RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Irenaeus
and assumption of Pope Victor. The unity of the Church, for whose sake he prizes the tradition carried on by the episcopal succession in the great apostolic churches, is according to him perfectly consistent with large freedom and diversity in ecclesiastical customs and with mutual independence of the autonomous bodies which compose the universal Church. After the perversion of doctrine by the Gnostics, he saw the greatest peril to this unity in a rigidity that strove for constrained uniformity, whether it manifested itself in the refusal of the Quartodeciman Blastus to yield in Rome to the prevalent custom in regard to Easter, or in the attitude of the Roman bishop, with whom he nevertheless agreed. Polemical theologian though he was, he yet verified his name (Irenaeus, " Peaceful ") by seeking the peace of the Church amid all his controversies. His actual influence upon the development of the Church was greater than that of perhaps any other teacher of the first three centuries. He did much to protect it, first against the dissolution threatened by the Valentinian speculations, which came in largely under the cover of external conformity; then against provincial narrow-mindedness and ignorant fanaticism; and finally against the ambition of the Roman see to grasp at a despotic universal monarchy. (T. Zahn.)
Bibliography: The best modern edition of the Works of Irenaeus is by W. Wigan Harvey, 2 vols., Cambridge, 1877, and perhaps the next best is by A. Stieren, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1853. The editio princeps is by Erasmus, Basel, 1526 (often reprinted, contains the Lat. version of the Adv. haer.). Succeeding editions were by N. Gallasius, Paris, 1570 (the first edition with the fragments of the Greek); F. Feuardent, Cologne, 1596 and later; J. E. Grabe, Oxford, 1702 (one of the best); the Benedictine edition of R. Massuet, Paris, 1712 and Venice, 1734 (also exceedingly good). Vol. iii. of the Oxyrhyncus Papyri by Grenfell and Hunt issued by the Egypt Exploration Fund for 1902-03 contains fragments, on which cf. E. Nestle in the Munich Allgemeine Zeitung, no. 249. Note also Eisepideixin tou apostolou kerugmatos, in armenischer Version entdeckt, ed. K. Ter-Mekerttschian and E. Ter- Minassiantz, in TU, xxxi (1907; cf. § 3, no. 8 above).
On the life of Irenaeus and various phases of his activities and works consult: the introductions to the various editions of his works; DCB, iii. 253-279 (elaborate and well worth consulting); H. Dodwell, Dissertationes in Irenaeum, Oxford, 1689; J. Alexander, The Primitive Doctrine of Christ's Divinity, London, 1727; E. Burton, Testimonies of the Ante-Nicene Fathers to the Divinity of Christ, pp. 68-111, Oxford, 1826; J. Beaven, Life and Writings of St. Irenaeus, London, 1841; L. Duncker, Des heiligen Irenaus Christologie, Gottingen, 1843; K. Graul, Die christliche Kirehe an der Schwelle des irenaischen Zeitalters, Leipsic, 1860; H. Ziegler, Des Irenaus Lehre von der Autorilat der Schrift, der Tradition und der Kirche, Berlin, 1868; idem, Irenaus der Bischof von Lyon, ib. 1871; R. A. Lipsius, Die Zeit des Irenaus und die Entstehung der altkatholischen Kirche, Munich, 1872; H. L. Mansel, Gnostic Heresies, London, 1875; J. B. Lightfoot, in Contemporary Review, Aug., 1876; A. Gilloud, S. Irenee et son temps, Lyon, 1876; C. J. H. Ropes, in Bibliotheca Sacra, Apr., 1877 (deals with the nationality of Irenaeus); E. Montet, La Legende d' Irenee, Geneva, 1880; C. E. Freppel, S. Irenee et Veloquence ehritienne dans la Gaule, Paris, 1886; F. W. Farrar, Lives of the Fathers, i. 67-93, New York, 1889; J. Werner, Der Paulinismus des Irenaus, in TU, vi. 2, 1889; J. Kunze, Die Gotteslehre des Irenaus, Leipsic, 1891; idem, De historiae gnosticismi fontibus, ib. 1894; T. Zahn, Forschungen zur Geschichte des Kdnons, iv. 247-283, ib. 1891; A. Camerlynck, S. Irenee et le canon du N. T„ Paris, 1896; A. Harnack, Die Pfaff'schen Irenaus Fragmente, in TU, xx. 3, 1900; idem, Litteratur, consult the Index (very full); idem. Dogma, passim, consult the Index; Ceillier, Auteurs sacris, i. 495-519, ii. 537, 543-544; Neander, Christian Church, i. 679-682 et passim; Schaff, Christian Church,
ii. 746 sqq.; Moeller, Christian Church, i. 106, 158, 199 sqq.; and the Church histories of the period.
IRENAEUS, CHRISTOPH: Follower of Matthias Flacius (q.v.); b. at Schweidnitz (31 m. s.w. of Breslau), Silesia, c. 1522; d. probably at Buchenbach (between Hall and Rothenburg-on-the-Tauber) , Wiirttemberg, c. 1595. From May, 1544, he studied at Wittenberg, where he was enrolled as Christofferus Harem. After being rector of schools at Bernburg (1545-47) and Aschersleben, he became M. A. at Wittenberg, Feb. 14, 1549. Late in 1552 he became deacon and was ordained by Bugenhagen. In 1559 he became archdeacon, and began his very extensive activity as theological author about this time. In the spring of 1562 he was called as pastor to Eisleben. Here, as a strict Lutheran, he was highly esteemed by the counts of Mansfeld and the congregation, and became acquainted with the followers of Flacius. In 1566 John William of Saxony called him to be court preacher, first in Coburg, then in Weimar. Irenaus utilized this appointment to obtain positions for the Flacians at the university, in the Church, and in the chancery, and advocated the doctrine of Flacius at the Altenburg Colloquy, Oct. 21, 1568-Mar. 9, 1569. Morlin, Chemnitz, and Jakob Andreae tried in vain to win him from Flacius. When the Evangelical princes complained of the Flacians in 1570, Irenaus was transferred as superintendent to Neustadt-on-the-Orla, but persisted in his usual way, and when menaced with an investigation, escaped to Mansfeld in 1572. His old friends did not stand by him, and Archbishop Sigismund of Magdeburg now intervened. Irenaus eluded his soldiers, Dec. 31, 1574, and thenceforth traversed Germany as an " exile for Christ." Though seven times banished before 1590, he continued striving with unbroken courage, and above all opposed the Formula of Concord, its authors, subscribers, and defenders. In 1575 he was expelled from his native town, whereupon he sojourned in Hesse and along the Lower Rhine. In 1579 he was at Frankfort, and finally found refuge with Eberhard of Stetten at Buchenbach. Count Wolfgang of Hohenlohe constrained him to a colloquy with Andrea, at Langenburg, Aug. 6, 1581, and then insisted upon his withdrawal from Buchenbach. At the close of 1582, he obtained a call to the Lower Austrian Church at Horn, but on Aug. 12, 1585, the Flacians one and all were notified of their discharge. Irenaus returned to Buchenbach, and occupied himself with literary work. He was a noble, talented, and learned man, but a classic example of the rabies theologorum which converts a single article of Christian faith into a central dogma, as he did with the doctrine of Flacius on original sin. His best strength was spent in vituperation and railing, and, in his inequity of judgment he was even carried into falsehood, so that his best book, Der Spiegel des ewigen Lebens (1572), loses thereby in value. G. Bossert.
Bibliography: B. Raupach, Evangelisches Oesterreich, nebst Presbyterologia Austriaca, pp. 69-73, and Nachtrag, Zwiefache Zugabe, p. 43, 3 vols., Hamburg, 1741-44 (the best biography, containing also a useful bibliography); J. G. Leuckfeld, Hist. Spangenbergensis, pp. 37-38, Quedlinburg, 1716; W. Preger, Matthias Flacius Illyricus und seine Zeit, 2 vols., Erlangen, 1859-61; ZHT, xix (1850), 3 sqq., 218 sqq.; ADB, xiv. 582.
Irene Irving'