christ; that it
was in fact necessary for the existing Word
to become flesh for in no other way could
we have learned the things of God. For no
other being had the power of revealing to
us the things of the Father, except His own
proper Word. For what other person knew
the mind of the Lord, or who else has
become His counsellor? Again, we could
have learned in no other way than by
seeing our Teacher, and hearing His voice
with our own ears, that, by becoming
imitators of His works as well as doers of

who is perfect in all things.

But

according

to

Irenaeus,

apostasy

tyrannized over us unjustly, and hence

contrary to nature, alienated us from the
Omnipotent God whose property we are
rendering

us

its

own

disciples.

Nevertheless the Word of God righteously

turned against this apostasy, and redeemed
from it His own property through His own
blood, giving His soul for our souls, and
His flesh for our flesh, and He also poured
out the Spirit of the Father for the union
and

communion

of

God

and

man,

imparting indeed God to men by means of

the Spirit, and, on the other hand, attaching
man to God by His own incarnation, and
bestowed

upon

us

at

His

coming

immortality durably and truly, by means of

communion with God.

His words, we may have communion with

It is because this that Christ could not have

Him, receiving increase from the perfect

appeared in mere seeming, for these things

One, and from Him who is prior to all

[noted above] were not done in appearance

creation. Irenaeus notes that we were

only, but in actual reality. For Irenaeus, if

created by the only best and good Being,

He did appear as a man, when He was not

by him who has immortality and that we

a man, neither could the Holy Spirit have

were formed

rested upon Him, (an occurrence which did

in his own image and

likeness and thus we were made the first

actually

take place) as the Spirit is

fruits of creation. We also have received

invisible; nor, [in that case], was there any

degree of truth in Him, for He was not that

Cf.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.vii.ii.html

which

He

seemed

to

be.

Irenaeus

furthermore attests that Abraham and the

CHURCH FATHERS
other

prophets

formation rendered man living and perfect,

prophetical manner, foretelling in vision

receptive to the Father so that in the

what should come to pass. If, then, such a

natural Adam we all are dead, so that in

being

in outward

the spiritual we may be made alive. And

semblance different from what he was in

for this reason in the last times, by the

reality, there has been a certain prophetical

good pleasure of the Father, His Hands

vision made to men; and another advent of

[the Son and the Spirit] formed a living

His must be looked forward to, in which

man, in order that Adam might be created

He shall be such as He has now been seen

again after the image and likeness of God10

has

beheld

Him

now appeared

after

in a prophetic manner. To Irenaeus, it is

the same thing to say that He appeared

Bibliography

merely to outward seeming, and to affirm

that He received nothing from Mary. For

Donovan, Mary Ann. One Right Reading:

He

A Guide to Ireneaus. Minnesota: The

would

not have been one truly

possessing flesh and blood, by which He

Liturgical Press, 1997.

redeemed us, unless He had summed up in

Himself the ancient formation of Adam. 9
Irenaeus highlights the futility of those
who do not receive by faith into their soul

Jedin, Hubert. Handbook of Church

History, Volume I. London: Burns and
Oates, 1965.

the union of God and man, and thus fail to

understand that the Holy Spirit came upon

Schmid, Bernard. Manual of Patrology. St.

Mary, and that the power of the Most High

Louis: JB. Iberder, 1903.

did overshadow her: wherefore also what

was generated is a holy thing, and the Son

Other Sources

of the Most High God. Irenaeus argues

that at the beginning of our formation in

Catholic Encyclopaedia:

Adam, the breath of life that God breathed

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08130b.

into man animated him, and manifested

htm

him as a being with reason; in the same

way in the times of the end, the Word and

Christian Classics:

the Spirit of God, having become united

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.vi

with the ancient substance of Adams

i.ii.html

10

Cf. Ibid.

Cf. Ibid.