Irenaeus Quotes

Irenaeus was a Greek cleric noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in what is now the south of France and, more widely, for the development of Christian theology by combatting heresy and defining orthodoxy. Originating from Smyrna, now Izmir in Turkey, he had heard the preaching of Polycarp, who in turn was said to have heard John the Evangelist.Chosen as bishop of Lugdunum, now Lyon, his best-known work is On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis, often cited as Adversus Haereses, an attack on gnosticism, in particular that of Valentinus. To counter the doctrines of the gnostic sects claiming secret wisdom, he offered three pillars of orthodoxy: the scriptures, the tradition handed down from the apostles, and the teaching of the apostles' successors. Intrinsic to his writing is that the surest source of Christian guidance is the church of Rome, and he is the earliest surviving witness to recognise all four gospels as essential.He is recognized as a saint in the Catholic Church on 28 June, and in the Eastern Orthodox Church on 23 August.

✵ 130 – 202
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Irenaeus: 5   quotes 3   likes

Famous Irenaeus Quotes

“For the glory of God is the living man, and the life of man is the vision of God.”
Gloria enim Dei vivens homo, vita autem hominis visio Dei.

Book 4, Chapter 34, Section 7 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101074938968;view=1up;seq=231.
Often mistranslated as "The glory of God is man fully alive" (see http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=25-05-003-e).
The context of the passage https://web.archive.org/web/20170126222027/http://earlychurchtexts.com/public/irenaeus_glory_of_god_humanity_alive.htm is: "And for this reason did the Word become the dispenser of the paternal grace for the benefit of men, for whom He made such great dispensations, revealing God indeed to men, but presenting man to God, and preserving at the same time the invisibility of the Father, lest man should at any time become a despiser of God, and that he should always possess something towards which he might advance; but, on the other hand, revealing God to men through many dispensations, lest man, falling away from God altogether, should cease to exist. For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God. For if the manifestation of God which is made by means of the creation, affords life to all living in the earth, much more does that revelation of the Father which comes through the Word, give life to those who see God."
Against Heresies

“It is not necessary to seek truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church.”

Book 3, Chapter 4. From Readings in World Christian History (2013), pp. 58-99.
Against Heresies

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