August 14, 2022 - "Doctors of the Church - continued"

On January 21, 2022, Pope Francis issued a decree declaring St. Irenaeus of Lyons as a Doctor of the Church.  The Vatican Congregation for the Causes of the Saints have previously made this proposal to the Holy Father.  Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, former chairman of the United States Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine made the comment to Our Sunday Visitor that naming Irenaeus a Doctor of the Church seemed to be correcting “an oversight that this ‘first great Christian theologian’ has never been officially declared a Doctor of the Church.” Bishop Rhoades went on to say that “St. Irenaeus’ defense of the true doctrine, his clear teaching of the Faith and his total devotion to his pastoral ministry make him a great model for bishops today.”
 
St. Irenaeus is our most recently named Doctor of the Church.  He also holds the distinction of being the most ancient of the thirty-seven Doctors of the Church.
 
The biographical information that we have on him comes from his own testimony which was duly recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea in his fifth book on Church History.  Irenaeus was probably born in Smyrna (modern day Izmir in Turkey) between 135 and 140.  In his youth Irenaeus attended the school of Bishop Polycarp who was in turn a disciple of the Apostle John.  We don’t really know when Irenaeus made the move from Asia Minor to Gaul, but it must have coincided with the first development of the Christian community in Lyons.  We can find Irenaeus listed in the college of presbyters (priests) in Lyons in 177.  In that same year he was sent to Rome bearing a letter from the community in Lyons to Pope Eleutherius.  His mission in Rome saved Irenaeus from the persecution of Marcus Aurelius during which forty-eight people were martyred, including the ninety-year old Bishop Pontinus of Lyons (who died in prison from ill treatment).  On his return from Rome Irenaeus was appointed Bishop of Lyons.  Lyons was the largest city north of the Alps.  It was not only a population hub but also served as a civic and cultural center.
 
Irenaeus devoted himself without reserve to his ministry as a bishop, which ended in about 202-203, possibly with martyrdom.  While being engaged wholeheartedly in pastoral ministry Irenaeus felt called to write.  In his writings he pursued a twofold aim:  to defend true doctrine from the attacks of heretics and to explain the truth of the faith with clarity.  His two extant works—the five books of The Detection and Overthrow of the False Gnosis and the Demonstration of the Apostolic Teaching (which could be considered the oldest “catechism of Christian doctrine”) fulfilled those aims.  Irenaeus was a real champion in the fight against heresies.  The second-century Church was threatened by the so-called Gnosis, a doctrine that affirmed that the faith taught in the Church was merely a symbolism for the simple who were not capable of grasping difficult concepts. Instead, the initiates, the intellectuals—Gnostics, they were called—claimed to understand what was behind these symbols and thus formed both an elitist and an intellectualist Christianity.  This intellectual Christianity became increasingly fragmented, splitting into different currents with ideas that were often bizarre and extravagant.  At the same time these ideas were attractive to many.  One element these different currents had in common was “dualism”: they denied faith in the one God and Father of all, Creator and Savior of humankind and the world.  To explain evil in the world, they affirmed the existence, beside the Good God, of a negative principle.  This negative principle was supposed to have produced material things, matter.
 
Relying heavily on the biblical doctrine of creation, Irenaeus refuted this Gnostic dualism and pessimism. He decisively claimed the original holiness of matter, of the body, of the flesh, no less than the spirit.  The work of Irenaeus went far beyond confuting heresy.  In fact, one can say that Irenaeus emerges as the first great Church theologian who created systematic theology.  At the heart of his doctrine is the question of the “rule of faith” and its transmission.  For Irenaeus, the “rule of faith” coincided in practice with the Apostles’ Creed, which gives us the key for interpreting the Gospel.  The Creed, which is a sort of Gospel synthesis, helps us understand what it means and how we should read the Gospel itself.
 
Irenaeus refuted the claims of these Gnostics from the start.  He showed that they possessed no truth superior to that of ordinary faith because what the Gnostics said was not of apostolic origin.  It was invented by them.  Second, truth and salvation are not monopolized by a few individuals but available to all through the preaching of the Successors of the Apostles, especially of the Bishop of Rome.  In particular his purpose was to describe the genuine concept of the Apostolic Tradition.   In the process of doing this, he disputed the “secret” character of the Gnostic tradition and noted its multiple and contradictory results.
 
The bold defense of Christian doctrine by Irenaeus amid many challenges that fractured the Church’s unity back in the second century offers a model for effective apologetics and catechesis. St. Irenaeus, as a Doctor of the Church, reiterates the importance of sound teaching and the value of public witness of bishops in defense of the Faith.  The enduring legacy of St. Irenaeus can be seen in the documents of the Second Vatican Council where Irenaeus is cited 14 times (second in number only to St. Augustine).  This is also true of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which cites his work 29 times (compared to Augustine’s 86 citations or Aquinas’ 61).
 
For those who want to learn more about our most recently named Doctor of the Church I recommend reading a talk that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI gave in St. Peter’s Square on March 28, 2007.  Much of what I have presented in this column is derived from this Wednesday audience.
 
We’ll continue our series on the Doctors of the Church next week.
 
Until then,
Fr. John