Irenaeus of Lyons: A Sketch of a Church Father and His Work

The Life and Work of Irenaeus of Lyons: A Brief Sketch

        Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202 A.D.) was probably a native of Smyrna, Izmir in modern day Turkey.  As a youth he testifies that he listened to the preaching of Bishop Polycarp, who was himself a disciple of the Apostle John.  Writing to the Roman presbyter Florinus, he said,

For when I was still a boy, I knew you in lower Asia, in Polycarp=s house...I remember the events of those days more clearly that those which happened recently... how he [Polycarp] sat and disputed... how he reported his intercourse with John [the Apostle] and others who had seen the Lord, how he remembered their words, and what were the things concerning the Lord, which he had heard from them, from the eye-witnesses of the Word of Life, and reported all things in agreement with the Scriptures.  I listened eagerly even then to these things... and made notes of them, not on paper, but then in my heart and ever by the grace of God do I truly ruminate on them.

He later used Polycarp, whose martyrdom and heroic defense of the faith was legendary, to confront the like of heretics like Marcion and Valentinus.[1]  He says Polycarp once ran into Marcion and called him rightly, “firstborn of Satan.”[2] 

He worked with Bishop Pothinus in Lyons as a presbyter and was probably saved from martyrdom himself when about 177 A.D. Bishop Pothinus sent him with a mission to Rome. By the time he returned the 90 year old Bishop was among about 45 martrys who died in a persecution of the Emperor Aurelius.  Irenaeus was appointed his successor, becoming the second Bishop of Lyons, France.  

Pope Benedict XVI, in his book, The Fathers, says he was ”first and foremost a man of faith and a pastor.”[3]  He soon became immersed in his work of combating the numerous heresies that threatened to destroy the unity of the Church, for which Jesus had prayed (John 17:20-21); a Church which St. Paul described as the "household of God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth" (1 Tim 3: 15). He took seriously the warning of St. Peter in Acts 20: 28-30, "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. " 

He was the most important of the second century defenders of the faith and is best known for his great work "Detection and Overthrow of Gnosis Falsely So-Called," but generally referred to as "Adversus Haereses" or "Against Heresies." Pope Benedict says this work can be called “the oldest ‘catechism of Catholic doctrine’”.  The Gnostics he battled against believed that matter was as source of evil and could not have been created by a good God. They claimed special knowledge beyond that of the faith of the Church. Some were ascetics and some were libertine. The epistle of Jude warns against a Gnostic group that was turning the agape love feast into orgies. The Gnostics also claimed that Church doctrines were mere “symbolism for the simple who were unable to grasp difficult concepts” . . .[4]

Sadly the Greek text of his great work is lost to history (last mentioned copy existed in the 9^th c.) but the Latin version is available.  It is so literal that to properly understand it, you have to translate it back to the Greek.  Tertullian and many other Fathers used this revered work.  One scholar said of his great work, “He built up a body of Christian theology that resembled a French Gothic cathedral, strongly supported by columns of biblical faith and tradition, illuminated by vast expanses of exegetical and logical argument, and upheld by flying buttresses of rhetorical and philosophical considerations from the outside.  In his own person he united the major traditions of Christendom from Asia Minor, Syria, Rome and Gaul, although his acquaintance with Palestine, Greece and Egypt was minimal.”[5]  Still he well represents 2^nd c. Christianity.  The Holy Father calls him the creator of systematic theology, the “first great church theologian.”[6]

In his book Irenaeus of Lyons,  Robert M. Grant observed that Irenaeus apologized for his grammar and rhetorical style:

            You will not expect from us who live with the Celts and most of the time use the language of barbarians either the art of rhetoric which we did not learn, or the skills of a writer we have not exercised, or elegance of language or persuasion which we do not know.  You may, however, accept with love what we have written for you with love, simplicity and truth and, without technique, and yourself develop it, being more capable that we are.[7]

However, what he lacks as a stylist (and he is too modest on that account), he makes up for in the quality of his thought.  Jerome called his style, “most learned and eloquent.”

His view of Scripture is uplifting.  He stresses its divine inspiration again and again, noting, “The Scriptures are perfect, inasmuch as they were spoken by God’s Word and Spirit” (Bk. 2.28.2). He says the Spirit was heralded through the Prophets and announced by the Apostles.  The Word “gave us the fourfold Gospel.” He writes, “Not only the prophets, but the entire Old Testament (O.T.) is prophetic, because the Holy Spirit spoke through all the writers just as He did through the prophets; the writers were His instruments.  Moreover the New Testament is as inspired and divine as the O.T., being equally the word of the Spirit.  The Scriptures are without error, ‘perfect,’ and ‘the mainstay and pillar of our faith.’” He used virtually all the books of the Bible (though the canon was not yet determined) in his defense of the faith and generally did not use apocryphal sources (he did use Henoch once).[8]  Interestingly, he quotes two sayings of Jesus not in canonical books. He usually insisted on the literal sense of Scripture to counter the exaggerated allegories of the Gnostics.  Because the Scriptures are not always clear, he says it is not an absolute rule of faith, but rather we rely upon Tradition, the doctrine of the Church and the rule of Truth itself.  Unlike the Gnostics, Catholic Tradition was public not secret, one not diverse in faith thus creating unity among the people, and emanating from the Holy Spirit not men.[9]  He wrote:

[1, 10, 2] . . . the Church, having received this preaching and this faith ["from the apostles and from their disciples"] although she is disseminated throughout the whole world, yet guarded it as if she occupied but one house. She likewise believes these things as if she had but one soul and one and the same heart; and harmoniously she proclaims them and teaches them and hands them down, as if she possessed but one mouth. For, while the languages of the world are diverse, nonetheless, the authority of the traditions is one and the same."
(See also 2 Thes. 2:15)

He also affirms Apostolic Succession:

[3, 3, 1] It is possible, then, for everyone in in every Church, who may wish to know the truth, to contemplate the tradition of the Apostles which has been made known throughout the whole world. And we are in a position to enumerate those who were instituted bishops by the Apostles, and their successors to our own times: men who neither knew nor taught anything like these heretics rave about.

Since Tradition, derived from Jesus and the Apostles, existed before the writing of the New Testament, he considered it the absolute source of revelation. It is the teaching, he said, of the living Church, even if it had not been written down later.  Moreover that Tradition must come from Rome:

[3, 3, 3] The blessed Apostles [Peter and Paul] having founded and built up the Church [of Rome] handed over the episcopate to Linus [our 2d pope]. Paul makes mention of this Linus in the epistle to Timothy [2 Tim 4:21] To him succeeded Anencletus; and after him in the third place, from the Apostles, Clement. . ." [Peter, Linus, Anencletus and Clement were the first four Bishops of Rome or "Popes." "Pope" is an Italian word meaning "father".  Note: This is also cited in Dei Verbum in footnote 3 to para 7.]

He is revered too because he provides historical witness of the authorship and order of the Gospels:

[3, 1, 1] We have learned the plan of our salvation from none other than those through whom the gospel came down to us. Indeed, they first preached the gospel , and afterwards, by the will of God, they handed it down to us in the Scriptures . . . Matthew        also issued among the Hebrews a written Gospel in their own language, while Peter and Paul were evangelizing in Rome and laying the foundation of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, also handed down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, set down in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord who reclined at His bosom also published a Gospel, while he was residing at Ephesus in Asia.

Salvation history.  Irenaeus once said in his book, Against Heresies, understanding consists in showing why there are a number of covenants with mankind and in teaching what is the character of each of the covenants. If you don’t understand that you have not understood things adequately.  Augustine in the City of God, book X, Sec XIV teaches that salvation history reveals God’s fatherly pedagogy.   In other words God wants to instruct and mature mankind to enter into divine sonship.  So what Irenaeus is saying?  God made these covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses David and Ezra and Jesus and we should study the character of each.  For Irenaeus the key word was okonomia, the Greek term is a compound (okos) for family and (nomia) for law. So the economy of grace or the economy of law or the divine economy of salvation, these phrases are used by Irenaeus, who takes the word from St. Paul in 1-2 Corinthians and Ephesians.  This word refers to God’s family plan, God’s household administration.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) incorporates this principle at the center of its structure, throughout all four major units. Augustine builds on this and suggest we have a pedagogy (and again the word is derived from St. Paul, this time in Ephesians 3) where he speaks about the law of Moses was a pedagogue, a guardian, a teacher and an instructor, that serves a purpose for a time and having served its purpose, certain laws in the economy of grace can be dispensed (e.g., animal sacrifice, circumcision, the dietary regulations, etc.).  Why? The only way you can understand why the Church felt the freedom to change the laws from Saturday to Sunday, from circumcision to Baptism, from the Passover to the Eucharist, and all the other attendant changes is by discerning the hidden intention of the Divine Teacher and Father. This requires theological exegesis of Scripture. That is really what Scripture calls for.  Scripture is among other things a theological document.  So it is appropriate to study what unifying themes show us about theological unity.  The Church Fathers knew this.[10]

St. Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, John Chrysostom, St. Thomas Aquinas all saw this as did the rabbis like Tuchanides, Namaimodies, Maimonides (d.1204), saw that the literal historical sense of the animal sacrifice and the dietary regulations and other ceremonial laws that Christians are dispensed from, including Sabbath worship, were given to break Israel’s idolatrous attachments to the habits and the gods of the other nations and to prepare them to receive the gift of heavenly glory and divine sonship. 

            Irenaeus wrote Against Heresies to refute the Gnostics by revealing in clear exposition       their errors. Book I is devoted entirely to that objective.  Although much of the work is a refuting of heresy, it contains much positive theology about divine revelation. In Book 2 he refutes the Gnostic belief in two gods chiefly from reason.  In Book 3 he turns to arguments drawn mainly from the Apostles and in Book 4, mainly with the Lord’s words. In Book 5, he explains the salvation of the Body, which the Gnostics adamantly denied. He is a master of figurative language and concrete constructions which are aptly chosen and concisely stated.  For example, he says of God, “He might have indeed been invisible to them because of His eminence, but He could by no means of been unknown to them because of His providence” (Bk 2.6.1).  “God’s friendship bestows imperishability on those who strive for it (Bk 4.13.4) … so that He might become the son of man in turn might become a son of God” (Bk 3.10.2). Professor Scott Hahn is found of this latter saying. He also wrote, “Where the Church is, there is God’s Spirit and where God’s Spirit is, there is the Church and every kind of grace” (Bk.3.24.1).

In reading some of his work Against Heresies we can see his humility and wisdom as he takes on those who presumptuously claim to be familiar with the mysteries of God.  He writes:

If anyone, therefore, says to us, How then was the Son produced by the Father? We reply to him, that no man understands that production, or generation, or calling, or revelation, or by whatever name one may describe His generation, which is in fact altogether indescribable. Neither Valentinus, nor Marcion, nor Saturninus, nor Basilides, nor angels, nor archangels, nor principalities, nor powers [possess this knowledge], but the Father only who begot, and the Son who was begotten. Since therefore His generation is unspeakable, those who strive to set forth generations and productions cannot be in their right mind, inasmuch as they undertake to describe things which are indescribable... (Book IV, chapter 26, para 6)

Likewise, he argues that we do not know how God produced matter but there are some things we do know:

       For although the Spirit of the Savior that is in Him searches all things, even the deep things of God, 1 Corinthian 2:10, yet as to us there are diversities of gifts, differences of administrations, and diversities of operations; and we, while upon the earth, as Paul also declares, know in part, and prophesy in part 1 Corinthians 13:9.  Since, therefore, we know but in part, we ought to leave all sorts of [difficult] questions in the hands of Him who in some measure, [and that only,] bestows grace on us. That eternal fire, [for instance,] is prepared for sinners, both the Lord has plainly declared, and the rest of the Scriptures demonstrate. And that God foreknew that this would happen, the Scriptures do in like manner demonstrate, since He prepared eternal fire from the beginning for those who were [afterwards] to transgress [His commandments]; but the cause itself of the nature of such transgressors neither has any Scripture informed us, nor has an apostle told us, nor has the Lord taught us. It becomes us, therefore, to leave the knowledge of this matter to God, even as the Lord does of the day and hour [of judgment], and not to rush to such an extreme of danger, that we will leave nothing in the hands of God, even though we have received only a measure of grace [from Him in this world]  (Book IV, chap 28, para 7).

In conclusion we can only note that the this first of the great theologians was keenly aware that "the Church and the Spirit were inseparable" as Pope Benedict XVI observed. Irenaeus deserves to be remembered for his heroic defense of the faith and his systematic arguments in its defense, especially against the Gnostics.

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[1] Marcion wanted a Christianity untrammeled and undefiled by association with Judaism. Christianity was the New Covenant pure and simple. Abstract questions on the origin of evil or on the essence of the Godhead interested him little, but the Old Testament was a scandal to the faithful and a stumbling-block to the refined and intellectual gentiles by its crudity and cruelty, and the Old Testament had to be set aside. The two great obstacles in his way he removed by drastic measures. He had to account for the existence of the Old Testament and he accounted for it by postulating a secondary deity, a demiurgus, who was god, in a sense, but not the supreme God; he was just, rigidly just, he had his good qualities, but he was not the good god, who was Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ.. (Catholic Encyclopedia online).  The Marcionites threw out the gospels and said only the letters of St. Paul were a part of Scripture and they were, in fact, the reason a Council of the Church bishops was called to put together the Canon of the New Testament in the 390's.   

[2] The meeting between Marcion and Polycarp must have happened in 154, by which time Marcion had displayed a great and successful activity, for St. Justin Martyr in his first Apology (written about 150), describes Marcion's heresy as spread everywhere. These half a dozen years seem to many too short a time for such prodigious success and they believe that Marcion was active in Asia Minor long before he came to Rome. (Catholic Encyclopedia online).

[3] Benedict XVI, Pope. The Fathers, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., Huntington, In., p.24.

[4] Benedict XVI, p. 25.

[5] Grant, Robert McQueen. Irenaeus of Lyons (The Early Church Fathers), New York: Routledge Books, 1997.

[6] Benedict XVI, p. 26.

[7] Grant, p. 47.

[8] “The Book of Henoch enjoyed a high esteem among them, mainly owing to the quotation in Jude. The so-called Epistle of Barnabas twice cites Henoch as Scripture. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, and even St. Augustine suppose the work to be a genuine one of the patriarch. But in the fourth century the Henoch writings lost credit and ceased to be quoted. After an allusion by an author of the beginning of the ninth century, they disappear from view.” It deals mainly with the God’s judgments. Per Catholic Encyclopedia online.

[9] Pope Benedict XVI, The Fathers, pp. 27-29.

[10] Lecture by Professor Scott Hahn in his Theological Foundations course at Franciscan University, 2007.

The Joy of Teaching the Mysteries of Christ

St. Augustine in his work, Catechising of the Uninstructed, [De Catechizandis Rudibus] points out that the catechist will not always please himself or herself in terms of their discourse.  But this is not what is most important.  He writes:

But ofttimes the earnestness of those who are desirous of hearing me shows me that my utterance is not so frigid as it seems to myself to be. From the delight, too, which they exhibit, I gather that they derive some profit from it. And I occupy myself sedulously with the endeavor not to fail in putting before them a service in which I perceive them to take in such good part what is put before them. Even, so, on your side also, the very fact that persons who require to be instructed in the faith are brought so frequently to you, ought to help you to understand that your discourse is not displeasing to others as it is displeasing to yourself; and you ought not to consider yourself unfruitful, simply because you do not succeed in setting forth in such a manner as you desire the things which you discern; for, perchance, you may be just as little able to discern them in the way you wish. For in this life who sees except as in an enigma and through a glass? Neither is love itself of might sufficient to rend the darkness of the flesh, and penetrate into that eternal calm from which even things which pass away derive the light in which they shine. But inasmuch as day by day the good are making advances towards the vision of that day, independent of the rolling sky, and without the invasion of the night, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, there is no greater reason why our discourse should become valueless in our own estimate, when we are engaged in teaching the uninstructed, than this—namely, that it is a delight to us to discern in an extraordinary fashion, and a weariness to speak in an ordinary. And in reality we are listened to with much greater satisfaction, indeed, when we ourselves also have pleasure in the same work; for the thread of our address is affected by the very joy of which we ourselves are sensible, and it proceeds from us with greater ease and with more acceptance.

St. Augustine assure his correspondent, Deacon Deogratias, that  what is more important is that we persist and do so with joy in our hearts:

Consequently, as regards those matters which are recommended as articles of belief, the task is not a difficult one to lay down injunctions, with respect to the points at which the narration should be commenced and ended, or with respect to the method in which the narration is to be varied, so that at one time it may be briefer, at another more lengthened, and yet at all times full and perfect; and, again, with respect to the particular occasions on which it may be right to use the shorter form, and those on which it will be proper to employ the longer. But as to the means by which all is to be done, so that every one may have pleasure in his work when he catechises (for the better he succeeds in this the more attractive will he be)—that is what requires the greatest consideration. And yet we have not far to seek for the precept which will rule in this sphere. For if, in the matter of carnal means, God loves a cheerful giver, how much more so in that of the spiritual? But our security that this cheerfulness may be with us at the seasonable hour, is something dependent upon the mercy of Him who has given us such precepts. Therefore, in accordance with my understanding of what your own wish is, we shall discuss in the first place the subject of the method of narration, then that of the duty of delivering injunction and exhortation, and afterwards that of the attainment of the said cheerfulness, so far as God may furnish us with the ideas.

In his Apostolic Exhortation On Catechesis in our Times (Catechesi Tradendae) Pope John Paul II writes of the joy of teaching the mysteries of Christ:

Because of their charge, pastors have, at differing levels, the chief responsibility for fostering, guiding and coordinating catechesis. For his part, the Pope has a lively awareness of the primary responsibility that rests on him in this field: In this he finds reasons for pastoral concern but principally a source of joy and hope. Priests and religious have in catechesis a pre-eminent field for their apostolate. On another level, parents have a unique responsibility. Teachers, the various ministers of the Church, catechists, and also organizers of social communications, all have in various degrees very precise responsibilities in this education of the believing conscience, an education that is important for the life of the Church and affects the life of society as such.

Catechetics of the Church Fathers

The Narratio: Like St. Paul, St. Augustine, who has been called the father of catechetics because of his systematic approach to teaching, stresses the value of telling the divine story. In his work De Catechizandis Rudibus (Catechizing the Uninstructed), he says instruction should begin with a narration of God’s interaction with man from the creation of the world to the present period in Church history. This is the narratio, “the narration of the wonderful deeds of God” (GDC 107). The most fundamental point to begin instruction is not that there are ten commandments, twelve apostles, seven sacraments, etc. but rather to understand what unifies them, namely, that they all originate in a loving God who has both revealed himself and offered himself to us. Each topic deserves individual attention, but all fit within a larger framework of salvation history. [The Catechism treats being first, only then does it consider action. It focuses upon what God has done, before addressing what man can and should do in response. The moral imperative can make sense only as a consequence of the indicative of God’s action.]

Let’s take an example of how this works in teaching about ‘providence and the scandal of evil.’ Some wrongly attribute the creation of evil to God since he created the world or conclude that he is powerless to stop evil. The Catechism answers the question ‘Why does evil exist’ by situating evil in the context of salvation history. It states:

Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question: the goodness of creation, the drama of sin, and the patient love of God who comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his Son, his gift of the Spirit, his gathering of the Church, the power of the sacraments . . . There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil” (CCC 309).

It might be obvious if you were teaching about sin, or faith or charity that you would give examples from salvation history. But what if you were teaching something like the virtue of chastity versus lust? How would you use salvation history? You might tell the story of Tobias and Sarah in the book of Tobit or discuss the chastity displayed by Joseph versus Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39. God’s wonderful works of salvation must be recounted to bring us to eternal salvation. The story of Saul’s conversion can illustrate any number of theological points of instruction from God’s redeeming love to our own spiritual blindness. The role of the catechist is to situate their teaching in the context of the salvation story, “the story of God’s never ending love,” and so connect it with all instruction that came before and that might follow.

In their new book, The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Craft of Catechesis, Petroc Willey, Pierre de Cointet and Barbara Morgan use the Emmaus Road story of Christ’s disciples, who encounter the Risen Christ on the Emmaus road but do not recognize him at first, found in the Gospel of Luke, to illustrate how the catechist might use narratio. They note that this story is misused to support an approach in which those being instructed are first asked to “share their story.” Only after hearing this is it suggested that the catechist share Christ’s story. But the Emmaus Road encounter with the Risen Christ is not about the disciples telling their story, but rather focuses our attention on how we should understand the death and resurrection of Jesus. They remind us of Jesus’ sharp rejoinder to the disciples misunderstanding of Scripture reflects the inadequacy of their understanding of his Passion: “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory.” Jesus did question them, but hearing their confusion and despair, he brought them to the truth by recounting the salvation story in Scripture and showing them how the O.T. prophecies were fulfilled in him. We might wish that we had been present for that divinely led Bible study!

The Emmaus story dramatically points to the Christocentric nature of the Old Testament and to the role of Jesus as teacher and interpreter of Scripture. His use of the words, “took,” “blessed,” “broke,” connect a simple meal to the language of the liturgy. First, he broke open the Word, then they recognized him in the “breaking of the bread,” a biblical reference to the Eucharistic liturgy. What does this bring to your mind?

We share a common concern about where we came from and what are end will be. When we place our catechesis in the story of salvation history we proclaim in summary form what the Church believes in her Creeds. In his instruction to Deacon Deogratias, St. Augustine urges him to “begin our narration, starting from the fact that God made all things very good, and continuing … down to the present period of Church history.” (Sollon, p. 3). He specifically refers to the need to share the Church’s story, noting that “heresies and schisms were occasioned in various places on the part of those who sought not His glory, but their own.” We must not forget that the salvation story includes the story of the Church, her Saints and martyrs, throughout history to the present day as the General Directory for Catechesis notes. Despite the post-modern mind that claims that there is no common story, St. Paul, St. Augustine and the Church assures us that there is! The GDC says, that the historical character of the mystery of salvation,

. . . requires that catechesis attend to the following points: presentation of salvation history by means of Biblical catechesis so as to make known ‘the deeds and words’ with which God has revealed himself to man . . . the history of the Church which transmits Revelation: this history, read within the perspective of faith, is a fundamental part of the content of catechesis (para. 108).