Editing Irenaeus (section)

==Biography==
[[File:Saint irenee saint irenee.jpg|thumb|right|Irenaeus, in Church of St Irenaeus, Lyon]]Irenaeus was a Greek from [[Polycarp]]'s hometown of [[Smyrna]] in [[Asia Minor]], now [[İzmir]], Turkey, born during the first half of the 2nd century. The exact date is thought to be between the years 120 and 130.{{sfn|Wingren|n.d.}}{{efn|name=AH.III3}} Unlike many of his contemporaries, he was brought up in a Christian family rather than converting as an adult.

During a local persecution of Christians around Lyon duiring the reign of [[Marcus Aurelius]], the [[Roman emperor]] from 161 to 180, Irenaeus was a priest of the Church of Lyon. The clergy of that city, many of whom were suffering imprisonment for the faith, sent him to Rome in 177 with a letter to [[Pope Eleutherius]] concerning the heresy of [[Montanism]],{{sfn|Poncelet |1910}} and that occasion bore emphatic testimony to his merits. While Irenaeus was in Rome, the Lyon persecution took place. Returning to Gaul, Irenaeus succeeded the [[martyr]] [[Saint Pothinus]] and became the second [[bishop of Lyon]].{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 4, Section 1]}}

During the religious peace which followed the Lyon persecution, the new bishop divided his activities between the duties of a pastor and of a missionary (as to which we have but brief data, late and not very certain). Almost all his writings were directed against Gnosticism. The most famous of these writings is ''On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis'', usually known by the abbreviated title ''Against Heresies'' ([[Against Heresies (Irenaeus)|''Adversus haereses'']]). Irenaeus alludes to coming across Gnostic writings, and holding conversations with Gnostics, and this may have taken place in Asia Minor or in Rome.{{sfn|Irenaeus|1885|loc=[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103102.htm Book I, Chapter 2]}}{{sfn|Irenaeus|1885|loc=[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103402.htm Book IV, Chapter 2]}} However, it also appears that Gnosticism was present near Lyon: he writes that there were followers of '[[Marcus (Marcosian)|Marcus the Magician]]' living and teaching in the [[Rhone valley]].{{sfn|Irenaeus|1885|loc=[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103113.htm Book I, Chapter 13, Section 7]}}

Little is known about the career of Irenaeus after he became bishop. The last action reported of him (by Eusebius, 150 years later) is that in 190 or 191, he exerted influence on [[Pope Victor I]] not to excommunicate the Christian communities of Asia Minor which persevered in the practice of the [[Quartodeciman]] celebration of [[Easter]].{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 24, Section 1ff]}}

Nothing is known of the date of his death, which must have occurred at the end of the second or the beginning of the third century. He is regarded as a martyr by the Catholic Church and by some within the Orthodox Church.{{efn|name=Gregory}} He was buried under the [[Saint Irenaeus Church, Lyon|Church of Saint John]] in Lyon, which was later renamed St Irenaeus in his honour. The church was devastated in 1562 by the [[Huguenots]]. Several relics supposedly of Irenaeus are held in various churches in Lyon. Two crania from different churches were dated by [[carbon-14]] to the Middle Ages, but a piece of [[heelbone]] kept in the [[Lyon Cathedral]] is from the right time period.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alain Stevanovitch |title=L'identification individuelle à partir d'ADN et d'ossements : les dessous du travail de la police scientifique |journal=Corps |date=2019 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=199–207 |doi=10.3917/corp1.017.0199 |url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-corps-2019-1-page-199.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Hervé Gattegnno |title=La Revue de Presse |url=https://www.radioclassique.fr/podcasts-et-emissions/revue-de-presse/ |website=Radio Classique |date=Jun 4, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Christophe Cornevin |title=D-Day : dans les coulisses du labo de criminalistique qui identifie les héros oubliés de la guerre |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/d-day-dans-les-coulisses-du-labo-criminel-qui-identifie-les-heros-oublies-de-la-guerre-20240601 |date=Jun 1, 2024|work=Le Figaro}}</ref>