370 
IREN 
Antoninus, a little before the year 14.0, and died a martyr 
in 202. Tillemont thinks that he was born about the 
year no, and died in 202. He received a liberal educa¬ 
tion in the philofophy and learning - of the times, and was 
inftructed in the doctrines of the Chriftian religion by 
S.t. Polycai'p bithop of Smyrna, and St. John’s difciple, as 
he informs us himfelf; and St. Jerome lays that he was 
alfo. a pupil of Papias bifhop of Hierapolis, who had con- 
verfed with the Apoftles and their immediate followers. 
When he entered into the office of the Chriftian miniftry, 
and upon what occafion he came into Gaul, is unknown. 
All that can be affirmed with certainty is, that he went to 
Lyons, where for many years he officiated as prelbyter of 
that church under the government of Pothxnus its bilhop. 
In this fituation his labours proved highly advantageous 
to the Chriftian caufe, and his behaviour recommended him 
to general refpeft and efteem, as appears from the very 
honourable mention of him in a letter written by the 
martyrs of Lyons to Eleutherius bilhop of Rome. His 
pen appears to have been made ufe of in drawing up the 
judgment and opinion of the churches of Lyons and Vi¬ 
enne, on the 1 'ubjecl of the conlroverfy railed by Mon- 
tanus and his followers, which they lent to the churches 
in Alia ; and which were accompanied by letters written 
by feveral of the martyrs, then in prifon, on the fame fub- 
jei 5 b He is alfo believed to have written the account lent 
to the fame churches of the perfecution of the Chriftians 
under the emperor Marcus Antoninus, which raged at 
that time with peculiar violence in Gaul. According to 
the teftimony of St. Jerome, lie was perfuaded by the mar¬ 
tyrs to take a journey to Rome, to carry letters from them 
to Eleutherius, relating to the opinions of Montanus; and 
it is probable that while he was in that city he became 
acquainted with the particular opinions of Blaftus and 
Florinus, prelbyters of the church of Rome, who had em¬ 
braced the Valentinian herefy, and to whom he fent let¬ 
ters after his return home, as Eufebius informs us, in or¬ 
der to convince them of the erroneous and dangerous na¬ 
ture of the opinions which they had adopted. 
In the mean time many of the Chriftians at Lyons had 
become martyrs in the caufe of truth; and at length, in 
the year 177, their aged bilhop Pothinus was added to the 
lift. Upon his death Irenaeus was elefted bilhop in his 
room, and undertook that office in a troublefome and 
tempeftuous time, when the greateft courage and prudence 
were requilite for the difcharge of its duties. In the^go- 
vern’ment of his church, he afforded abundant evidence 
that he poffeffed thefe qualifications, as well as unwearied 
zeal and diligence. His cares, however, were not confined 
to his own particular church, but extended towards the 
Chriftian world in general, for whofe ufe he wrote his 
elaborate Treatife againft Herefies, in five books, which 
many learned men are of opinion were not publifhed all 
together, but at fome alliance of time from each other. 
Some of them were evidently compofed in the time of 
Eleutherius, under the reign of Commodus ; and they are 
juftly ranked among the molt precious monuments of 
Chriftian erudition. Not long afterwards, under the pon¬ 
tificate of Viftor, the lucceffor of Eleutherius, the pru¬ 
dence of Irenaeus prevented a fatal lehifm taking place 
between the eaftern and the weftern churches. The Afiatic 
Chriftians* according to their ancient cuftom, kept the 
feftival of Eafter on the fourteenth ^ay of the firft Jewilli 
month, at the time that the lews celebrated their Palfover, 
and three days afterwards commemorated the refurredtion 
of Clirift. They affirmed that, they had derived this cuf- 
tom from the apoftles John and Philip j and alfo pleaded 
in its behalf the example of Chrift himfelf, who held his 
pafchal fealt on the fame day that the jews celebrated 
their Palfover. The weftern churches, on the other hand, 
celebrated their pafchal feaft on the night which preceded 
the anniverfary of Chrift's refurredtion, and thus connected 
the commemoration of his crucifixion with that ol his 
victory over death and the grave. This difference in their 
M US. 
manner of obfervlhg Eafter gave rife to {harp and violent 
contentions between the Afiatic and Weftern Chriftians. 
About the middle of this century, Poly carp came to Rome 
to confer with Anicetus on this matter, with a view to 
terminate the diiputes which it had occafioned. The con¬ 
ference produced no effect, both prelates retaining their 
former opinions ; but at the fame time wifely agreeing 
in fentiment, that the bonds of charity and union were 
not to be broken on account of this difference in judg¬ 
ment. Soon after Victor’s accelfion to the Roman fee, he 
took it into his head to force the Afiatic Chriftians, by 
the pretended authority of his decrees, to follow the rule 
which was obferved by the weftern churches. According¬ 
ly, he wrote an imperious letter to the Afiatic prelates, 
commanding them to imitate the example of the Weftern 
Chriftians with refpedt to the time of celebrating Eafter. 
With great fpirit and refolution they lent an anlwer, that 
they were determined to adhere to the cuftom of their an- 
ceftors. . Exafperated at their oppofition to his mandate, 
Victor thundered out a fentence of excommunication 
againft them, broke off communion with them, pronounced 
them unworthy of the name of his brethren, and excluded 
them from all fellowlhip with the church of Rome. The 
progrefs of this violent diffenfion was Hopped by the wile 
and moderate remonftrances which Irenaeus addreffed to 
the Roman prelate upon this occafion, in which he fhowed 
him the imprudence and injuftice of the ftep he had taken, 
and appears to have been l’uccefsful in diffuading Vidtor 
from continuing his fpiritual war againft the Afiatics. 
During the reign of Commodus, the church of Lyons, 
in common with the other Chriftian churches, fuffered 
little moleftation; but the feene changed towards the lat¬ 
ter end of the fecond century, when Severus was declared 
emperor. He revived the iniquitous edidts of Trajan and 
Marcus Antoninus againft the Chriftians, to which he 
added new ones, equally diftinguilhed for injuftice and 
crueltyj in confequence of which all the provinces of the 
Roman empire were dyed with the blood of martyrs, and 
the perfecution raged with peculiar violence at Lyons, 
which had been formerly under the government of Seve¬ 
rus. It is the common opinion, founded on fome ancient 
martyrolcgies, that Irenaeus fuffered martyrdom-with the 
other Chriftians of that city, in the year 202, or accord¬ 
ing to others in 208 ; but, from the filence of TertuJlian, 
Eufebius, Auguftine, and Theodoret, on this point, it is 
juftly argued by Cave, Bafnage, and Dodwell, that there 
is no ground for that fuppofition. It is not improbable, 
therefore, that he died a natural death ; but at what pe¬ 
riod, as we have already obferved, cannot be afeertained 
with any certainty. He was the author of many works, 
of which none now remain excepting his five books Againlt 
Herefies; and of thefe only fragments have reached oar 
times in the original Greek, as preferved by Eufebius and 
other Greek writers, the greater part having been tranf- 
mitted to us in an ancient and barbarous Latin verfion, 
in which, however, it is not difficult to form a judgment 
of the eloquence and erudition of the original. In this 
work I rente us has Ihown himfelf well acquainted with the 
heathen authors, the abfurd and intricate notions of here¬ 
tics, as well as with the fenptures of the Old and New 
Teftament. With the qualifications already mentioned, 
which entitled him to tfie refpedt and veneration of his 
age, he was diftinguilhed by humility, modefty, and a love 
of peace and Chriftian union ; and notwithftanding that 
his writings may not be free from imperfections, and ex¬ 
ceptionable parts, they afford fuch proofs of the author’s 
learning, integrity, and good fenfe, that it is but juftice 
to affign him a very exalted ftation among the early orna¬ 
ments of the Chriftian caufe. In the year j 7 1 5, the learned 
Dr. Pfaff, chancellor of the imiverfity of Tubingen, pub- 
lilhed at the Hague, in odtavo, four fragments which bear 
the name of Irenaeus, taken from fome manuferipts in the 
king of Sardinia’s library at Turin; but there is.no fuffi- 
cient evidence of their genuinenefs. 
This 
