I R E 



305 



I R K 



P.: -hop of Lyons, is supposed to have 

 l>een a Greek by birth, and to have ne n bom near the 

 city of Si 'lit the middle of the second centu- 



ry. He acquired in his youth a competent acquaint- 

 ance with the philosophy and literature which were 

 then held in estimation in his native country ; and, at 

 an early age, was |>!ad under the instruction of Po- 

 -hop nf Sniyriu. who had been the disciple 

 o'f the Evanut li-t John. Nothing more is known of 

 the year 177, or, according toothers, 167, 

 when he is. found acting as presbyter of the church of 

 Lyons in France, under Pothinus, who was bishop of 

 that see. '1'he church at Lyons had been planted at 

 no % -e period, by missionaries from some of 



the Asiatic churches, and thus probably continued to 

 receive pastors from the same quarter, 'in 177, when 

 thr |:rr-i. v-uTi .11 of the Christians, under Marcus Au- 

 reliiii Antoninus, raged with great vinlrnce in France, 

 particularly in Lyons and Vienne, an epistle, contain- 

 ing an account of their sufferings, was written to the 

 churches in Asia, and i generally understood to have 

 been drawn up by Irenn-u*. Pothinus, the Mnop, ha- 

 ving sullen d martyrdom in this persecution, Ireiurus 

 was chosen as his accessor about the year 17f). In the 

 follu - the death of Aufelius alWdi-d a respite 



ristians, which continued with littlr int. 

 till the year 202, in the reign of Severus ; but (lur- 

 ing this period of external peace, the Christian < 

 was agftated by pestilent heresies of every description. 



u- appln with the utmost astidi; 



detect the DvachJmtion* and expose th error 

 rupters of the faith ; and to his unwearied exertions in 

 word and writing, it is principally ascribed that few of 

 these false systems, though afterwards revived, obtain. 



i his tine a permanent footing. Between Ui 

 180 and 192 he produced hi* celebrated trratisMgainit 

 heresies, which u the>Milv*s)ne of his wor 

 tan!.* It sufficiently proves him to have been a dili- 

 investigator and acute reasoner, at well as a faith- 

 ful < ough the greater 



pmrt of the tenet* which he opposes may appear to modern 

 readers too monstrous and absurd to have required a refu- 

 tation, yet the merit of hit labours cannot fairly be, esti- 

 mated by those who enjoy the advantages which flow from 

 m of true science and the general circulation 

 of the lacred Scripture*. About the year 196, when Vic- 

 tor, Buiiop of Koine, revived the dispute respecdbg the 

 e of Kastrr, and attempted, in a roost tmpe- 

 riou* manner, to impose the Koman practice upon the 

 rcbei, Irensrus cxertrd himself, by letters to 

 iier bishops, to allay the violence with 

 was agitated, and to maiMain the 

 ui ;;. of the i . . i v . ' I- 



had thus been abused by animosities ami 



pose, in 208, when he passed through Lyons in his ex- I'tatzk. 

 pedition to Britain. The other works of Irena'iis, men- """ "V" ' 

 tioned by Eusebius, were, a book ag.iinst the Gentiles 

 concerning knowledge ; a description of the Apostolic 

 preaching - v a book of tracts; a letter to Victor, Bishop 

 of Home, concerning F.aster, of which a fragment is 

 preserved by F.i ; letter to Blastus concerning 



schism; a l.uerto Ilorinus concerning the government 

 of one God, oMrhich some passages remain; a book 

 concerning the number eight, addressed to the same 

 Horinus, who had embraced the Valentinian here.-y. 

 See Mosheim's Church Histnry,vol. i.; Lardner's Worts, 

 vol. ii. ; Milner's Church History, vol. i. ; Christian Ob- 

 tcrver, vol. >'v. I Hit. Liter, vol. i. (9.) 



IRKUTZK is a Russian Government in Asia, partly 

 continental, partly insular, including the whole eastern 

 part of >ilK'ri.i. The former is bounded on the north 

 by the Icy Sea, on the east by the North Pacific Ocean, 

 on the south by the River Amur and Chinese Tartary, 

 on the west by the Governments of Tomsk, Tobolsk, and 

 Kolhyvane. The latter includes all the islands between 

 Cape Lopatka, the southern point of Knmtsciiatka, and 

 Cape Alaska on the shore of America ; and to the north, 

 all the lands hitherto discovered in the Frozen Ocean. 

 It stretches between 2500 and 3000 miles in a straight 

 line from the confines of Tobol-k t pe, mid is 



the most extensive of all the government* belonging to 

 this vast empire. 



N )' equal magnitude, seems to present less Climate, 



fjjpanit- of climate. Extreme cold and continued snows 

 flcvail ; the Northern .Va has obtained the name of the 

 Frozen Ocean, from being; navigable only for a short 

 distance from the coast ; and its islands arc attained 

 with greater facility by iournics over the ice than in 

 transport by shipping. In places about 20 degrees, or 

 14OO miles farther south, it is necessary in winter to 

 breathe through a handkerchief on leaving an apart- 

 ment; while a misty atmosphere, con-i-ting of hoar 

 frost, forms around the body. The not them lights are 

 ooi -t;int . ' i illianl ; they seem cl . \ i and : t!r. y 

 may be Beard to shoot along, and assume an amazing 

 variety of aspects, while the rude : the 



country believe than to be spirits contending in the 

 air. But in summer, though the heats <>t the -un be 

 short, they are Mi- intensity ; and, notwith- 



i- landing the rigour* of the climate, earthquakes are not 

 uncommon in some place*. 



Irkutsk is watered by many great rivers, of which Riven, 

 the largest arc, in general discharged into the Fro/en 

 Sen. Of these, the princip.-il arc the Lena, rising with- 

 in the government on the north, pursuing a course of 

 in 3450 miles, through 1560 of which it is 

 navigable; the Kohma, wtiich flows Ii!00 miles; and 

 the tributary atrran \ldacn, the two Anuis, 



ka, and Kirenka. To the south-east- 

 ern coast are the Anadyr, and the earlier course of the 

 Amur, which is received by the sea of Okhotzk, oppo- 

 site to the island or peninsula of Sughalien. '['he lake 

 Baikal is likewise within the precincts of this govern- 

 ment, and there are many medicinal springs. 



A great portion of the surface is occupied by vast Mountain.'. 

 ranges of mountains, sending out their subordinate 

 branch*:- in every direction. Some of the principal lines 

 terminate on the eastern shores, and seem to rear their 

 summits again in the Aleutian islands, until they reach 

 the American continent. The chief portions of the 



- tot hook only ii prt*t*rd In the orfflMl Rnttk, snd the rs*t (lists In s Latin version of very barbarous style, through 

 bich.'at<r<;c, ib: dequeue: ltd crudftioa W It* vcncrMc sutssK us iulfcicnlly apparent. 



".fABTI. 20 





the i 



>t among the Christian pastors^* as at length 

 'the thirtli 



cinnmg of the U.irrl century, by 

 under Septimus Severus ; which, though 

 cted against Alexandria, was severely 

 other parts of the empire, and especially at Lyons, 

 where the emperor is. supposed to have formerly go- 

 verned, when Puthinui was put to dealt). In this per- 

 secution, according to the testimony* of Gregory of 

 Tours, Ireiurus, alter suffering with magnanimous re- 

 solution various courses of torture, was finally put to 

 death, accord ng to win., writers, in the year r 

 the emperor first published his edict, or, a* other* 



