Fra Marino also claims to have been alerted to the existence of the Gospel of Barnabas, from an allusion in a work by Irenaeus against Paul ; in a book which had been presented to him by a lady of the Colonna family ( Marino, outside Rome, is the location of the Palazzo Colonna ).

This last phrase ( from 1 Timothy 6: 20 ) is the origin of the title of the book by Irenaeus, On the Detection and Overthrow of False Knowledge, that contains the adjective gnostikos, which is the source for the 17th Century English term " Gnosticism.

At the end of the first book of Irenaeus is a section to all appearance derived from a source different from that just referred to.

Justin, Athenagoras, Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Lactantius, and others borrowed an opinion out of this book of Enoch, that the angels had connection with the daughters of men, of whom they had offspring (' the giants of the past ').

The Shepherd of Hermas (; ; sometimes just called The Shepherd ) is a Christian literary work of the 1st or 2nd century, considered a valuable book by many Christians, and considered canonical scripture by some of the early Church fathers such as Irenaeus.

In the fifth book of Against Heresies, Irenaeus concentrates primarily on eschatology.

And these things are borne witness to in the fourth book of the writings of Papias, the hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp .” ( 5. 33. 3 ) Apparently Irenaeus also held to the sexta -/ septamillennial scheme writing that the end of human history will occur after the 6, 000th year.

Shortly after Valentinus ' death, Irenaeus began his massive work On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis, better known as Adversus Haereses with a highly-colored and negative view of Valentinus and his teachings that occupies most of his first book.

His book An Historical Introduction to the Study of the Books of the New Testament, which was widely read, is an account of the reception and interpretation of the gospels in the early centuries of Christianity as seen through the writings of leaders such as Irenaeus and Eusebius.

100 AD or before ), as well as the various witnesses to canonicity extant among the writings of Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus, etc., the four gospels and letters of Paul were universally held as scriptural, and only ~ 200 years were needed to finalize the canon ; from the beginning of the 2nd Century to the mid-4th Century, no book in the final canon was ever declared spurious or heretical, except for the Revelation of John which the Council of Laodicea in 363-364 AD rejected ( although it accepted all of the other 26 books in the New Testament ).

In the quote below, one can see how passionately Irenaeus argues against this gnostic heresy from his book Heresies:

To refute it Irenaeus wrote a vast five-volume book ( On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis commonly referred to as Against Heresies ).

A book called the Apocryphon of John was referred to by Irenaeus in Adversus Haereses, written about 185 CE, among the writings that teachers in 2nd-century Christian communities were producing, " an indescribable number of secret and illegitimate writings, which they themselves have forged, to bewilder the minds of foolish people, who are ignorant of the true scriptures " — scriptures which Irenaeus himself was establishing as no more and no less than four, the " Fourfold gospel " that his authority helped make the canonical four.

Papias of Hierapolis ( c 60-130 AD ) was an Early Christian Bishop of Hierapolis in Anatolia, whose book, " Expositions of the Oracles of the Lord ", in which he stated that " Matthew compiled the logia ( τὰ λόγια ) in the Hebrew language, and each person interpreted them as he was able ", survives only in quotations made by Irenaeus and Eusebius.

In his book Adversus Haereses, which survives in a Latin version, Irenaeus mentions " Papias, the hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp " ( Book V, chapter xxxiii ), without indicating that this was another John than " John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.

It is believed to have been written by Gnostic followers of Jesus, rather than by Judas himself, and, since it contains late 2nd century theology, probably dates from no earlier than the 2nd century ( which is much later than the dating attributed to the 4 gospels of the modern Bible Gospel # First accounts ) In 180 A. D., Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyons, wrote a document in which he railed against this gospel, indicating the book was already in circulation.

In his work Redating Matthew, Mark and Luke Wenham wrote regarding the book of Matthew the following: " The fathers are almost unanimous in asserting that Matthew the tax-collector was the author, writing first, for Hebrews in the Hebrew language: Papias ( c. 60-130 ), Irenaeus ( c. 130-200 ), Pantaenus ( died c. 190 ), Origen ( c. 185-254 ), Eusebius ( c. 260-340 ), Epiphanius of Salamis ( c. 315-403 ), Cyril of Jerusalem ( c. 315-86 ) and others write in this vein.

Irenaeus wrote a number of books, but the most important that survives is the " Against Heresies ", normally referred to by its Latin title Adversus Haereses which is an important source regarding the Gospel according to the Hebrews.

In the passage of Adversus Haereses under consideration, Irenaeus is clear that after receiving baptism at the age of thirty, citing Luke 3: 23, Gnostics then falsely assert that " He preached only one year reckoning from His baptism ," and also, " On completing His thirtieth year He suffered, being in fact still a young man, and who had by no means attained to advanced age.

There are two chief sources of information concerning the life of Polycarp: the letter of the Smyrnaeans recounting the martyrdom of Polycarp and the passages in Irenaeus ' Adversus Haereses.

Justin Martyr ( in his Apologies, and in a lost work against heresies, which Irenaeus used as his main source ) and Irenaeus ( Adversus Haereses ) record that after being cast out by the Apostles he came to Rome where, having joined to himself a profligate woman of the name of Helen, he gave out that it was he who appeared among the Jews as the Son, in Samaria as the Father and among other nations as the Holy Spirit.

Irenaeus in Adversus Haereses iii.

There are indeed certain exceptions ; Basilides taught the existence of a " great archon " called Abraxas who presided over 365 archons ( Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, i. 24 ); in the Valentinian system, the Seven are in a manner replaced by the Aeons.

Adversus Haereses ( 1: 23-28 ) gives, in what seems intended for chronological order, a list of heresies, beginning with Simon Magus and ending with Tatian, and adds in a kind of appendix a description of a variety of Gnostic sects deriving their origin, as Irenaeus maintains, from the heresy of Simon Magus.

* Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, Book I ( Chapter XXVI, § 1-2 )

* Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, Book III ( Chapter II, § 1 ; Ch.

A modern student, M. T. Riley, observes that Tertullian's Adversus Valentinianos retranslated some passages from Irenaeus, without adding original material Later, Epiphanius of Salamis discussed and dismissed him ( Haer., XXXI ).

The descriptions of the Basilidian system given by our chief informants, St. Irenaeus ( Adversus Haereses ) and St. Hippolytus ( Philosophumena ), are so strongly divergent that they seem to many quite irreconcilable.

Scholars generally agree on a date in the mid-to late-2nd century AD, since there are two 2nd century documents, the Epistula Apostolorum and Irenaeus ' Adversus haereses, which refer to a story of Jesus ' tutor telling him, " Say beta ," and him replying, " First tell me the meaning of alpha.

Korah is also mentioned by Irenaeus in his anti-Gnostic work Adversus Haereses ( Against Heresies ), written in about 180.

Leucius is not among the early heretical teachers mentioned by name in Irenaeus ' Adversus haereses ( ca.

* Irenaeus, Adversus omnes haereses ( 1702 )

Arthur C. McGiffert, < cite > Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers ,</ cite > 2nd series, 1: 298 .</ ref > Irenaeus describes the right response to Gnostic doctrine as " reviling " ( καταφυσησαντας ; literally exsufflantes ).< ref >< cite > Adversus haereses </ cite > 1. 16. 3, ed.

The Ebionites known to Irenaeus ( first mentioned in Adversus Haereses 1. 26. 2, written around 185 ) and other Church Fathers prior to Epiphanius were described as a Jewish sect that regarded Jesus as the Messiah but not as divine.

The descriptions of the Basilidian system given by our chief informants, Irenaeus ( Adversus Haereses ) and Hippolytus ( Philosophumena ), are so strongly divergent that they seem to many quite irreconcilable.

The Gospel of Judas was condemned by Irenaeus in his anti-Gnostic work Adversus Haereses ( Against Heresies ), written in about 180.

* Against Heresies, Online-text, Irenaeus, Against Heresies

Irenaeus, ( c. 130 – 202 ) in his Against Heresies ( 1: 25 ; 6 ) says scornfully of the Gnostic Carpocratians, " They also possess images, some of them painted, and others formed from different kinds of material ; while they maintain that a likeness of Christ was made by Pilate at that time when Jesus lived among them.

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.

The purpose of " Against Heresies " was to refute the teachings of various Gnostic groups ; apparently, several Greek merchants had begun an oratorial campaign in Irenaeus ' bishopric, teaching that the material world was the accidental creation of an evil god, from which we are to escape by the pursuit of gnosis.

* Payton Jr., James R. Irenaeus on the Christian Faith: A Condensation of ' Against Heresies ( Cambridge, James Clarke and Co Ltd, 2012 ).

Eusebius implies that other works were in circulation ; from St Irenaeus he knows of the apology " Against Marcion ," and from Justin's " Apology " of a " Refutation of all Heresies ".

The Against Marcion is lost, as is the Refutation of all Heresies to which Justin himself refers in Apology, i. 26 ; Hegesippus, besides perhaps Irenaeus and Tertullian, seems to have used it.

A four gospel canon ( the Tetramorph ) was asserted by Irenaeus, who refers to it directly in his polemic Against the Heresies, " It is not possible that the gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are.

In 189, assertion of the primacy of the Church of Rome may be indicated in Irenaeus of Lyons's Against Heresies ( 3: 3: 2 ): " With Church of Rome, because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree ... and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition.

* Irenaeus, second bishop of Lyon, author of Against the Heresies

In Against Heresies, Irenaeus relates how Polycarp told a story of

Irenaeus says that the Gnostic Valentinus came to Rome in Hyginus's time, remaining there until Anicetus became pontiff ( Against Heresies, III, iii ).

Irenaeus, in Against Heresies 3. 1. 1, says " Matthew also published a gospel in writing among the Hebrews in their own language, while Peter & Paul were preaching the gospel and founding the church in Rome.

For example, Irenaeus dedicates an entire chapter in Against Heresies to the defense of Isaiah 7: 14, one of the chief prophecies used to validate Jesus as the Messiah.

Irenaeus of Lyons wrote in the late 2nd century that since there are four quarters of the earth ... it is fitting that the church should have four pillars ... the four Gospels ( Against Heresies, 3. 11. 8 ), and then shortly thereafter made the first known quotation from a fourth gospel — the canonical version of the Gospel of John.

The earliest and most vivid account of Carpocrates and his followers comes from Irenaeus ( died 202 ) in his Against Heresies including an account of the theology and practice of the sect.

* Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book i. xxv

And Irenaeus ( c. 184 ), in Against Heresies 3: 10. 6, explicitly cited Mark 16: 19, stating that he was quoting from near the end of Mark's account.

The group is mentioned by Irenaeus in Against Heresies ( I. 30 ).

Irenaeus opposed Gnosticism, including the teachings of Cerinthus, in Against Heresies.

Many of the writings of these Gnostics, and a large number of excerpts from the writings of Valentinus, existed only in quotes displayed by their orthodox detractors, until 1945, when the cache of writings at Nag Hammadi revealed a Coptic version of the Gospel of Truth, which is the title of a text that, according to Irenaeus, was the same as the Gospel of Valentinus mentioned by Tertullian in his Against All Heresies.