Irenaeus grew up in Asia Minor, where as a boy he heard Polycarp preach. He became a presbyter at Lyons in Gaul and, after the persecution of 177 claimed Bishop Pothinus, succeeded him as bishop.
Alarmed by Gnostic teachers who claimed a secret knowledge, he wrote Against Heresies about 180, exposing their systems and setting out the faith publicly handed down from the apostles. He later urged Pope Victor not to cut off the churches of Asia over the date of Easter. Later tradition calls him a martyr, but the date and manner of his death are unknown.
Irenaeus of Lyons in the library (1 work)
- Irenaeus: The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching — c. 180; translation 1920
Irenaeus's short summary of the faith for a fellow Christian: the rule of truth, from creation to Christ and the Church, proved from the prophets.