There are some passages in the writings of Irenaeus where the image of God and the similitude are sharply distinguished, so most notably in the statement: `` If the ( Holy ) Spirit is absent from the soul, such a man is indeed of an animal nature ; ;

There is no justification for systematizing the random statements of Irenaeus about the image of God beyond this, nor for reading into his imprecise usage the later theological distinction between the image of God ( humanity ) and the similitude of God ( immortality ).

It is probably fair to say that the idea of death is more profound in Irenaeus than the idea of sin is.

In the system described by Irenaeus, " the Unbegotten Father " is the progenitor of Nous, and from Nous Logos, from Logos Phronesis, from Phronesis Sophia and Dynamis, from Sophia and Dynamis principalities, powers, and angels, the last of whom create " the first heaven.

By a probably euphonic inversion the translator of Irenaeus and the other Latin authors have Abraxas, which is found in the magical papyri, and even, though most sparingly, on engraved stones.

The earlier date, first proposed in modern times by John Robinson in a closely argued chapter of " Redating the New Testament " ( 1976 ), relies on the book's internal evidence, given that no external testimony exists earlier than that of Irenaeus, noted above, and the earliest extant manuscript evidence of Revelation ( P98 ) is likewise dated no earlier than the late 2nd century.

For Irenaeus the imitation of Christ is based on God's plan of salvation, which involved Christ as the second Adam.

So Irenaeus tells of the system of Simon Magus, of the system of Menander, of the system of Saturninus, in which the number of these angels is reckoned as seven, and of the system of Carpocrates.

It is in the system of Valentinus that the name Dēmiourgos is used, which occurs nowhere in Irenaeus except in connection with the Valentinian system ; we may reasonably conclude that it was Valentinus who adopted from Platonism the use of this word.

In refuting the beliefs of the gnostics, Irenaeus stated that " Plato is proved to be more religious than these men, for he allowed that the same God was both just and good, having power over all things, and himself executing judgment.

However, many modern scholars disagree with Irenaeus, holding that while little is known of the circumstances of the church's founding, it was not founded by Paul.

Gnosticism ( from gnostikos, " learned ", from gnōsis, knowledge ) is a modern scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices found among some early Christian and non-Christian groups called " gnostic " (" knowing ") by Irenaeus and other early Christian leaders.

This occurs in the context of Irenaeus ' work On the Detection and Overthrow of Knowledge Falsely So Called, ( Greek: elenchos kai anatrope tes pseudonymou gnoseos genitive case, ἔλεγχος καὶ ἀνατροπὴ τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως ) where the term " knowledge falsely so-called " ( nominative case pseudonymos gnosis ) covers various groups, not just Valentinus, and is a quotation of the apostle Paul's warning against " knowledge falsely so-called " in 1 Timothy 6: 20.

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.

In a response to the Gnostic teaching, Irenaeus created the first document describing what is now called apostolic succession.

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.

Irenaeus is the earliest witness to recognition of the canonical character of all four gospels.

Irenaeus is recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Irenaeus was born during the first half of the 2nd 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 İzmir, Turkey.

( c. 4 ), who likewise follows Hippolytus's Compendium, adds some further particulars ; that ' Abraxas ' gave birth to Mind ( nous ), the first in the series of primary powers enumerated likewise by Irenaeus and Epiphanius ; that the world, as well as the 365 heavens, was created in honour of ' Abraxas ;' and that Christ was sent not by the Maker of the world but by ' Abraxas.

It was first used by Irenaeus late in the 2nd century.

Irenaeus, who first used " gnostic " to describe heresies

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

Irenaeus is also known as one of the first theologians to use the principle of apostolic succession to refute his opponents.

Irenaeus is the first of the church fathers to consider the mystic number 666.

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.

In the 3rd century, Origen of Alexandria was the first ancient writer to have a comprehensive reference to Josephus, although some other authors had made smaller, general references to Josephus before then, e. g. Justin Martyr and Irenaeus in the second century, followed by Clement.

The concept of original sin was first alluded to in the 2nd century by Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons in his controversy ( written in Greek ) with the dualist Gnostics.

The doctrine of original sin was first developed in the 2nd-century Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons's struggle against Gnosticism.

Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peter's presence in the early Roman Church.

" The Oxford Dictionary of Popes interprets Irenaeus as saying that Linus was the first bishop of Rome.

Cletus is given as Linus's successor by Irenaeus and the others cited above who present Linus either as the first bishop of Rome or, if they give Peter as the first, as the second.

" It notes that, " when the first direct evidence of infant Baptism appears in the second century, it is never presented as an innovation ," that 2nd-century Irenaeus treated baptism of infants as a matter of course, and that, " at a Synod of African Bishops, St. Cyprian stated that ' God's mercy and grace should not be refused to anyone born ', and the Synod, recalling that'all human beings ' are ' equal ', whatever be ' their size or age ', declared it lawful to baptize children ' by the second or third day after their birth '.

The sole surviving work attributed to his authorship is his Letter to the Philippians ; it is first recorded by Irenaeus of Lyons.

Justin and Irenaeus are the first to recount the myth of Simon and Helen, which became the center of Simonian doctrine.

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

The central point of Irenaeus ' theology is the unity and the goodness of God, in opposition to the Gnostics ' division of God into a number of divine " Aeons ", and their distinction between the utterly transcendent " High God " and the inferior " Demiurge " who created the world.

Although it is sometimes claimed that Irenaeus believed Christ did not die until he was older than is conventionally portrayed, the bishop of Lyons simply pointed out that because Jesus turned the permissible age for becoming a rabbi ( 30 years old and above ), he recapitulated and sanctified the period between 30 and 50 years old, as per the Jewish custom of periodization of human life, and so touches the beginning of old age when one becomes 50 years old.

Irenaeus shows the close relationship between the predicted events of Daniel 2 and 7.

In common with many of the fathers, Irenaeus did not distinguish between the new earth re-created in its eternal state — the thousand years of Revelation 20 — when the saints are with Christ after His second advent, and the Jewish traditions of the Messianic kingdom.

For between Nero and Domitian there is no mention of any persecution of the Roman Church ; and Irenaeus ( 1. c., III, iv, 3 ) from among the early Roman bishops designates only Telesphorus as a glorious martyr.

According to Irenaeus, during the time his fellow Syrian, Anicetus, was Bishop of Rome, in the 150s or 160, Polycarp visited Rome to discuss the differences that existed between Asia and Rome " with regard to certain things " and especially about the time of the Easter festivals.

In his work, Hick identified and distinguished between two types of philosophy: Augustinian, which had dominated Western Christianity for many centuries, and Irenaean, which was developed by the Eastern Church Father Irenaeus, a version of which Hick subscribed to himself.

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.

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 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.

Though there are several inconsistencies between the records of St Augustine, Irenaeus, and St Jerome, St Jerome is generally credited with assigning the tetramorphs to each of the Evangelists.

Gnosticism and the New Testament is the connection between the Christian sects described by Irenaeus ( c. 180 ), and other writers, as gnostikos, and the New Testament, and also the use of the New Testament in the Nag Hammadi texts ( c. 300-400 ).