Editing Irenaeus (section)

==Writings==
Irenaeus wrote a number of books, but the most important that survives is the ''[[Against Heresies (Irenaeus)|Against Heresies]]'' (or, in its [[Latin language|Latin]] title, ''Adversus haereses''). In Book I, Irenaeus talks about the Valentinian Gnostics and their predecessors, who he says go as far back as the magician [[Simon Magus]]. In Book II he attempts to provide proof that [[Valentinianism]] contains no merit in terms of its doctrines. In Book III, Irenaeus attempts to show that these doctrines are false, by providing counter-evidence gleaned from the [[Gospel]]s. Book IV consists of Jesus's sayings, and here Irenaeus also stresses the unity of the Old Testament and the Gospel. In the final volume, Book V, Irenaeus focuses on more sayings of Jesus plus the letters of [[Paul the Apostle]].{{sfn|Grant|2006|p=6}}

Irenaeus wrote: "One should not seek among others the truth that can be easily gotten from the Church. For in her, as in a rich treasury, the apostles have placed all that pertains to truth, so that everyone can drink this beverage of life. She is the door of life."{{sfn|Irenaeus|1885|loc=[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103304.htm Book III, Chapter 4]}}<ref name=orthodoxchurchquotes /> But he also said, "Christ came not only for those who believed from the time of Tiberius Caesar, nor did the Father provide only for those who are now, but for absolutely all men from the beginning, who, according to their ability, feared and loved God and lived justly. . . and desired to see Christ and to hear His voice."{{sfn|Most|1991|p=76}}

[[File:POxy405.jpg|thumb|right|Cambridge University library manuscript 4113 / Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 405. Irenaeus. {{Circa|200 AD|lk=no}}.]]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's 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''. Irenaeus argued that the true gnosis is in fact knowledge of Christ, which redeems rather than escapes from bodily existence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Olson |first1=Roger E. |title=The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform |date=1999 |publisher=IVP Academic |location=Downers Grove, Ill. |isbn=0-8308-1505-8 |page=75 et seq}}</ref>

Until the discovery of the [[Nag Hammadi library|Library of Nag Hammadi]] in 1945, ''Against Heresies'' was the best-surviving description of Gnosticism. Some religious scholars have argued the findings at Nag Hammadi have shown Irenaeus's description of Gnosticism to be inaccurate and polemic in nature.{{sfn|Pagels|2005|p=54}} However, the general consensus among modern scholars is that Irenaeus was fairly accurate in his transmission of gnostic beliefs, and that the Nag Hammadi texts have raised no substantial challenges to the overall accuracy of Irenaeus's information.{{sfn|Hartog|2015|pp=199, 200}} Religious historian [[Elaine Pagels]] criticizes Irenaeus for describing Gnostic groups as sexual libertines, for example, when some of their own writings advocated chastity more strongly than did orthodox texts.{{sfn|Pagels|1979|p=90}} However, the Nag Hammadi texts do not present a single, coherent picture of any unified gnostic system of belief, but rather divergent beliefs of multiple Gnostic sects.{{sfn|Ehrman|2005|p=122}} Some of these sects were indeed libertine because they considered bodily existence meaningless; others praised chastity, and strongly prohibited any sexual activity, even within marriage.{{sfn|Stark|2007|loc=Ch. 6}}

Irenaeus also wrote ''[https://www.ccel.org/ccel/irenaeus/demonstr.preaching_the_demonstration_of_the_apostolic_preaching.html The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching]'' (also known as ''Proof of the Apostolic Preaching''), an [[Armenian language|Armenian]] copy of which was discovered in 1904. This work seems to have been an instruction for recent Christian converts.{{sfn|Davis|2010}}{{efn|name=Harnack}}

Eusebius attests to other works by Irenaeus, today lost, including ''On the Ogdoad,'' an untitled letter to Blastus regarding schism, ''On the Subject of Knowledge'', ''On the Monarchy'' or ''How God is not the Cause of Evil'', ''On Easter''.{{sfn|Poncelet |1910}}{{sfn|Tixeront|1920|loc=Section IV}}{{sfn|Eusebius|1890|loc=[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm Book V Chapter 20, Section 1]}}{{sfn|Irenaeus|1885a}}

Irenaeus exercised wide influence on the generation which followed. Both [[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]] and [[Tertullian]] freely drew on his writings. However, none of his works aside from ''Against Heresies'' and ''The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching'' survive today, perhaps because his literal hope of an earthly [[Chiliasm|millennium]] may have made him uncongenial reading in the [[Greek East]].{{sfn|Chadwick|1993|p=83}} Even though no complete version of ''Against Heresies'' in its original Greek exists, we possess the full ancient Latin version, probably of the third century, as well as thirty-three fragments of a Syrian version and a complete Armenian version of books 4 and 5.{{sfn|Norris|2004|p=47}}

[[Evelyn Underhill]] in her book Mysticism credited Irenaeus as being one of those to whom we owe "the preservation of that mighty system of scaffolding which enabled the Catholic mystics to build up the towers and bulwarks of the City of God."<ref>Mysticism. Pub by E.P.Dutton and Co.Inc. https://archive.org/details/mysticism00evel/page/104/mode/1up</ref>

Irenaeus's works were first translated into English by [[John Keble]] and published in 1872 as part of the [[Library of the Fathers]] series.