From: 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 Besancon. 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 , in five books, 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 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  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.   
      
   Thirteen or fourteen 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 fourth 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  has come down to us entire in its   
   Latin   
   version; and an Armenian translation of his    
   has lately been discovered. Though the rest of his writings have perished,   
   in   
   these two works may be found the elements of a complete system of Catholic   
   theology.   
      
   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   
      
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