Irenæus

Irenæus, one of the most important of the ante-Nicene Christian writers, was probably born near Smyrna, in Asia Minor, between 120 and 140, and in his early youth was acquainted with Polycarp; but he is known in history solely through his connection with the Græco-Gaulish Church of southern France, of which he was a bishop. He was a priest of the church of Lyons, under the Bishop Pothinus, upon whose martyrdom, in the persecution of Marcus Aurelius, in 177, he was himself elected to the same see, which he continued to govern for twenty-five years. Gregory of Tours states that he suffered martyrdom in the persecution under Severus in 202; but this is probably a mistake. His day is the 28th of June. Irenæus was a devoted and successful missionary bishop, but his name is associated chiefly with his activity in opposing the Gnostics, and especially the Valentinians, and with his attempts to prevent a rupture between the Eastern and Western Churches over the question of the day on which Easter was to be kept. The only work of his which has come down to us, except a few fragments, is his treatise Against Heresies; and even that, except parts of the first book which are preserved in quotations in Hippolytus and Epiphanius, we have only in a barbarous Latin version. It is in five books, the first two describing and criticising the tenets of various sects, Gnostic and Ebionite, the last three setting forth the orthodox Christian belief. The first edition of this work was published by Erasmus (1526), from three MSS. which have since been lost. The best editions are those of Stieren (Leip. 2 vols. 1851-53) and Harvey (Camb. 1857). There is a translation, including the fragments, in Clark's Ante-Nicene Library. An able examination of Irenæus' opinions will be found in Dr Werner's Der Paulinismus des Irenæus (1890).