February 27, 2022 - "More About Saint Irenaeus, Doctor of the Church"

Last week I wrote a column introducing our most recent Doctor of the Church:  St. Irenaeus of Lyon.  This week I want to write about what he taught and why he is still significant.  Some Doctors of the Church (like St. Augustine) left us with a massive library of works.  Others (like St. Thérèse of Lisieux) had a more limited input.  In the case of St. Irenaeus, aside from a few letters, most of what survives from his teachings are a collection of books entitled Against Heresies, written around 180. 
 
Irenaeus is now the first Doctor of the Church to have lived and taught before the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325).  His served as a Bishop more than a century before this first Ecumenical Council.  Irenaeus was a good pastor and was well aware of the struggles and difficulties of his flock.  He sought to address the problems and issues of his day.  Irenaeus was also very concerned about Church unity.  This meant that he was very concerned to ensure that the faith of the Apostles was handed on intact and authentically.
 
Irenaeus saw various threats to the integrity of the Faith emerging.  During his time as Bishop of Lyon and certainly in his own ministry, the Church began to articulate the differences between orthodoxy and heresy. Irenaeus and other bishops of his time were aware that the age of the apostles was giving way to a new generation of leaders tasked to carry on the apostolic ministry.  He understood the need to counteract the teaching of other leaders who promoted thoughts and ideas that posed a threat to the teaching handed on by the apostles.
Irenaeus’ adversaries, for the most part, are collectively known as Gnostics—people who believed that salvation came though obtaining knowledge that existed outside revelation or may have even contradicted revelation.  Gnostics claimed that faith relies not on objectivity but subjectivity where truth does not have ultimate authority in one’s life or in matters pertaining to salvation. 
 
Valentinus (c. 100-180), a disgruntled priest who formed his own community after having passed over for appointment as a bishop, was one of the principal targets in the writings of Irenaeus.  Valentinus claimed to have secret knowledge that was passed on by St. Paul himself.  This so-called secret knowledge misrepresented and compromised the faith of the Church.  Valentinus also argued that salvation is attainable in various degrees.  Irenaeus also responded to other heretics such as Marcion (85-160) whose teaching contorted who Christ is and claimed, in error, that the God of Old Testament is not the same as the God is the New Testament.  Marcion also taught that only St. Paul was the true apostle of Christ—not Peter, Andrew, James, and John et al.
 
In order to dispel the errors of Valentinus, Marcion, and others, Irenaeus studied their writings and pronouncements in order to understand what they taught.  Irenaeus was witty, clever, and comprehensive in its rebuttals of their positions.  Irenaeus was not interested in dialogue.  His aim was to present a clear explanation of the apostolic faith and to refute false teaching.  His Against Heresies presented a defense of who Christ is, what Christ revealed, and what the apostles preached in opposition to the Gnostics who were distorting these points.  Irenaeus also fought against Gnostic dualism that divided God and the world through his clear teaching on the integrity and coherence of creation.  Deeply influenced by themes in John’s Gospel, Irenaeus had a clear devotion to and understanding of the Word of God.  Irenaeus was an early proponent of the inclusion of the four Gospels in the New Testament.  He solidified the faith of the very early Church in the Eucharist, articulated the centrality for Christian faith of the Church and the Episcopal office.  Irenaeus also frequently cast light on the singular importance of Mary.
 
I believe that it is fair to say that Irenaeus had done more than anyone up to that time to secure peace and unity for the Church by laying bare those who threatened it through their deviations from the deposit of faith.
 
A final point that I want to make today is that St. Irenaeus’ refutation of the Gnostics remains as important today as it was in his own time.  In 2018 Pope Francis issued an apostolic exhortation entitled Gaudete et Exsultate (“Rejoice and Be Glad”) where he warns that, though ancient, Gnosticism still plagues us today.  The Holy Father wrote:  “Gnostics think that their explanations can make the entirety of the faith and the Gospel perfectly comprehensible.  They absolutize their own theories and force other to submit to their way of thinking.  A healthy and humble use of reason in order to reflect on the theological and moral teaching of the Gospel is one thing.  It is another to reduce Jesus’s teaching to a cold and harsh logic that seeks to dominate everything” (No. 39).
 
Michael Heinlein noted recently in Our Sunday Visitor that each generation tends to see new manifestations of Gnosticism, which makes the declaration of St. Irenaeus as a Doctor of the Church particularly relevant.  He comments that modern Gnostic tendencies gives rise to various forms of ecclesial disunity and wreak havoc on society, such as the contemporary promotion of a confused and distorted vision of the human person, evidenced in the ever-emerging dualistic competition between the body and the self that is found in modern gender theory.  His article on St. Irenaeus and his accomplishments is well worth reading.  Here is a link for it:  A look at the newest Doctor of the Church: St. Irenaeus - Our Sunday Visitor (osvnews.com).
 
Until next week,
Fr. John