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Irenaeus: Mostly Prolegomena

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2011

Morton S. Enslin
Affiliation:
Crozer Theological Seminary

Extract

Toward the end of the fourth book of his indispensable Church History Eusebius remarked:

At this time there flourished in the church Hegesippus, whom we know from former narratives, and Dionysius, bishop of the Corinthians, and Pinytus, another bishop of the Cretans, and in addition to them Philip and Apolinarius and Melito and Musanus and Modestus and, above all, Irenaeus, and their correct opinions on the sound faith of the apostolic tradition have come down to us in writing.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1947

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References

1 Eusebius, H. E. iv, 21, 1.

2 Dem. 98.

3 I Cor. 1:10.

4 Phil. 2:2 ff.

5 Rom. 12:18.

6 Jude 3.

7 I Tim. 6:20 f.

8 Irenaeus, adv. Haer. iv, 26, 2. References in this essay to Irenaeus' principal writing (see p. 146) are in terms of Massuet's divisions, since these are in common use. Harvey's edition (Sancti Irenaei Libros quinque adversus Haereses, Cambridge, 1857), which is indispensable for the student, employs a somewhat different division, but prints at the head of each page the corresponding sections of both Massuet and Grabe. The reader who is not restricted to the English translation will thus have no difficulty in locating the sections cited; to have cited the sections on the basis of Harvey would, on the other hand, have been confusing to the general reader, quite independent of his ability to make use of Greek and Latin, for unfortunately Harvey's edition is not to be found on as many library shelves as it deserves to be. Any translation of Irenaeus to be intelligible must of necessity at times be somewhat free and paraphrastic. While not occasionally I have made my own translation, I have frequently reproduced (with such alterations as appeared to me wise) that of Roberts and Rambaut in the Ante-Nicene Christian Library.

9 adv. Haer. iii, 6, 1.

10 adv. Haer. iii, 4, 1.

11 adv. Haer. iv, 33, 7 —… qui sunt extra veritatem, id est, qui sunt extra ecclesiam.

12 adv. Haer. iii, 12, 7.

13 adv. Haer. iv, 33, 8 f.

14 The Pontic Mouse,” Anglican Theological Review, XXVII, 1 (January, 1945), pp. 116Google Scholar.

15 Eusebius, H. E. v, 20, 7.

16 Ibid., v, 20, 5.

17 adv. Haer. iii, 3, 4.

18 See Harvey, op. cit. I, pp. cliv f. and Lipsius, “Irenaeus,” Dict. Christ. Biogr. III, pp. 253 f. For a recent discussion see Orientations Théologiques chez Saint Irénée,” by André, Th.Audet in Traditio I (1943), p. 19Google Scholar, note 10. The whole article (pp. 15–54) is well worth reading.

19 Eusebius, H. E. v, 20, 5 f.

20 It is from the de Ogdoade.

21 in Isaiam xvii (on 64:4 f.) —Opera ed. Martianaei iv, 623A.

22 Cf. Harvey, op. cit., I, p. clxii.

23 Frg. 7.

24 See Harvey, op. cit., II, p. 454. In the Boll. Acta Sanctorum (Vol. XII, p. 99) in the item for April 23 regarding Saint Felix is preserved a reading from “MS Trevirensi S. Maximini, collato cum editione Surii,” namely, “Igitur beatissimus Irenaeus, Lugdunensis urbis episcopus, consequenti tempore martyr.”

25 Harvey, op. cit. I, p. clxiii.

26 Ferreolus and his brother Ferrutio, both said to have been from Asia Minor, were sent by him to evangelize the district around Besançon (Acta Sanctorum, item for June 16; Vol. XXIV, pp. 4–13). At about the same time Felix, Fortunatus, and Aquileius were sent to Valence (op. cit., item for April 23; XII, pp. 98–101). Cf. also Tillemont, Mémoires, III, pp. 42 f., and Martyrologium Romanum I. pp. 110 and 73.

27 Theodoret, Haeretic. Fab. Comp., prelude and i, 5 (Migne, Patr. Graeca lxxxiii, 339A and 351B).

28 adv. Haer. ii, 31, 1.

29 adv. Haer. i, 27, 4; iii, 12, 12.

30 This epilogue from the so-called Moscow Ms. is regularly printed, at the end of the text, of the several editions of the Martyrdom of Polycarp.

31 See (below) p. 153.

32 See pp. 150 ff., 153 ff.

33 Eusebius, H. E. v, 1, 3.

34 Ibid., v, 1, 17.

35 Ibid., v, 1, 49.

36 This evidence is given by Tillemont, Mémoires, II, p. 156.

37 That he was at this time “a presbyter” is commonly said. See note 41.

38 H. E. v, 3, 4.

39 H. E. v, 14, 1–19, 4.

40 See (below) p. 153.

41 H. E. v, 4, 1. With regard to the meaning of the phrase “(a) presbyter of the diocese of Lyons” see note 63.

42 Tertullian, adv. Prax. 1.

43 Hence they were styled Quartodecimans.

44 For occasional exceptions see note 49.

45 H. E. v, 23, 3 f.

46 H. E. v, 24, 2.

47 H. E. v, 24, 12–17.

48 So Tillemont, op. cit., III, p. 48. He cites: “Anat. P. 445, ap. Buch.” I have been unable to locate a copy of this latter work (Anatolii Laodicensis episcopi canon paschalis a Bucherio editus in opere de cyclis, Antwerp, 1633).

49 But even then there was occasional unconformity. In Britain the Asiatic rule was followed, despite the action of Nicaea, and led to the massacre of twelve hundred monks at Bangor, recounted by the Venerable Bede (H.E. ii, 2).

50 II Tim. 4:10.

51 The earliest writer to mention Massalia — he styled it πόλις τῆς Λιγνστικῆς — is Hecataeus. Aristotle, Justin, Plutarch, and Strabo all attest it. The first-century geographer, Scymnos of Chios, sets its founding 120 years before Marathon.

52 The origin of the name is unknown. The frequent statement that it is Phoenician for “settlement” is baseless. Professor Albright assures me that there is no such word in Phoenician (or Hebrew) and that there is no slightest evidence for an earlier Phoenician colony in this region. Nor is there any connection between Massalia and Massalian or Messalian (the designation of the later fanatical sect of Euchites) which appears to be derived from the Syriac mʼṣӑlyânâ. This is simply a case of assonance.

53 Caesar, de Bell. Gall, vi, 14; cf. i, 29; v, 48.

54 Dio Cassius, Hist. Rom. xlvi, 50, 4 f.

55 Strabo, Geog. iv, 6, ii.

56 Strabo, Geog. iv, 3, 2.

57 Seneca, Ep. Mor. 91.

58 Tacitus, Ann. xvi, 13. There is a small but annoying difficulty at this point. The fire at Rome took place in A.D. 64. According to Seneca the burning of Lugdunum was in 58/59. Yet Tacitus expressly says: “The emperor alleviated the disaster at Lugdunum by a grant of four million sesterces to repair the town's losses: the same amount which Lugdunum had previously offered in aid of the misfortune of the capital.” Thus if this “disaster” (cladem) is to be identified with the fire, either Seneca's date or Tacitus' chronology must be in error.

59 Tacitus, Hist, i, 51.

60 See note 58.

61 Herodian, Hist, iii, 7, 7.

62 Geog. iv, i, 4.

63 The customary rendering “a presbyter” is actually interpretation rather than translation. The Greek (πρεσβύτερον ἤδη τότʼ ὄντα τῆς ἐν Λουγδούνῳ παροικίας) may with equal faithfulness be rendered “presbyter of the diocese of Lyons,” precisely as we might say, “at that time Westcott was bishop of Durham.

64 Eusebius, H.E. v, 4, 1 f.

65 adv. Haer. iii, 2, 2.

66 adv. Haer. iii, 3, 1 ff.

67 adv. Haer. iii, 3, 2. It may very well be that these frequently cited words: Ad hanc enim ecclesiam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire ecclesiam, hoc est, eos qui sunt undique fideles, in qua semper ab his, qui sunt undique, conservata est ea quae est ab apostolis traditio, should be translated: “For it is a matter of necessity that every church, that is, the faithful everywhere, must congregate, on account of its preëminent position, in this church, in which the apostolic tradition has been preserved continuously by those who live everywhere.” That is, does Irenaeus here reflect, in part at least, the wide-spread view of antiquity that in Rome, to which all roads led, was of necessity to be found a cross section of all life and thought, even primitive doctrine? This alternative which since Grabe has been frequently suggested, is restated with great persuasion by Knox, W. L. in Journal of Theological Studies XLVII (July-October, 1946), pp. 180184Google Scholar.

68 Eusebius, H.E. v, 24, 14.

69 adv. Haer. iv, 26, 2. The whole chapter may be read with profit in the light of this usage.

70 adv. Haer. iii, 14, 2.

71 adv. Haer. iv, 27, 1.

72 adv. Haer. i, pref. 2.

73 Irenaeus, Pothini episcopi, qui Lugdunensem in Gallia regebat ecclesiam, presbyter…. Postea iam Pothino … martyrium coronato in locum eius substituitur” — Jerome, de Vir. Inlustr. 35.

74 See (above) p. 157.

75 Irenaeus, Dem. 6.

76 H.E. v, 26, 1.

77 St. Irenaeus: The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching (London, 1920)Google Scholar.

78 Obviously the persecution of A.D. 177 is well in the past; on the other hand, Theodotions translation of the O.T. is known to Irenaeus (adv. Haer. iii, 21, 1). For a full discussion of the date of Theodotion's translation and the erroneous interpretation of Epiphanius at this point, see Lipsius' discussion in his article “Irenaeus,” in Diet. Christian Biog. III, pp. 258 f.

79 adv. Haer. i, pref. 2.

80 It is not unlikely that the present end (v, 36, 3) was not the original conclusion, but that some part has been lost. The absence of any sort of summary to the whole writing is surprising.

81 adv. Haer. i, pref. 2.

82 adv. Haer. i, 31, 2.

83 adv. Haer. i, 15, 6.

84 adv. Haer. v, 32–36.

85 H.E. iii, 39, 13.

86 Dem. 95.

87 Polycarp, ad Philip. 3:3.

88 H.E. iv, 22, 1 ff.

89 H.E. v, 15, 1.

90 H.E. v, 20, 2.

91 This is printed by Harvey as Syriac Fgm. XXVII (op. cit., II, p. 456).

92 The Armenian heading so describes the fragment. Harvey (op. cit., II, p. 460) suggests that this otherwise unknown treatise may be the same as On the Passover.

93 H.E. v, 26.