Section 16 (Page cliii)
THE LIFE
AND WRITINGS
S. IRENiEUS,
BISHOP OF LYONS IN GAUL.
The materials for a life of S. Irenseus, that have come 0f down to us, are very scanty.
We know little else for tol
certain, than that he was Bishop of Lyons in Gaul, during the latter quarter of the second century.
And this datum, vague as it may be, gives a probable reference to the country of his birth.
For circumstances shew that a cer tain connexion existed between the Church over which he presided and the East.
The Greek names of its first Bishops indicate this origin; the account also of the per secution of the Church of Lyons a.d.
177, under Marcus Aurelius, in which its venerable Bishop Pothinus suffered martyrdom, was transmitted, not to Rome, but to the churches of Asia.
So also the acquaintance manifested by Irenseus with Eastern languages, involving not only a re spectable knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, but also a very perceptible familiarity with the Scriptures of the New Testament in Syriac, point directly to the same conclusion; and even the name Elprjvdios, of no common occurrence in Greek nomenclature, may have been the substitute for some Syrian equivalent, as Saul became Paul; and as the orientally descended philosopher Malcho, became known by the adopted name of Porphyry, the more obvious equiva lent, Basileides, having already been appropriated by a predecessor from the East.
Consistently with this, Irenseus
cliv LIFE OP Probable apologises for his roughness of style, as betraying the conscious imperfection of a writer, who is not handling his own vernacular language, and hardly feels at home with the idioms, that force of circumstances has compelled him to adopt.
If Greek had been his native tongue, there would have been little danger that his style should be de based through barbarian contact; and since he was neither of Gallic nor of Italian extraction, the probability is strengthened by this expression, that he was born in Syria, and having been instructed as a child in some Gr. Fragm. ii. Syriac version of Scripture, was removed during the years of boyhood to Smyrna.
The date of our author's birth is also unknown.
The only clue we possess is the statement that in his boyhood, ib.
7ra?s wv ert, he remembered Florinus as a fellow-hearer of Polycarp.
Florinus was, doubtless, his senior, for he speaks of him as a person of some mark, and of courtly status, XanTrpws irpaTTovra ev rrj fiaaiXiKri avXrj, and more anxious perhaps, than a mere youth would have been, to ingratiate himself with the venerable bishop Polycarp.
But in his letter to Florinus he speaks of himself as is usual with the elderly, and says that he has a more vivid recollection of events that passed before him as a boy, than of those that had occurred more recently.
At the time therefore of writing this epistle to Florinus, Irensus was not less perhaps than sixty years of age.
The tone also of the extract from his Uetter to Victor, Bishop of Rome, at the same period, marks rather the experienced Bishop, addressing himself to a brother whose preferment to an important see was of recent date.
Irenseus would scarcely have thought it necessary to stimulate the vigilance of Victor after the prompt condemnation of Theodotus a.d.
196, and the fierce excommunication of the Eastern Churches a.d. 198.
The caution then concerning Florinus 1 See Syr. Fragm. XXVIII.
8. IRENiEUS.
civ was probably communicated soon after Victor's accession of birth, to the pontificate a.d. 188.
If therefore at this date Ire- ~" naeus had attained his sixtieth year, about 128 a.d. would be indicated for his birth.
But in the body of his work e. Hcer. he speaks of having heard Polycarp, already far advanced in years, ev t>? irpwrri tjuwv qXiKici, and the term has been identified more closely than the phrase can justify, with that used in the Epistle to Florinus,
7rats wv en.
For the author himself explains the expression as meaning 1early life, extending to about the thirtieth year; at least it is impossible to obtain any more satisfactory meaning than this from the translator's words, quia autem triginta
annorum cetas prima indolis est juvenis, (ort 3e twv TpidKOVTa irwv ij tjXtKta irpcort] Trj<t SiaOeffews eari veas).
It is the "cardinal point that separates the youthful from the formed character.
It is not necessary indeed to suppose, that Irenasus spent the whole of this irpioTT) qXac'ia at Smyrna under its venerable Bishop.
The cause of the Gospel in all probability drew him into Gaul, soon after the age had been attained for ordination; and Polycarp, who was not less than 3eighty-six years of age when he suffered martyrdom, a.d. 167, may have survived the departure of Irensus from Smyrna for ten or fifteen years, and yet have been more than threescore years and ten, when our author last heard the sound of his voice.
The expression therefore, w rrj irptoTy tjfxwi> qXudq, in no way militates against the suppo sition now advanced, that the birth of Irenseus may be re ferred to an earlier period by at least ten years, than has usually been deemed possible, and that a.d. 130 is no very unlikely date for this event.
1 So EuSEBrus explains the phrase 078017x0^0 (col *| try *X<" JoiAeiW by antra rip rear tjKtxlar.
H.E.v.$. a(mf, <cai oiSev /m ifiUiiae, Kal vCn "
As in Dante's expression, Swa/iai p\au<t>7)HTj<rai to* fiaaiKia fiov, Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita. rbv aixsarri. fie.
S. Polto. Mabt. Vind.
Compare the memorable words, Catk. ni. 79.
clvi LIFE OF It is useless to investigate, with i Massuet, the proba bilities of his ordination ; whether he received his divine commission at the hands of Pothinus, or of some other bishop.
Neither is it a very material consideration, in a controversial point of view, whether or not he was conse crated as successor to Pothinus by the Bishop of Rome; for there was no other Gallican see at this period than that of Lyons, as the 2Benedictine establishes; it was by necessity therefore, and not in consideration of the potior principalitas, that the church of Lyons, in such a case, would apply to Rome for the consecration of a successor to its martyred bishop.
Whether he was sent to Rome
for the express purpose of consecration, is, to say the least, doubtful.
Certainly he was charged with a letter to Rome by certain leading members of the Church of Lyons, who awaited in prison their crown of martyrdom; but the substance of the letter sent was selp>ivris <?i<e«j: if it had been intended as the expression of a wish that the bearer should be consecrated bishop, the wish would have been conveyed in less enigmatical terms, than these upon which Massuet builds his theory; ical napaKakovfxev e%eiv ere avTov kv irapaOeaei, fyXooTijv ovra T»Jy StaOrjuris tov Xpgtov.
Et yap jjSei/xei/ ^tottov Ttvi Sacaioavvrjv TrepnroielaOai, cos wpeafivTepov eKKXtjalas, otrep eariv eV avTip, ev irpiorois av irapeOeneOa.
No doubt he went to Rome, for it is impos1 Diss. n. § 6.
* lb. § 13-16.
3 Euseb. H. E. V. 4.
* f. 1. t&itov, q. d. If we could think . dam eccltsice quasliones legatus, Iiomam missus, honoriftcas stiper nomine suo ad Eleutherum Episcopum perfcrt litems.
Postea jam Pothino prope nonagenario ob Christum martyrio coronato, in locum that a figurative name conferred good ejus substkuitur.
Hieron. de Scr.
Eccl.
It may be observed that the term, postea, ness, we would emphatically commend to you EipTjpoios (Snep iarlv iir' aim}), at a presbyter of our Church.
At least is scarcely consistent with the idea, that the mission to Rome was originally the terms used, conveyed to S. Jerome connected with his designation to the the idea of a play upon the name; see; but it agrees well with the solu Irenosus Pothini Episcopi, qui Lugdution offered above.
Indeed S. Jerome nensem in Gallia regebat Ecclesiam, pres shews that Pothinus was still alive. byter, a martyribus ejusdem loci, ob quas-
S. IREN^US.
clvii 1Valesius, that of Lyons, sible to assent to the opinion advanced by A"
Irenaeus, having been designated as the bearer of the '. epistle to Eleutherus, was preferred to the see that had become vacant by the death of Pothinus before the letter was dispatched; in this case, the name of his sub stitute must infallibly have replaced his own in the letter; whereas Eusebius quotes as the commencement, i^alpew ' ev 6eui ae ev iraaiv ev^oneQa kcu del irdrep E\ev9epe' Tavrd cot to ypd/jL/maTa wpoeTpe^/d/ieda top ate\(pov rjfxwv Kal koivwvov Euprivalov Siaitumlaai.
3S. Jerome, who was well ac quainted with the Roman archives and Roman traditions, confirms the statement.
Irenaeus then was the bearer of
this Epistle to Rome, a.d.
177.
The persecution of the Church of Lyons, though sharp, was brief.
Pothinus, 4now more than ninety years old, was subjected to such cruel treatment as to die in prison; and this took place, in all probability, before Irenaeus had crossed the Alps; if therefore it was necessary that his successor should be consecrated by any foreign bishop, this visit of the bishop designate to Rome was most opportune; a messenger dispatched at once would have arrived within a few days of Irenaeus, making known the request of the suffering Church, that he might be consecrated to the see of Lyons.
This suppo sition clears away all historical difficulties; for Eusebius says expressly, both that Irenaeus went to Rome, as has been stated, also that he was successor to Pothinus, who must have died while he was out upon this mission.
BIIoOeivov Srj, e(p' oXois rtjs fy'ifc ereaiv evevrfKOvra, oiiv roty eVi YaWias ftaprvprjcraGi reXeiwOevTos, Kipr/vciios Ttjs Kara AovySovvov
[\o8eivos tjyelro irapoitdas, Trjv e-KiaKOTrt\v itaSe\erat.
The clouds of persecution might have been lowering over the Church of Lyons, and many of its 1 Not. in Eus. H. E. v. 4. the question, Who is the God of Chris- » Euseb. H. E. v. 4. tians? was, i(w ft 4fios yvtbiTQ.
Eos.
J Calal. Scr. as in n. 4, p. clvi.
U. E. v.
4 His answer before the tribunal to * Eus. H. E. v.
clviii LIFE OF His work members already in danger, but Irenseu9 could scarcely have cHtereBea.
^ jn nour Qf greatest need, if the storm had already burst in its full fury, and its bishop been put to death.
In proportion as this visit to Rome shews, as a pro bable result, the elevation of Irenseus to the vacant see, the prosecution of his journey to the far distant East, as stated by Feuardentius and Le Sueur, becomes in the same degree improbable.
Neither is it at all likely, that he should have been the author of the account of the per secution sent from Lyons to the Churches of Asia, if he had not been an eye-witness.
Rather we may believe that he returned home to be installed successor to Pothinus,
and milder times following, that he engaged actively in the missionary work of converting pagan Gaul to Christ; for he was most truly 1(pwart}p TaXaTwv twv ecnreplwv, and 2Besangon and Valence are more expressly mentioned, as having received the faith from Lyons during his incumbency.
The same period of respite from persecution also permitted the Bishop to compose his great work against the heresies that forced themselves upon his notice during his visit to Rome, and that, penetrating into every province of the Western Empire, were gaining head rapidly upon the banks of the Rhone.
The work was written, as Eusebius has observed, during the Episcopate of Eleutherus, down to whom the Roman succession is traced in the third Book; but it was composed also after Theodotion had completed his version of the Scriptures of the Old Testa ment; referred by 3Epiphanius to the second year of Commodus, a.d.
181.
Therefore since Eleutherus was suc ceeded by Victor a.d.
189, this work must have been writ ten some time during the seven years included between a.d. 182 and 188.
1 Theodobet, lmmvt.
So far as historical fact is concerned, ■ Ada Hart.
Ferreoli, Felicis, these Acta may be trusted.
Presbh.
Ferut.
Fortun.
Achill.
Diacc.
" de Mensur.
17.
IREN-aiUS. clix After the accession of Victor, the unnecessary severity with which he visited those who infringed the Catholic rule for observing the Paschal fast and succeeding Feast, threatened the most fatal results to the peace of the Church.
The Asiatic Greeks following the biblical, or, as was objected, the Jewish rule, brought the Lent fast to a close, and celebrated Easter upon the 14th day, or the Full of the first moon after the vernal equinox, on what ever day it might fall. lThe other Churches of Christen dom, on the other hand, celebrated the Feast of the Resur rection on the Lord's day following.
With regard to the period of the fast, practice varied, not only among the
Churches, but also among the individual members of each Church.
On either side Apostolical custom was the plea ; and in the East appeal was made to tradition, traced back to S. John through Melito, Polycarp, and Philip the Evan gelist, while the West relied as confidently upon custom derived from S. Peter and S. Paul.
The subject had hitherto been wisely considered what we call an open ques tion, as not being of sufficient importance seriously to affect the peace of the Church.
Victor, however, deter mined upon bending all Christendom to the Roman rule, and caused synods everywhere to be assembled upon the subject, a.d.
198.
The Churches of Asia having repre sented and defended their view in a synodal epistle, drawn up by Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, were Excommuni cated by Victor, and the first note of discord was sounded between the Churches of the East and of the West, that, however varied in character and object, has never to the 1 The Churches of Britain perhaps monks at Bangor, mentioned by Bede, were an exception ; where, in contraH. E. n. i. vention of the Nicene Council, Tind.
* tfurpa Tepnavdets, is the term Caih. in.
J i, 15, the Asiatic rule, as used by Socrates, v. 12, in describing having been received with the faith the effect produced upon Victor by the from the East, was maintained ; it letter of the Asiatics, caused the memorable massacre of uoo
clx LIFE OF Paschal present day been resolved in a cordial harmony.
A letter was dispatched by Irenseus to Victor in consequence of his violence, urging upon his notice the necessity of more moderate counsels ; and representing to him, that his course of action with respect to the Paschal 'observance threatened to isolate the Church over which he presided from the 2rest of the body Catholic.
The letter fully effected its purpose of conciliation, as we learn from 3Anatolius, who wrote about eighty years after ; but the ques tion was finally disposed of in favour of the Western view by the Council of Nice.
The question of the fast involved the following points.
All 4 Christians, throughout the world, were unanimous
in their observance of a Paschal day, as that of our Lord's Passion, by a rigid fast.
But practice varied consider ably with respect to the custom of the fast; 6Irenseus describes the variation as follows: oi pei> yap olovrai n'mv 1 The only fragment that has been o-koiVtjs.
Epiph.
Hcer.
Exp. Fid.
11. preserved to us from this Epistle, shews that a matter open to so much dovbt, The fast was divided into three mem bers; there was the fast of the week that preceded the Holy Week, subject was fairly considered to be an open question ; oi yip pbvov ircpl rrp fynipas to no very severe rule; the %r\po<payla of the Holy Week, which, with the 4<ttiv ij dfitpio-^^T7]<rts.
' So Eusebius assures us, oi> vacrl former, was binding upon the whole ye toTs £iri(nc6irois ■hp4oKero. H.
E. v.
Christian world; and a third and more 14, and S. Jerome. Hi qui dUcrepabant rigid fast that was observed by compa ab illii, Victori non dederunt mania.
Catal. Scr. ratively few, and that consisted in total abstinence from food for one or more 8 Canon. Paschal, p. 445.
* Massuet's authorities are sub days of the Paschal week.
Similarly the Apostolical Constitutions, compiled joined.
Tfy' Si TeaaapoKOdT^v, tt\v wpi at about the same date, and in part from ancient tradition, prescribe the tCiv €Trra ijfiepwp tov dylov Triloba waaiform 4v rait Tuxipais ofo tov wd<rxa xaij <pv\i.TTea> ctuffev iKKkyala, b> 07arelait Siare\ovo~a' tAs Si Kvpianas oi>5' vr/o-Teicre, dpxbp-evoi &t6 8ew4pas p.4S\us, oiSe 4v aflrj; tj TetraapaKoaTfj.
XP'
Tffi TapajTKcvrjt, Kal aaffidrov, ?£ 1)p.4pat piytp xpuM-coi &pT<#, koX a\l T4s Si t£ iifiipas tov irdaxa b> fripofayta Kal \axdvois, Kal worif CSarf otvov SiareXovat irdvrcs ol Xaol'
&i)fU 5^ dpTtp, Kal d\i, koI vSan Tort x/xipfltM rpbl iviripav dXXd Kal trirovSaioi 5t7rXar, teal Si Kal xpewv dr4xe<r0e 4* TavWaif iip.4pat ydp elai tt4v9ovs, dXX' oix iopTTjt.
TptTrXay, Kal rerpairXas inreprldevTai, Kal V.
18.
Ep. ad Vktorem, Episc.
Horn.
S\ip> ri\v IflhfiuUa TiWs &XPIS a\eKinfr. n. p. 473rpvivuv <tXa77i}s t?5
KvpiaKrp ijrupw-
IRKN.33US.
clxi T/uepav Selv aurovs vriarevew' oi Se Svo, oi Kat nXeiovas, oi oe TeaaapaKovTa' wpas queptvas T6 ical vvKrepivus avfi/JieTpovai Ttjv quepan avraiv.
Considerable discussion has arisen with respect to the punctuation of this passage, whether Teao-apwcovra should be disjoined or not from 1Bellarmine considered that Irenseus was not speak wpasing of that conventional kind of fasting, which admitted of solution, more Judaico, in the evening, but of rigid and total abstinence from food : he therefore removed the comma, and interpreted rtjp tjnepav as consisting of the two days preceding the Feast of the Resurrection, or the forty hours during which our Lord remained under the
hand of death.
Valesius, in his notes upon Eusebius, pro poses to substitute vtioTetav for rj/uepav, but the suggestion is without authority, and therefore inadmissible.
Grabe interprets rinepav indefinitely as time, season; which, as Massuet observes, is not more satisfactory; and he then proposes to replace the comma, and to take the words according to their plain grammatical meaning ; i. c. some again continue the fast for forty days, computing each day a* comprising the hours of the night as well as of the day : they observed that conventional kind of fasting, that does not involve total abstinence from food, but permitted the use of bread, salt, fish, and even fowl; the two latter being supposed to have had their origin from water, Gen. i. 20, 21.
2It is to this more indulgent variation of custom that the observations of Irenseus must be considered to apply ; 1 Bellahm. de Bon. Op. II.
14. vfprBai \iyovrtf ot ixpoSpi/wv *o! liiin * fort Si cvpeiv oi fiircv repl rbv At^xovtou' rwis Si nal {ijpou tprov /lirov ApiOfiiv rwy iifitpuv Siarpavovrras, iXKi, fieTaKafifidvovaiV dXXoc Si oiSi toOtov Si tJjv itrox^v tiSv iSecp-iruv ofy Siwlax trepoi Si iydrris <3pas v-qorcvovrfs, rotovfthioin' ol n&> yip, wirrri ifitpiixw Siitpopov txovtn tV itrrlav.
Socb. H. E. i-rtxovTac oi Si ruv ip.\pvxuv IxOut V. 13.
The entire chapter is worthy of poVovt p.(Ta\afifidvov<ri' nvis Si aim toU perusal, as shewing that no definite conl%96oi, koX ruv irT*rp>wv iiroytiovrai, i( stitution with respect to fasting was I'Jorot Kal oiri Kari. rhv Muwria ytyeever given to the Church by the Apostles.
VOL. I.
clxii LIFE OF of although some protested silently against the increasing laxity, and continued the %tipu<payla through the entire quadragesimal period, excepting always the Sundays ; the later prescription of the Laodicene Council accorded with this, hi iraaav rrjv TeaaapatcoaTtjv vrjcrTeuetv ^r]po(payovvTas.
Of the time and circumstances of the death of S. Ire nseus nothing is known.
And it is doubtful whether the title of 'Martyr properly belongs to him.
S. Jerome terms him Martyr ; but the word was "added possibly by some later hand.
The account of Gregory of Tours, as quoted by Massuet, may be taken for what it is worth ; and it is per
haps as trustworthy as Feuardent's account of the recovery of the relics of the Saint, from the collection of Chirurgua quidam Catholicus, who having saved them from the fury of the Huguenots (Hu-Gnosticorum furore), restored them to the municipality and Church of Lyons.
Upon this point it is certainly remarkable, that although citations are not unfrequently made by Syrian divines from Irenseus, which speak of him as a disciple of Polycarp the Martyr, this title of honour is in only one doubtful instance ap plied to Irenseus ; and in a Synaxarion, which mentions other names as belonging to the noble army of Martyrs, that of Irenseus follows Justin Martyr, but simply as 3 Ire nseus Bishop of Lyons.
These extracts are found in MSS. that are considerably older than any patristical codices of the Western Church, having been transcribed principally in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries.
Upon this subject however the reader is referred to the arguments of Dodwell, to which Massuet has nothing better to oppose than the testimony of S. Jerome, already
1 Compare Dr Bubton, Led. XXII.
3 .£DoU-»S-»1 )■'.H .ffi » °>1>Q a.d. 203, p. 149.
Oxon.
1833. t ^Op^jO^J and of the Bishop, Saint * Dodwell considers that it came T . T „ , .
Irenceus of Lyons.
Cod.
14, 504.
Brit. in from the margin. j^HJ