View source for Irenaeus

==Notes==
{{notelist|refs=

{{efn|name=Gregory|[[Gregory of Tours]] is the first to mention a tradition which held Irenaeus to be a martyr}}

{{efn|name=Harnack|This work was first published in 1907 in Armenian, along with a German translation by Adolf von Harnack. It is Harnack who divided the text into one hundred numbered sections.}}

{{efn|name=atonement|For other theories of atonement see [[Atonement in Christianity]]}}

{{efn|name=AH.IV26|"Wherefore we must obey the priests of the Church who have succession from the Apostles, as we have shown, who, together with succession in the episcopate, have received the certain mark of truth according to the will of the Father; all others, however, are to be suspected, who separated themselves from the principal succession.{{harv|Irenaeus|1885|loc=[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103426.htm Book IV, Chapter 26]}} }}

{{efn|name=AH.III11|"But it is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the church has been scattered throughout the world, and since the 'pillar and ground' of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of life, it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing incorruption on every side, and vivifying human afresh. From this fact, it is evident that the Logos, the fashioner ''[[demiurge|demiourgos]]'' of all, he that sits on the cherubim and holds all things together, when he was manifested to humanity, gave us the gospel under four forms but bound together by one spirit."{{harv|Irenaeus|1885|loc=[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103311.htm Book III, Chapter 11, Section 8]}} }}

{{efn|name=AH.III3a|Irenaeus himself tells us {{harv|Irenaeus|1885|loc=[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103303.htm Book III, Chapter 3, Section 4]}} cf {{harvnb|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 20, Section 5ff]}} that in his 'youth' he saw [[Polycarp of Smyrna|Polycarp]], the [[Bishop of Smyrna]] who was martyred c156. This is the evidence used to assume that Irenaeus was born in Smyrna during the 130s–140s.}}

{{efn|name=M&S|{{harvnb|McDonald|Sanders|2001|pp= 280, 310}} summarizing {{harvnb|Irenaeus|1885|loc=[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103311.htm Book III, Chapter 11, Section 7]}}: the [[Ebionites]] use Matthew's Gospel, Marcion mutilates Luke's, the [[Docetist]]s use Mark's, the [[Valentinians]] use John's}}

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