Irenaeus

Irenaeus (Greek: Ειρηναίος), (b. 2nd century; d. end of 2nd/beginning of 3rd century). His writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology, and he is recognized as a saint by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church; the latter considers him a Father of the Church. He was a disciple of Polycarp, who himself was a disciple of John the Apostle.

Biography

Born in the first half of the second century (the exact date is disputed, between the years 115 and 125 according to some or 130 and 142 according to others), Irenaeus is thought to have been a Greek from Polycarp's hometown of Smyrna in Asia Minor, now Izmir, Turkey. He was raised in a Christian family, rather than converting as an adult, and this may help explain his rigid adherence to orthodoxy.

According to Larry D. Harper, Irenaeus believed he had "...received an accurate explanation of the Apostles' understanding of the message of Scripture which had been handed down by the Apostle John by Polycarp."

But Polucarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed biship of the church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom, departed this life, always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the church has handed down, and which alone are true. (Irenaeus: Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 4)

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