Pauline authorship was held to by many of the early church's prominent theologians, such as Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen of Alexandria and Eusebius.

The Church Fathers, witnessed by the Muratorian Canon, Irenaeus ( c. 170 ), Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian, held that the Gospel of Luke was written by Luke.

Notable early Fathers include Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen of Alexandria.

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.

Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Tertullian held the letters of Paul to be on par with the Hebrew scriptures as being divinely inspired, yet others rejected him.

Examples of the Western text are found in Codex Bezae, Codex Claromontanus, Codex Washingtonianus, the Old Latin ( i. e., Latin translations made prior to the Vulgate ), as well as in quotations by Marcion, Tatian, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Cyprian.

It is recorded by Irenaeus, who heard him speak in his youth, and by Tertullian, that he had been a disciple of John the Apostle.

" Similarly, Irenaeus wrote that the Christian " will not be commanded to leave idle one day of rest, who is constantly keeping sabbath ", and Tertullian argued " that we still more ought to observe a sabbath from all servile work always, and not only every seventh-day, but through all time ".

Joseph is referenced in apocryphal and non-canonical accounts such as the Acts of Pilate, a text often appended to the medieval Gospel of Nicodemus and The Narrative of Joseph, and mentioned in the works of early church historians such as Irenaeus ( 125 – 189 ), Hippolytus ( 170 – 236 ), Tertullian ( 155 – 222 ) and Eusebius ( 260 – 340 ), who added details not found in the canonical accounts.

It is the term given to the predominant form of the New Testament text witnessed in the Old Latin translation from the Greek ; and also in quotations from certain 2nd and 3rd-century Christian writers, including Cyprian, Tertullian and Irenaeus.

Carpocrates is also mentioned by Tertullian and Hippolytus, both of whom seem to rely on Irenaeus ; and also perhaps by Origen and Hegesippus.

The early apologists, including Justin Martyr, Tertullian and Irenaeus, frequently discussed the parallels and contrasts between Christianity, Paganism and other syncretic religions, and answered charges of borrowing from paganism in their apologetical writings.

Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian all made explicit references to the concept of a thousand year earthly kingdom at Christ ’ s coming.

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.

Tertullian, Irenaeus, Hippolytus of Rome, Epiphanius, and Jerome ascribed the movement to a heretic named Ebion or Hebion ( Tertullian The Prescription Against Heretics 33, On the Flesh of Christ 14. 18 .; Irenaeus Against Heretics 5. 1. 3 .; Hippolytus of Rome Refutation of All Heresies 7. 23.

The Shepherd of Hermas ( 2nd century ) was popular in the early church and even considered scriptural by some of the early Church fathers, such as Irenaeus and Tertullian.

Within the Pauline tradition, but after the time of the Apostolic Fathers proper, some authors addressed their works to people beyond the Christian community and defended the Christian religion against paganism, including Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian.

They were mentioned by Tertullian and Irenaeus as existing in the eastern Roman Empire during the 2nd century.

There was no full consensus on the doctrine of perpetual virginity within the early Church by the end of the second century, e. g. Tertullian ( c. 160 – c. 225 ) did not teach the doctrine ( although he taught virgin birth ), but Irenaeus ( c. 130 – c. 202 ) taught perpetual virginity, along with other Marian themes.

Irenaeus and Tertullian argued against Marcionism's elevation of Paul and stated that Peter and Paul were equals among the apostles.

For example, Irenaeus, wrote of second century believers with the gift of prophecy, while Tertullian, writing of the church meetings of the Montanists ( to whom he belonged ), described in detail the practice of prophecy in the second century church.

69, 73 f .) appears to follow partly Irenaeus, partly the lost Compendium of Hippolytus.

The Latin translation, confirmed by Hippolytus, makes Irenaeus state that according to Cerinthus ( who shows Ebionite influence ), creation was made by a power quite separate from the Supreme God and ignorant of Him.

This positive use carried over from Hellenic philosophy into Greek Orthodoxy as a critical characteristic of ascetic practices, through St. Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Hippolytus of Rome, Hegesippus, and Origen.

The works of Hippolytus of Rome and Irenaeus greatly influenced Jerome's interpretation of prophecy.

Many early Christian writers from the 2nd century, such as pseudo-Barnabas, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr and Hippolytus of Rome followed rabbinic Judaism ( the Mishna ) in interpreting Sabbath not as a literal day of rest, but as a thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ, which would follow six millennia of world history.

Surviving traditions about Simon appear in anti-heretical texts, such as those of Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius, where he is often regarded as the source of all heresies.

Some believe that Hippolytus ' account is of a later, more developed form of Simonianism, and that the original doctrines of the group were simpler, close to the account given by Justin Martyr and Irenaeus ( this account however is also included in Hippolytus ' work ).

Hippolytus says the free love doctrine was held by them in its purest form, and speaks in language similar to that of Irenaeus about the variety of magic arts practiced by the Simonians, and also of their having images of Simon and Helen under the forms of Zeus and Athena.

The section of Hippolytus appears to have given a condensed account of the mythological story told by Irenaeus.

The great difference between the earlier and the later treatise of Hippolytus is that the former was a mere compilation, his account of the opinions of heresies being in the main derived from the lectures of Irenaeus ; but at the time of writing the latter, he had himself read several heretical writings, of which he gives an extract in his treatise.

Possibly Hippolytus restricted the name Ophites to the sect described by Irenaeus, which has very little in common with that which he calls Naassenes.

One there is good: the Father in the heavens ) Diatessaron < sup > mss </ sup > Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Hippolytus

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.

According to Hippolytus, Basilides was apparently a pantheistic evolutionist ; and according to Irenaeus, a dualist and an emanationist.

The beginnings of a devotion toward the love of God as symbolized by the heart of Jesus are found even in the fathers of the Church, including Origen, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine of Hippo, Hippolytus of Rome, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr and Cyprian, who used in this regard John 7: 37-39 and John 19: 33-37.

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.

According to Hippolytus, Basilides was apparently a pantheistic evolutionist ; and according to Irenaeus, a dualist and an emanationist.

Irenaeus does not regard Adam and Eve merely as private individuals, but as universal human beings, who were and are all of humanity.

Because he interprets the primitive state of man as one of mere potentiality or capacity and believes that Adam and Eve were created as children, Irenaeus often seems inclined to extenuate their disobedience as being `` due, no doubt, to carelessness, but still wicked ''.

The papal legates refused to attend the second session at which several more orthodox bishops were deposed, including Ibas of Edessa, Irenaeus of Tyre ( a close personal friend of Nestorius ), Domnus of Antioch, and Theodoret.

During the early formation of Christianity, church authorities ( Fathers of the Church ) exerted considerable amounts of energy attempting to weed out what were considered to be false doctrines ( e. g. Irenaeus ' On the Detection and Overthrow of False Gnosis ).

Irenaeus ' works were first translated into English by John Keble and published in 1872 as part of the Library of the Fathers series.

Irenaeus asserted that four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were canonical scripture.

In his writing against the Gnostics, who claimed to possess 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 were Gnostic — and that the bishops provided the only safe guide to the interpretation of Scripture.

Irenaeus held to the old Jewish tradition that the first six days of creation week were typical of the first six thousand years of human history, with Antichrist manifesting himself in the sixth period.

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 ".

In Rome there were many who claimed to be the rightful bishop though again Irenaeus stressed the validity of one line of bishops from the time of St. Peter up to his contemporary Pope Victor I and listed them.

Irenaeus, wrote of 2nd century believers with the gift of prophecy, while Justin Martyr argued in his Dialogue with Trypho that prophets were not found among the Jews in his time, but that the church had prophets.

Irenaeus argued that human creation comprised two parts: humans were made first in the image, then in the likeness, of God.

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.

These public speeches were transcribed by Mark the Evangelist into Mark ’ s gospel and distributed immediately thereafter, as recorded by the early church father Irenaeus.

Saul of Tarsus, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and others often defended Christianity against charges that were brought to justify persecution.

In the Post-apostolic Age, he claims that Hermas, Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Polycrates and Ignatius, who lived between 90 and 140 A. D., and Irenaeus, who died about 200 A. D, were either Oneness, modalist, or at most a follower of an " economic Trinity ", that is, a temporary Trinity and not an eternal one.

The case was remitted to the East, and by an imperial commission, dated October 26, 448, Uranius of Himeria, Photius of Tyre, who was elected September 9, 448, on the deposition of Irenaeus, and Eustathius of Beirut were deputed to hear it, and Damascius, the tribune and secretary of state, was dispatched as imperial commissioner.

Of the mid-2nd century thinkers and preachers who were declared heretical by Irenaeus and later mainstream Christians, only Marcion of Sinope is as outstanding as a personality.

Irenaeus believed Matthew issued a written Gospel of the Hebrews in their own language while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome and laying the foundations of the Church ( Against Heresies 3: 1 ).

Against this view, Irenaeus of Lyons's Against Heresies 3. 12 section 12 ridiculed those who think they are wiser than the Apostles because they were still under Jewish influence.

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 ).