Editing Irenaeus (section)

==Apostolic authority==
[[File:Nuremberg_chronicles_f_116r_1.png|thumb|150px|Irenaeus in the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'']]

In his writing against the Gnostics, who claimed to possess a secret oral tradition from Jesus himself, Irenaeus claimed that the bishops in different cities are known as far back as the Apostles and that the oral tradition he lists from the Apostles is a safe guide to the interpretation of Scripture.{{efn|name=AH.IV26}} In a passage that became a ''[[locus classicus]]'' of Catholic-Protestant polemics, he cited the Roman church as an example of the unbroken chain of authority, which text Catholic polemics would use to assert the primacy of Rome over Eastern churches by virtue of its preeminent authority.{{sfn|Wingren|n.d.}}{{efn|name=AH.III3a}} The succession of bishops and presbyters was important to establish a chain of custody for orthodoxy.

Irenaeus's point when refuting the Gnostics was that all of the Apostolic churches had preserved the same traditions and teachings in many independent streams. It was the unanimous agreement between these many independent streams of transmission that proved the orthodox faith, current in those churches, to be true.{{sfn|Irenaeus|1885|loc=[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103433.htm Book IV, Chapter 33, Section 8]}}{{primary source inline|date=September 2022}}