From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

June 28th - Saint Irenaeus, Doctor of the Church
c. 203

The writings of Irenaeus give him an honored place among the Fathers
of the Church for they laid the foundations of Christian theology and,
by refuting the errors of the Gnostics,[1] kept the youthful Catholic
faith from the danger of corruption by the subtle, pessimistic
doctrines of these philosophers. Irenaeus was born, probably about the
year 125, in one of the maritime provinces of Asia Minor, where the
memory of the Apostles was still cherished and where Christians were
already numerous. His education was exceptionally liberal, for,
besides a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, he had an acquaintance
with Greek philosophy and literature. Irenaeus had also the privilege
of sitting at the feet of men who had known the Apostles. Of these the
one who made the deepest impression on him was St. Polycarp, the
venerable bishop of Smyrna. All through his life, he told a friend, he
could recall every detail of Polycarp's appearance, his voice, and the
very words he used when telling what he had heard from John the
Evangelist and others who had seen Jesus.

From early times commerce had been brisk between the ports of Asia
Minor and the city of Marseilles, at the mouth of the Rhone River. In
the second century of the Christian era Levantine traders were
conveying their wares up the river as far as Lyons, the most populous
city of Gaul and an important mart for all Western Europe. In the
train of these Asiatic merchants, many of whom settled in Lyons, came
Christian missionaries, who brought the Gospel to the pagan Gauls and
founded a vigorous church. Here Irenaeus was sent to serve as priest
under the bishop, Pothinus.

The high regard which Irenaeus earned for himself at Lyons was shown
in the year 177, when he was chosen to go on a serious mission to
Rome. He was the bearer of a letter to Pope Eleutherius, urging him to
deal firmly with the Montanist[2] faction in faraway Phrygia, for
heresy was now rampant in the East. This mission explains how it was
that Irenaeus did not share in the martyrdom of his fellow Christians.
A persecution broke out, and some of the leaders of the Lyons church
were imprisoned; a few suffered martyrdom. This was in the reign of
the philosophical pagan emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Since Lyons was a
vital outpost of imperial power, adorned with temples and fine public buildings, the Roman officials perhaps thought it necessary to keep
the new religion in check here. When Irenaeus returned from Rome it
was to fill the now vacant bishopric. The brief period of persecution
was over, and the twenty or more years of his episcopate were fairly
peaceful. In addition to his pastoral duties at Lyons, Irenaeus is
said to have extended the sphere of Christian influence by sending
missionaries to other towns of Gaul-SS. Felix, Fortunatus, and
Achilleus to Valence, and SS. Ferrutius and Ferreolus to Besan=D2=ABon. The bishop identified himself with his flock so completely as to speak
habitually the native tongue instead of Latin or Greek, and to
encourage all priests to do likewise.

The spread of Gnosticism in Gaul led Irenaeus to make a careful study
of its tenets, not an easy matter since each Gnostic teacher was
inclined to introduce subtleties of his own. He was, Tertullian tells
us, "a curious explorer of all kinds of learning," and the task
interested him. His treatise =E2=80=9CAgainst the Heresies=E2=80=9D, in 5 b= ooks, sets
forth fully the doctrines of the main dissident sects of the day and
then contrasts them with the words of Scripture and the teachings of
the Apostles, as preserved not only in sacred writings but by oral
tradition in the churches which the Apostles founded. Above all, he
cites the authoritative tradition of the Church of Rome, handed down
from Peter and Paul through an unbroken succession of bishops. In his theological works Irenaeus especially shows the influence of St. Paul
and St. John. An humble, patient man, he writes of controversial
matters with a moderation and courtesy unusual in this age of
perfervid (fervent, ardent) conviction.

An example of his method is his discussion of one type of Gnostic
doctrine, that the visible world was created and is sustained and
governed by angelic beings, but not by God, who remains unconnected
with it, aloof and unmoved in his own inaccessible sphere. Irenaeus
states the theory, develops it to a logical conclusion, and then by an effective =E2=80=9Creductio ad absurdum=E2=80=9D demonstrates its fallacy. = The
Christian doctrine of a close continuing relationship between the
Triune God and the world He created Irenaeus describes thus: "The
Father is above all, and He is the Head of Christ; the Word (Logos) is
through all things and is Himself the Head of the Church, while the
Spirit is in us all, and His is the living water which the Lord gave
to those who believe in Him and love Him, and who know that there is
one Father above all things and through all things." Irenaeus was
convinced that the veil of mystery which enveloped Gnosticism was part
of its attraction, and he was determined to "strip the fox," as he
expressed it. His book, written in Greek and quickly translated into
Latin, was widely circulated, and from this time on Gnosticism
presented no serious threat.

13 or 14 years after his mission to Rome, Irenaeus attempted mediation
between another Pope and a body of Christians in Asia Minor called the Quartodecimans,[3] who refused to fix the day of Easter by the method
commonly used by Christians. Pope Victor had excommunicated them, and
Irenaeus pleaded with him in a beautiful letter to raise the ban,
pointing out that these Asiatics were only following their Apostolic
tradition, and that the difference of opinion on this minor point had
not prevented St. Polycarp and many others from staying in communion.
At the end of the 4th century Jerome wrote that many Eastern bishops
still adhered to the ancient Jewish calendar.

The date of the death of Irenaeus is usually given as about the year
203. According to a late and dubious tradition he suffered martyrdom
under Septimius Severus. His book =E2=80=9CAgainst the Heresies=E2=80=9D ha=
s come down
to us entire in its Latin version; and an Armenian translation of his =E2=80=9CExposition of Apostolic Preaching=E2=80=9D has lately been discove= red. Though
the rest of his writings have perished, in these two works may be
found the elements of a complete system of Catholic theology.

Notes
1 Gnostic is the name applied to a fluctuating set of Eastern dualist
beliefs, older than Christianity, though they took over features from Christianity in the course of their spread westward. The Docetists of
Ignatius' day may be regarded as a branch of the Gnostics. In general
the latter took the view that the creator of the gross world of
matter, the God of the O.T., was a dark and brutal deity, forever at
war with the pure and spiritual God of light, depicted in the N.T.,
from whom Jesus had been an emanation. Jesus, therefore, only appeared
to be born and die and could never have suffered contamination by
mortal flesh. The Gnostic movement, with its denial of Christ's
humanity, vexed the Church in one form or another for several
centuries. In the Middle Ages it was known as Manichaeism.

2 The Montanists, followers of a Phrygian priest, Montanus, were a set
of Christians who believed in a speedy return of Christ to earth. They practiced a rigid asceticism and accepted as their only authority the revelations of God to each individual soul. They therefore presented
serious obstacles to the setting up of an orderly church organization.
They are not heard of after the second century.

3 The Quartodecimans observed Easter on the second day after the
Passover of the Jews, that is, on the fourteenth day of the Jewish
month Nisan, regardless of the day of the week on which it fell. The
majority of Christians celebrated it on the first Sunday after the
first full moon following the Spring equinox

(<The Ante-Nicene Fathers>, Vol. I, I[885].)

This was taken from "Lives of Saints", Published by John J. Crawley & Co., = Inc.


Saint Quote:
"The Catholic Church, having received the apostolic teaching and
faith, though spread over the whole world, guards it sedulously, as
though dwelling in one house; and these truths she uniformly teaches,
as having but one soul and one heart; these truths she proclaims,
teaches, and hands down as though she had but one mouth."
--St. Irenaeus in the second century

<><><><>
O Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world,
look upon us and have mercy upon us;
You who art Yourself both victim and Priest,
Yourself both Reward and Redeemer,
keep safe from all evil
those whom You have redeemed,
O Saviour of the world. Amen
--by St Irenaeus
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