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.

However, Count Candidian and his troops supported Nestorius as did Count Irenaeus.

This emphasis upon death rather than sin as man's fundamental problem Irenaeus shares with many early theologians, especially the Greek-speaking ones.

The fact that the name occurs on these gems in connection with representations of figures with the head of a cock, a lion, or an ass, and the tail of a serpent was formerly taken in the light of what Irenaeus says about the followers of Basilides:

In the 2nd century, with his theory of " recapitulation ", Saint Irenaeus connected " Christ the Creator " with " Christ the Savior ", relying on (" when the times reach their fulfillment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ ") to gather together and wrap up the cycle of the Nativity and Resurrection of Christ.

Theodoret, who here copies Irenaeus, turns this into the plural number “ powers ,” and so Epiphanius represents Cerinthus as agreeing with Carpocrates in the doctrine that the world was made by angels.

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.

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.

The use of gnostikos in relation to heresy originates with interpreters of Irenaeus.

However, the earlier references by Eusebius and Irenaeus indicate veneration of images and reported miracles associated with them as early as the 2nd century.

Irenaeus is the first to draw comparisons between Eve and Mary, contrasting the faithlessness of the former with the faithfulness of the latter.

Irenaeus also writes that " The Elders witness to this, who in Asia conferred with John the Lord's disciple, to the effect that John had delivered these things unto them: for he abode with them until the times of Trajan.

In Demonstration ( 74 ) Irenaeus reinforced his view that Jesus was at least 45 with the statement " For Herod the king of the Jews and Pontius Pilate, the governor of Claudius Caesar, came together and condemned Him to be crucified.

In his criticism of Gnosticism, Irenaeus made reference to a Gnostic gospel which portrayed Judas in a positive light, as having acted in accordance with Jesus ' instructions.

Irenaeus climaxes with the destruction of all kingdoms at the Second Advent, when Christ, the prophesied " stone ," cut out of the mountain without hands, smites the image after Rome ’ s division.

Irenaeus identified the Antichrist, another name of the apostate Man of Sin, with Daniel's Little Horn and John's Beast of Revelation 13.

Irenaeus declares that the Antichrist's future three-and-a-half-year reign, when he sits in the temple at Jerusalem, will be terminated by the second advent, with the resurrection of the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the millennial reign of the righteous.

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 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.

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.

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.

Irenaeus contrasted their doctrine with the view that the Fall was a step in the wrong direction by Adam, with whom, Irenaeus believed, his descendants had some solidarity or identity.

Several of the early church fathers, including Irenaeus, Epiphanius, and Theodoret mentioned this group.

In 447 AD he consecrated Irenaeus to the see of Tyre ( Theodoret, Epistle 110 ); but emperor Theodosius II, commanded that the appointment should be annulled on the grounds that Irenaeus was both a digamus and a supporter of Nestorianism.

Although, following Theodoret, we have given the name Ophite to the system described by Irenaeus, it will have been seen that not only does the doctrine concerning the serpent form a very subordinate part of the system, but also that the place it assigns the serpent is very different from that given it by those whom we count as properly to be called Ophites.

Theodoret ( H. F. f. 13 ) merely paraphrases Irenaeus, with a few words from Epiphanius.

Returning to Gaul, Irenaeus succeeded the martyr Saint Pothinus and became the second Bishop of Lyons.

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

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

* In the second century, Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons ( about 130 — 200 ), arguably the most important Christian theologian of his time, said that God " became what we are in order to make us what he is himself.

" Irenaeus further stated as follows, " If the Word became a man, It was so men may become gods.

* In the second century, Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons ( about 130 — 200 ), arguably the most important Christian theologian of his time, said that God " became what we are in order to make us what he is himself.

" Irenaeus further stated as follows, " If the Word became a man, It was so men may become gods.

Taught by Polycarp, who had been instructed by John the apostle, Irenaeus became bishop of Lyons in 178 CE.

Victor's attempted excommunication was apparently rescinded and the two sides reconciled upon the intervention of bishop Irenaeus and others, who reminded Victor of the tolerant precedent of Anicetus.

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.

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.

" 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.

Irenaeus also reports that Polycarp was converted to Christianity by apostles, was consecrated a bishop, and communicated with many who had seen Jesus.

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

* Irenaeus, Christian bishop and apologist

Before his death, Nundinarius, Bishop of Barcelona, expressed a wish that Irenaeus might be chosen his successor, and he himself had made Irenaeus bishop of another See.

It was in this year that some Huguenots destroyed the tomb and remains of Saint Irenaeus ( d. 202 ), an early Church father and bishop who was a disciple of Polycarp.

This man, said in one document to be the author of two of the Epistles of John, was supposed to have been the teacher of the martyr bishop Papias, who had in turn taught Eusebius ' own teacher Irenaeus.

Irenaeus, the late 2nd century bishop of Lyon was an outspoken premillennialist.

The Orthodox East contests the teaching that Peter was the Patriarch of Rome as St. Irenaeus says that Pope Linus was the first bishop of Rome and Pope Cletus the second.

Irenaeus wrote that " Polycarp also was not only instructed by the apostles, and conversed with many who had seen the Lord, but was also appointed bishop by apostles in Asia and in the church in Smyrna " and that he himself had, as a boy, listened to " the accounts which ( Polycarp ) gave of his intercourse with John and with the others who had seen the Lord ".

The first written records of Christians in France date from the 2nd century when Irenaeus detailed the deaths of ninety-year old bishop Pothinus of Lugdunum ( Lyon ) and other martyrs of the 177 persecution in Lyon.

Irenaeus, who followed the Sunday custom, admitted that bishop Polycarp ( a disciple of John the Apostle ) of Smyrna ( c. 69-c. 155 ) in Asia Minor, one of the Seven churches of Asia, was Quartodeciman, celebrating on Nisan 14.

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, wrote in the latter half of the 2nd century that the Ebionites rejected Paul as an apostate from the law, using only a version of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, known as the Gospel of the Ebionites.

In the 2nd century, Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, may have referred to it.

For the same faith is held and handed down by the churches established in the German states, the Spains, among the Celtic tribes, in the East, in Libya, and in the central portions of the world …" In Book 3, Irenaeus continues his defense of the unity of the church around the bishop, writing, " By pointing out the apostolic tradition and faith announced to mankind, which has been brought down to our time by successions of bishops, in the greatest, most ancient, and well known church, founded and established by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, at Rome, we can confound all who in any other way … gather more than they ought.