Irenaeus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saint Irenaeus

An engraving of Irenaeus (c. 130–202), bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul (now Lyon, France)
Father of the Church
Born 130
Died 202
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
Lutheran Church
Feast 28 June
Saints Portal

Irenaeus (Greek: Ειρηναίος), (c. 130–202) was bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, which is now Lyon, France. His writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology, and he is recognized as a saint by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church; both consider him a Father of the Church. He was a notable early Christian apologist. He was also a disciple of Polycarp, who himself was a disciple of John the Evangelist. His feast day is 28 June.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born in the first half of the 2nd century (the exact date is disputed, between the years 115 and 125 according to some or 130 and 142 according to others), Irenaeus is thought to have been a Greek from Polycarp's hometown of Smyrna in Asia Minor, now İzmir, Turkey. He was raised in a Christian family, rather than converting as an adult.

Irenaeus was an important figure defending the four main Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the New Testament in 170, stating in his Against Heresies:

But it is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the church has been scattered throughout the world, and since the "pillar and ground" of the church is the Gospel and the spirit of life, it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing incorruption on every side, and vivifying human afresh. From this fact, it is evident that the Logos, the fashioner demiourgos of all, he that sits on the cherubim and holds all things together, when he was manifested to humanity, gave us the gospel under four forms but bound together by one spirit. (Against Heresies 3.11.8)

During the persecution of Marcus Aurelius, Irenaeus was a priest of the Church of Lyon. The clergy of that city, many of whom were suffering imprisonment for the faith, sent him (in 177 or 178) to Rome with a letter to Pope Eleuterus concerning Montanism, and on that occasion bore emphatic testimony to his merits. Returning to Gaul, Irenaeus succeeded the martyr Saint Pothinus, becoming the second Bishop of Lyon.

During the religious peace which followed the persecution of Marcus Aurelius, the new bishop divided his activities between the duties of a pastor and of a missionary (as to which we have but brief data, late and not very certain). Almost all of his writings were directed against Gnosticism, an off-shoot from Christianity which was spreading at the expense of what he considered to be Christian orthodoxy. The most famous of these writings is Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies). In 190 or 191 he interceded with Pope Victor to lift the sentence of excommunication laid by that pontiff upon the Christian communities of Asia Minor which persevered in the practice of the Quartodeciman celebration of Easter.

Nothing is known of the date of his death, which must have occurred at the end of the second or the beginning of the third century. In spite of some isolated and later testimony to that effect, it is not very probable that he ended his career with martyrdom. He was buried under the church of Saint John's in Lyon, which was later renamed St. Irenaeus in his honour; the tomb and his remains were destroyed in 1562 by the Calvinist Huguenots. His feast is celebrated on 28 June in the Latin Church, and on 23 August in the Greek.

[edit] Writings

Irenaeus wrote a number of books, but the most important that survives is the five-volume On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis, normally referred to by the Latin title Adversus Haereses ("Against Heresies"). Only fragments of the original Greek text exist, but a complete copy exists in a wooden Latin translation, made shortly after its publication in Greek, and Books IV and V are also present in a literal Armenian translation. Irenaeus: Against heresies

The purpose of Against Heresies was to refute the teachings of various Gnostic groups; apparently, several Greek merchants had begun an oratorial campaign praising the pursuit of "gnosis" in Irenaeus' bishopric. Another popular theory states that a group of Gnostics known as the Valentinians remained part of the early Christian church, taking part in regular church celebrations despite their radical differences. It is also said that Gnostics would secretly meet outside of regular church activity where they would discuss their "secret knowledge" and scripture that pertains to it. As bishop, Irenaeus felt obligated to keep a close eye on the Valentinians and to safeguard the church from them. In order to fulfil this duty, Irenaeus educated himself and became well informed of Gnostic doctrines and traditions.[1] This eventually led to the compilation of his treatise. It appears however, that the main reason Irenaeus took on this work was because he felt that Christians in Asia and Phrygia especially needed his protection from Gnostics, for they did not have as many bishops to oversee and help keep problems like this under control (probably only one bishop was assigned to a number of communities).[2] Irenaues may also have thought that those in the east were ignorant and not well informed about such issues as those in the west. Therefore, due to the issue of distance between Irenaeus (who was in France) and the orthodox Christian community of Asia, Irenaues found that writing this treatise would be the best way to offer them guidance.

Until the discovery of the Library of Nag Hammadi in 1945, Against Heresies was the best surviving description of Gnosticism.

Against Heresies is composed of five books. Each book is an individual work and not meant to be read as a continuation of the previous book; rather each volume focuses on a main theme or argument. Book I talks about the Valentinian Gnostics and their predecessors who go as far back as the magician Simon Magus. Book II provides rational proof that Valentinianism contains no merit in terms of its doctrines. Book III shows that these doctrines are false by providing evidence from the Gospels. Book VI consists of Jesus sayings and stresses the unity of the Old Testament and the Gospel. The final volume, book V, focuses on more sayings of Jesus plus the letters of the Apostle Paul.[3]

Irenaeus refers to the Word as the "Son" who he says, "was always with the Father," which sharply opposes the unitarian view of God. However, his writings have been cited by others as proof that early Christians held a binitarian, and not a trinitarian, view as he wrote, "...there is none other called God by the Scriptures except the Father of all, and the Son, and those who possess the adoption" (Irenaeus. Adversus haereses, Book IV, Preface, Verse 4).

Book III A.D. 120-202 Chapter XVIII.-Continuation of the Foregoing Argument. Proofs from the Writings of St. Paul, and from the Words of Our Lord, that Christ and Jesus Cannot Be Considered as Distinct Beings; Neither Can It Be Alleged that the Son of God Became Man Merely in Appearance, But that He Did So Truly and Actually. 1. As it has been clearly demonstrated that the Word, who existed in the beginning with God, by whom all things were made, who was also always present with mankind, was in these last days, according to the time appointed by the Father, united to His own workmanship, inasmuch as He became a man liable to suffering, [it follows] that every objection is set aside of those who say, "If our Lord was born at that time, Christ had therefore no previous existence." For I have shown that the Son of God did not then begin to exist, being with the Father from the beginning; but when He became incarnate, and was made man, He commenced afresh the long line of human beings, and furnished us, in a brief, comprehensive manner, with salvation; so that what we had lost in Adam-namely, to be according to the image and likeness of God-that we might recover in Christ Jesus.

Chap. VI. — Explanation of the Words of Christ, “No Man Knoweth the Father, but the Son,” Etc.; Which Words the Heretics Misinterpret. Proof That, by the Father Revealing the Son, and by the Son Being Revealed, the Father Was Never Unknown.

But because the only-begotten Son came to us from the one God, who both made this world and formed us, and contains and administers all things, summing up His own handiwork in Himself, my faith towards Him is steadfast, and my love to the Father immoveable, God bestowing both upon us.”

Elsewhere, Irenaeus asserts that:

"they have apostatized in their opinions from Him who is God, and imagined that they have themselves discovered more than the apostles, by finding out another god; and [maintained] that the apostles preached the Gospel still somewhat under the influence of Jewish opinions, but that they themselves are purer [in doctrine], and more intelligent, than the apostles. (Book III, ch. 12, par. 12)"

Irenaeus cites from most of the New Testament canon, as well as the noncanonical works 1 Clement and The Shepherd of Hermas; however, he makes no references to Philemon, 2 Peter, 3 John or Jude - four of the shortest epistles.

In his study entitled Irenaeus, the Valentinian Gnostics, and the Kingdom of God (A.H. Book V: The Debate about 1 Corinthians 15:50, Mark Jeffrey Olson discovers that 1 Corinthians 15:50 is quoted far more than any other verse from the letters of Paul in Against Heresies. He writes that the reason for this is because Irenaeus "believes that this verse is the textual key to the exegetical battle over Paul being fought by the Valentinian Gnostics and the Catholic Christians." Both Irenaeus and the Valentinians use this verse to prove thier direct linkage to the Apostle Paul. The two sides completely disagree in their evaluation of the material world and each seeks to show that its own position truly represents what the Apostle Paul said about the issue. Olson states that according to Irenaeus, this important verse which reads, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” is used by the Gnostics to point out that “the handiwork of God is not saved (AH 5.9.1).” The Gnostics have a negative view the material world.

Valentinian Gnostics believe that Christ and Jesus were two separate beings temporarily united. They also adhere to the belief that before Jesus’ crucifixion, Christ departed from his body. Hence they believe that Christ did not actually have a physical body and therefore did not have a physical resurrection but a spiritual one. The correct interpretation according to Irenaeus would be to use the term “flesh and blood” which are stated in this verse to refer to “the wicked who will not inherit the kingdom because of their evil works of flesh.”[4]

[edit] Irenaeus asserts divine inspiration of canon

Irenaeus was the first Christian writer to list all four of the now canonical Gospels as divinely-inspired, possibly in reaction to Marcion's edited version of the Gospel of Luke, which he (Marcion) asserted was the one and only true gospel.

Irenaeus' works were published in English in 1885 in the Ante-Nicene Fathers collection.

[edit] Irenaeus' theology

The central point of Irenaeus' theology is the unity of God, in opposition to the Gnostics' division of God into a number of divine "Aeons", and their distinction between the utterly transcendent "High God" and the inferior "Demiurge" who created the world. Irenaeus uses the Logos theology he inherited from Justin Martyr. Irenaeus was a student of Polycarp, who was tutored by John the Apostle. John used Logos theology in the Gospel of John and book of 1 John. He prefers to speak of the Son and the Spirit as the "hands of God".

His emphasis on the unity of God is reflected in his corresponding emphasis on the unity of salvation history. Irenaeus repeatedly insists that God began the world and has been overseeing it ever since this creative act; everything that has happened is part of his plan for humanity. The essence of this plan is a process of maturation: Irenaeus believes that humanity was created immature, and God intended his creatures to take a long time to grow into or assume the divine likeness. Thus, Adam and Eve were created as children. Their Fall was thus not a full-blown rebellion but a childish spat, a desire to grow up before their time and have everything with immediacy.

Everything that has happened since has therefore been planned by God to help humanity overcome this initial mishap and achieve spiritual maturity. The world has been intentionally designed by God as a difficult place, where human beings are forced to make moral decisions, as only in this way can they mature as moral agents. Irenaeus likens death to the big fish that swallowed Jonah: it was only in the depths of the whale's belly that Jonah could turn to God and act according to the divine will. Similarly, death and suffering appear as evils, but without them we could never come to know God.

According to Irenaeus, the high point in salvation history is the advent of Jesus. Irenaeus believed that Christ would always have been sent, even if humanity had never sinned; but the fact that they did sin determines his role as a savior. He sees Christ as the new Adam, who systematically undoes what Adam did: thus, where Adam was disobedient concerning God's edict concerning the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, Christ was obedient even to death on the wood of a tree. Irenaeus is the first to draw comparisons between Eve and Mary, contrasting the faithlessness of the former with the faithfulness of the latter. In addition to reversing the wrongs done by Adam, Irenaeus thinks of Christ as "recapitulating" or "summing up" human life. This means that Christ goes through every stage of human life, from infancy to old age, and simply by living it, sanctifies it with his divinity. Irenaeus argues that Christ did not die until he was older than conventionally portrayed (see above).

Irenaeus conceives of our salvation as essentially coming about through the incarnation of God as a man. He characterises the penalty for sin as death and corruption. God, however, is immortal and incorruptible, and simply by becoming united to human nature in Christ he conveys those qualities to us: they spread, as it were, like a benign infection. Irenaeus therefore understands the atonement of Christ as happening through his incarnation rather than his crucifixion, although the latter event is an integral part of the former.

In comparison to the Gnostic view Salvation, creation was perfect to begin with; it did not need time to grow and mature. For the Valentinians, the material world is the result of the loss of perfection which resulted from Sophia's desire to understand the Forefather. Therefore, one is ultimately redeemed, through secret knowledge, to enter the pleroma of which the Achamoth originally fell.

According to the Valentinian Gnostics, there are three classes of human beings. They are: the material who cannot attain salvation; the psychic, who are strengthened by works and faith (they are part of the church); the spiritual, who cannot decay or be harmed by material actions.[5] Essentially, ordinary humans, those who have faith but do not posses the special knowledge will not attain salvation. Spirituals, on the other hand, who obtain this great gift, are the only class that will eventually attain salvation.

In his article entitled "The Demiurge," J.P. Arendzen sums up the Valentinian view of the salvation of man quite nicely. He writes, "The first, or carnal men, will return to the grossness of matter and finally be consumed by fire; the second, or psychic men, together with the Demiurge as their master, will enter a middle state, neither heaven (pleroma) nor hell (hyle); the purely spiritual men will be completely freed from the influence of the Demiurge and together with the Saviour and Achamoth, his spouse, will enter the pleroma divested of body (húle) and soul (psuché)."[6]

Irenaeus is also known as one of the first theologians to use the principle of apostolic succession to refute his opponents. Some groups, such as the Living Church of God, consider that Irenaeus excessively emphasized unity with Rome above certain matters of doctrine (such as the date of Passover), thus they have tended to consider Irenaeus a heretic.

In his criticism of Gnosticism, Irenaeus made reference to a Gnostic gospel which portrayed Judas in a positive light, as having acted in accordance with Jesus's instructions. The recently discovered Gospel of Judas dates close to the period when Irenaeus lived (late 2nd century). Scholars typically regard the Gospel of Judas as one of many Gnostic texts, showing one of many varieties of Gnostic beliefs of the period.[1]

[edit] Prophetic Exegesis

The first four books of Against Heresies constitute a minute analysis and refutation of the Gnostic doctrines. The fifth is a statement of positive belief contrasting the constantly shifting and contradictory Gnostic opinions with the steadfast faith of the church. He appeals to the prophecies to demonstrate the truthfulness of Christianity.

[edit] Rome and Ten Horns

He shows the close relationship between the predicted events of Daniel 2 and 7. Rome, the fourth prophetic kingdom, would end in a tenfold partition. The ten divisions of the empire are the "ten horns" of Daniel 7 and the "ten horns" in Revelation 17. A "little horn," which is to supplant three of Rome's ten divisions, is also the still future "eighth" in Revelation. He climaxes with the destruction of all kingdoms at the Second Advent, when Christ, the prophesied "stone," cut out of the mountain without hands, smites the image after Rome’s division.[7][8]

[edit] Antichrist

The Antichrist, another name of the apostate Man of Sin, Irenaeus identified with Daniel's Little Horn and John's Beast of Revelation 13. He sought to apply other expressions to Antichrist, such as "the abomination of desolation," mentioned by Christ (Matt. 24:15) and the "king of a most fierce countenance," in Gabriel's explanation of the Little Horn of Daniel 8. But he is not very clear how "the sacrifice and the libation shall be taken away" during the "half-week," or three and one-half years of Antichrist's reign.[9][10]

Under the notion that the Antichrist, as a single individual, might be of Jewish origin, he fancies that the mention of "Dan," in Jeremiah 8:16, and the omission of that name from those tribes listed in Revelation 7, might indicate Antichrist's tribe. This surmise became the foundation of a series of subsequent interpretations by others.[11]

[edit] Time, Times and Half a Time

Like the other early church fathers He interpreted the three and one-half "times" of the Little Horn of Daniel 7 as three and one-half literal years. Antichrist's three and a half years of sitting in the temple are placed immediately before the second coming of Christ.[12][13]

They are identified as the second half of the "one week" of Daniel 9. He says nothing of the seventy weeks; we do not know whether he placed the “one week” at the end of the seventy or whether he had a gap

[edit] 666

Irenaeus is the first of the fathers to stress the mystic number 666. The solution of this numerical riddle has intrigued ecclesiastical writers from that time forward. He considered the Beast-Antichrist to be the "recapitulation" of all apostasy, in whose number 666 he found curious symbolism of Noah's age and the size of Nebuchadnezzar's golden image.[14][15]

He relates how names had even then been sought to contain this number, but warned of the danger of deception, admonishing all to wait until Rome's division before attempting to solve the riddle.[16]

[edit] Millennium

Irenaeus declares that the Antichrist's future three-and-a-half-year reign, when he sits in the temple at Jerusalem, will be terminated by the second advent, with the resurrection of the just, the destruction for the wicked, and the millennial reign of the righteous. The general resurrection and the judgment follow the descent of the New Jerusalem at the end of the millennial kingdom.[17][18]

Irenaeus calls those "heretics" who maintain that the saved are immediately glorification in the kingdom to come after death, before their resurrection. He avers that the millennial kingdom and the resurrection are actualities, not allegories, the first resurrection introducing this promised kingdom in which the risen saints are described as ruling over the renewed earth during the millennium, between the two resurrections.[19][20]

Irenaeus held to the old Jewish tradition that the first six days of creation week were typical of the first six thousand years of human history, with Antichrist manifesting himself in the sixth period. And he expected the millennial kingdom to begin with the second coming of Christ to destroy the wicked and inaugurate, for the righteous, the reign of the kingdom of God during the seventh thousand years, the millennial Sabbath, as signified by the Sabbath of creation week.[21][22][23]

In common with many of the fathers, Irenaeus did not distinguish between the new earth re-created in its eternal state, the thousand years of Revelation 20, when the saints are with Christ after His second advent, and the Jewish traditions of the Messianic kingdom. Hence, he applies Biblical and traditional ideas to his descriptions of this earth during the millennium, throughout the closing chapters of book 5. This conception of the reign of resurrected and translated saints with Christ on this earth during the millennium-popularly known as chiliasm--was the increasingly prevailing belief of this time. Incipient distortions due to the admixture of current traditions, which figure in the extreme forms of chiliasm, caused a reaction against the earlier interpretations of Bible prophecies.[24]

Irenaeus was not looking for a Jewish kingdom. He interpreted Israel as the Christian church, the spiritual seed of Abraham.[25]

At times his expressions are highly fanciful. He tells, for instance, of a prodigious fertility of this earth during the millennium, after the resurrection of the righteous, "when also the creation, having been renovated and set free, shall fructify with an abundance of all kinds of food." In this connection he attributes to Christ the saying about the vine with ten thousand branches, and the ear of wheat with ten thousand grains, and so forth, which he quotes from Papias.[26]

[edit] Exegesis

Irenaeus’ exegesis does not give complete coverage. On the seals, for example, he merely alludes to Christ as the rider on the white horse. He stresses five factors with greater clarity and emphasis than Justin —1) the literal resurrection of the righteous at the second advent, 2) the millennium bounded by the two resurrections, 3) the Antichrist to come upon the heels of Rome's breakup, 4) the symbolic prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse in their relation to the last times, and 5) the kingdom of God to be established by the second advent.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Vallee, Gerard, "A Study in Anti-Gnostic Polemics: Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius," p, 9. Wilfrid Laurier University Press 1981.
  2. ^ Grant, Robert M, "Irenaeus of Lyons," p,6. Routledge 1997.
  3. ^ Grant, Robert M, "Irenaeus of Lyons," p,6. Routledge 1997.
  4. ^ Olson, Mark Jeffrey, "Irenaeus, the Valentinian Gnostics, and the Kingdom of God (A.H. Book V: The Debate about 1 Corinthians 15:50," p, 11-14. Mellen Biblical Press 1992.
  5. ^ Grant, Robert M., "Irenaeus fo Lyons," p,23. Routledge, 1997.
  6. ^ Arendzen, J.P., "The Demiurge" [cited 2007]. Available from the World Wide Web @ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04707b.htm.
  7. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 25
  8. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 26
  9. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 28
  10. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 25, sec. 2-4
  11. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 25, sec. 3
  12. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 25, sec. 3-4
  13. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 30, sec. 4
  14. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 28, sec. 2
  15. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 29, sec. 2
  16. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 30, sec. 3
  17. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 30, sec. 4
  18. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 35, sec. 1-2
  19. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 31
  20. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 35
  21. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 28, sec. 3
  22. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 30, sec. 4
  23. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 33, sec. 2
  24. ^ Froom, LeRoy, 1950, ‘’’The Prophetic Faith of our Fathers’’’, Review and Herald Publishing Association, p. 250-252
  25. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 32, sec. 2
  26. ^ Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 33, sec. 3

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../i/r/e/Irenaeus.html"