For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God. -- St. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses
MAN BEARS THE DIVINE FORM
God fashioned man with his own hands [that is, the Son and the Holy Spirit] and impressed his own form on the flesh he had fashioned, in such a way that even what was visible might bear the divine form. -- St. Irenaeus
DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, ONE TRADITION
For though languages differ throughout the world, the content of the Tradition is one and the same. The Churches established in Germany have no other faith or Tradition, nor do those of the Iberians, nor those of the Celts, nor those of the East, of Egypt, of Libya, nor those established at the centre of the world. . .-- St. Iranaeus, Adversus haereses
 |
| LANGUAGE AND TRADITION |
Irenaeus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint Irenaeus was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire (now Lyons, France). He was an early Church Father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology. He was a hearer of Polycarp, who in turn was traditionally a disciple of John the Evangelist.
Irenaeus' best-known book, Adversus Haereses or Against Heresies (c. 180) is a detailed attack on Gnosticism, which was then a serious threat to the Church, and especially on the system of the Gnostic Valentinus. As one of the first great Christian theologians, he emphasized the traditional elements in the Church, especially the episcopate, Scripture, and tradition. Against the Gnostics, who said that they possessed a secret oral tradition from Jesus himself, Irenaeus maintained that the bishops in different cities are known as far back as the Apostles—and none of them was a Gnostic—and that the bishops provided the only safe guide to the interpretation of Scripture.[3] His writings, with those of Clement and Ignatius, are taken as among the earliest signs of the developing doctrine of the primacy of the Roman see.[2] Irenaeus is the earliest witness to recognition of the canonical character of all four gospels.[4]
Irenaeus is recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. His feast day is on June 28 in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, where it was inserted for the first time in 1920; in 1960 it was transferred to July 3, leaving June 28 for the Vigil of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, but in 1969 it was returned to June 28, the day of his death.[5] The Lutheran Church,[6][7] commemorates[8] Irenaeus on that same date for his life of exemplary Christian witness. In the Orthodox Church his feast day is 23 August.
Published: Feb. 12, 2013 - 7:08AM; March 12, 2013 6:29 AM; April 12, 2013 - 6:43AM; July 5, 2013 - 8:44AM; July 30, 2013 - 6:38AM
