Some scholars, for example A. Rousseau and L. Doutreleau, translators of the French edition ( 1974 ), consider that Irenaeus sometimes uses gnostikos to simply mean " intellectual ", as in 1. 25. 6, 1. 11. 3, 1. 11. 5, whereas his mention of " the intellectual sect " ( Adv.

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.

According to Irenaeus, the Basilidians believed the God of the Jews was inferior to the 365 sets of Archons above him, as well as the powers, principalities, Dynamis and Sophia, Phronesis, Logos, Nûs, and finally the Unbegotten Father.

Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Hippolytus were among the greatest early Christian apologists who engaged in critical analyses of unorthodox theology, Greco-Roman pagan religions, and Gnostic groups.

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.

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.

Concepts foundational to covenant theology can be found in the writings of Church Fathers such as Irenaeus and Augustine.

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.

The theology that Irenaeus attributed to Valentinus is extremely complicated and difficult to follow.

Zizioulas worked on the theology of the person, appealing to the work of St Irenaeus and St Maximus the Confessor.

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 ; ;

Irenaeus also refers to a succession of presbyters who preserve the tradition " which originates from the apostles ".

Those who favour the later date appeal to the earliest external testimony, that of the Christian father Irenaeus ( c. 150-202 ), who wrote that he received his information from people who knew John personally.

Irenaeus drew a number of parallels, e. g. just as in the fall of Adam resulted from the fruit of a tree, Irenaeus saw redemption and salvation as the fruit of another tree: the cross of crucifixion.

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.

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.

Overall, Eusebius took stories from Acts, Justin, and Irenaeus to portray heretical teachers in order to gain an understanding of heresey and its roots.

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.

The English term " Gnosticism " derives from the use of the Greek adjective gnostikos (" learned ", " intellectual ", Greek γνωστικός ) by St. Irenaeus ( c. 185 AD ) to describe the school of Valentinus as he legomene gnostike haeresis " the heresy called Learned ( gnostic )".

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.

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.

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.

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.

During the persecution of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor from 161-180, Irenaeus was a priest of the Church of Lyons.

In Book III Irenaeus purports to show that these doctrines are false, by providing counter-evidence gleaned from the Gospels.

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.

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

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.

Irenaeus quotes Justin twice, and shows his influence in other places.

After Rufinus, Justin was known mainly from St Irenaeus and Eusebius or from spurious works.

Even earlier than this collection, it is referred to by Procopius of Gaza ( c. 465-528 ), and Methodius appeals to Justin in support of his interpretation of 1 Corinthians 15: 50 in a way which makes it natural to assume the existence of a treatise on the subject, to say nothing of other traces of a connection in thought both here, in Irenaeus ( V., ii .- xiii.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 ).

The epistle was included in Marcion's canon and the Muratorian fragment ; it was mentioned by name by Irenaeus, and quoted by Ignatius, Justin, and Polycarp.

Volume I. Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus

* Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Around 600, however, Sophronius of Jerusalem noted that " two epistles bearing his name ... are considered by some to be the work of a certain John the Elder " and, while stating that Revelation was written by John on Patmos, it was “ later translated by Justin Martyr and Irenaeus ”, presumably in an attempt to reconcile tradition with the obvious differences in Greek style.

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 ').

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

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.

" The apologists as Justin Martyr and Irenaeus began to claim that Greek culture pointed to and was consummated in the Christian message, just as the Old Testament was.

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