Christian Cyclopedia

(Gk. “the Peaceful”; d. ca. 200 AD). Gk. ch. father; b. probably Smyrna (modern Izmir), Asia Minor; saw and heard Polycarp*; presbyter Lyons, Gaul, 177; succeeded Pothinus* as bp. Lyons 178; opposed gnosticism and other heresies; worked zealously for the spread of Christianity and defense of its doctrines; developed a concept of recapitulation*; emphasized apostolic succession and tradition. Works include Detection and Overthrow of the False Gnosis (also known as Adversus haereses); Demonstration of the Apostolic Teaching. See also Fathers of the Church; Federal Theology; Tradition.

F. R. M. Hitchcock, Irenaeus of Lugdunum (Cambridge, Eng., 1914); J. Lawson, The Biblical Theology of Saint Irenaeus (London, 1948); G. Aulèn, Christus Victor, tr. A. G. Hebert (London, 1931), pp. 32–51.