Saint Irenaeus

Irenaeus was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the development of Christian theology by opposing Gnostic interpretations of Christian Scripture and defending orthodoxy. Originating from Smyrna, he had seen and heard the preaching of Polycarp, who in turn was said to have heard John the Evangelist. Chosen as Bishop of Lugdunum, now Lyon, Irenaeus wrote his best-known work Against Heresies around 180 as a refutation of 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 said to be handed down from the apostles, and the teaching of the apostles' successors. He is the earliest surviving witness to regard all four of the now-canonical gospels as essential. Irenaeus is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Lutheran Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in the Catholic Church by Pope Francis in 2022. Irenaeus was a Greek from Polycarp's hometown of Smyrna in Anatolia, now İzmir, Turkey, born during the first half of the 2nd century. The exact date is thought to be between the years 120 and 130. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he was brought up in a Christian family rather than converting as an adult. During a local persecution of Christians around Lyon during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor from 161 to 180, Irenaeus was a priest of the Church of Lyon. The clergy of that city, many of whom were suffering imprisonment for the faith, sent him to Rome in 177 with a letter to Pope Eleutherius concerning the heresy of Montanism, and that occasion bore emphatic testimony to his merits. While Irenaeus was in Rome, the Lyon persecution took place.