Irenseus, a pseudonym for the celebrated Church historian Joiiaxn Kaiu. Ludwig Gieseler (q. v.).
Irenaeus, Christoph, one of the most zealous de- fendants of the doctrine of the Flacians, was born at Schweidnitz, near the middle of the 16th century. First a deacon at Ascherslebenj he was afterwards called to Eisleben as regular pastor, and finally appointed court preacher at Weimar. Accused of favoring the views of Flacius, a consistent though much persecuted follower of Luther, he ■was, with other prominent preachers guilty of the same failing, dismissed from his position in 1572. He now removed to Austria, where he published in 1581 a pam])hlet against the first article of the Concordien- formel, under the title of Chiistojih Irencei E.rnmen d. ersten Artikels v. d. Wirbel-Geistes i. d, neven Coumrdi- enbuch von der Erhsiinde. The date of his death is not known to us. See Aschbach, Kirchen-Lex. ii, 781. See Fi.Aciis. (J.H.AV.)
Ireneeus, Palkovski, a leamed Russian jiriest, was liorn ^May ix, 17(i2. He acquired a good knowledge of Hebrew, Latin, French, and German, then went to Hungaiy to study ]ihiIosophy, history, and mathematics. He was married, but his great merits caused him to be appointed bishop, although, according to the gener- al rules of the (ireck Church, marriage is a bar to a candidate for this office. He died April 29, 1823. Ire- nneus wrote Chmnologie ecclesiastique (Moscow, 1797) : — Christiance, oiihodoxce dogmatico-polemicce Theologim
IREX^EUS
654
IRENICAL THEOLOGY
Compendium (:Moscow, 1802, 2 vols. 8vo), and commen- taries on Paul's Epistles to the Romans and to the Ga- latians (Kief, 1806, 2 vols. 8vo). See Gagarin, Be la 7'hrol. ,him rE;;lise Russe (Par. 1857), p. 53. (J. N. P.)
Irenaeus, JKlementievski, a very able Russian tlK(ilni;ian. was born at Kleraentief (Vladimir district) in Xl'oo. Of his early history but little is known to us. He enjoyed the reputation of a great savant, and held the bishopric of Tvar, and, later, the archbishopric of Pskof, and died at St. Petersburg April 24, 1818. Of course he belonged to the monastic order of the Russo- (Jreek Church, for, as is well known, the higher ecclesi- astical olKccs of Russia are accessible only to monastic orders (compare Eckardt, Modern Russia). Archbishop Irenicus wrote Commentaries on the Twelve minor Propk- fts: — St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans and to the He- Irews : — and also published some of his sermons, deliv- ered before the royal household at St. Petersburg (1794r). He likewise translated into Russian the writings of sev- eral of the Church fathers, and cardinal Bellarmine's ComtJientar// on the Psalms (JIoscow, 1807, 2 vols. 4to) ; and two other works on ascetism by Bellarmine. See Hoefer, Xour. Biog. Generale, xxv, 949. (J. H. AV.)
Irene {Etpi'jvi], Peace), empress of Constantinople, and one of the most extraordinarj', though corrupt char- acters of the Byzantine empire, was born in Athens about A.D. 725. An orphan, 17 years of age, without any fortune except her beauty and talents, she excited the admiration of the then reigning emperor. Leo IV, and in A.D. 7G9 became his lawful wife. Her love for power, it is said, caused her to commit the crime of mur- der, for her husband, who died in 780, is generally be- lieved to have been poisoned by her. During his reign she had acquired not only the love, but also the confi- dence of the emperor, and in his testament he declared her '• empress guardian of the Roman world, and of their son Constantine VI," who was, at the decease of Leo IV, only ten years of age. Educated m the worship of im- ages, she was herself an ardent opponent of the icono- clasts, who held sway diu-ing the reign of her liusband, and who, even at one time, had caused her banishment from his court on account of her secret worship of images, and her conspiracies with image- worshippers against iconoclasm. " But, as soon as she reigned in her owm name and that of her son, Irene most seriously under- took the ruin of the iconoclasts, and the first step of her future persecution was a general edict for liberty of conscience. In the restoration of the monks, a thou- sand images were exposed to public veneration ; a thou- sand legends were invented of their sufferings and mira- cles. As opportunities occurred by death or removal, the episcopal seats were judicially filled; the most eager competitors for earthly or celestial favor anticipated and flattered the judgment of their sovereign ; and the pro- motion of her secretary, Tarasi us, gave Irene the patri- arch of Constantinople, and the command of the Ori- ental Church." But the decrees of a general council could only be repeated efTectunlly by a similar assembly, and to this encl she convened a council of bishops at Constantinople, A.D. 780. By this time, however, the people and the army had learned to abhor the worship of images in place of the true God, and the council was oii|)osod by a mob, assisted l)y the troops, and even driven from the capital. This by no means intimidated Irene in Iter marked course. She had determined on tlic rcintroduction of image-worship and the extiqiation of all iconoclasts, and well did her zeal for the restora- tion of this gross superstition deserve to be rewarded by the Church ((Jreek) with a saintship (which she still occupies in the (ireek calendar). A second council was convened only a year after the first had been broken up, but this time at Nice. -'No more than 18 days were allowed for the consummation of this important work ; the iconoclasts appeared not as judges, but as criminals or penitents; the scene was decorated by the legates of pope Adrian and the Eastern patriarchs, the decrees were framed by the president Tarasius, and ratified bv