Wisdom!: = Readings from the Fathers of the Church: St. Irenaeus of Lyons: On How = Heretics Depart from Scripture and Tradition

=AB= St.=20 Athanasius: On Understanding the Scriptures | Main | St= . Gregory=20 the Wonderworker: On the Content of the Christian Faith =BB =

November 12, 2003

St. Irenaeus of Lyons: On How Heretics Depart from = Scripture and=20 Tradition

Chapter II.-The Heretics Follow Neither Scripture Nor = Tradition.

1. When, however, they are confuted from the Scriptures, they turn = round and=20 accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were not correct, nor of = authority, and=20 [assert] that they are ambiguous, and that the truth cannot be extracted = from=20 them by those who are ignorant of tradition. For [they allege] that the = truth=20 was not delivered by means of written documents, but viv=E2 voce: = wherefore also=20 Paul declared, "But we speak wisdom among those that are perfect, but = not the=20 wisdom of this world." And this wisdom each one of them alleges to be = the=20 fiction of his own inventing, forsooth; so that, according to their = idea, the=20 truth properly resides at one time in Valentinus, at another in Marcion, = at=20 another in Cerinthus, then afterwards in Basilides, or has even been=20 indifferently in any other opponent, who could speak nothing pertaining = to=20 salvation. For every one of these men, being altogether of a perverse=20 disposition, depraving the system of truth, is not ashamed to preach=20 himself.

2. But, again, when we refer them to that tradition which originates = from the=20 apostles, [and] which is preserved by means of the succession of = presbyters in=20 the Churches, they object to tradition, saying that they themselves are = wiser=20 not merely than the presbyters, but even than the apostles, because they = have=20 discovered the unadulterated truth. For [they maintain] that the = apostles=20 intermingled the things of the law with the words of the Saviour; and = that not=20 the apostles alone, but even the Lord Himself, spoke as at one time from = the=20 Demiurge, at another from the intermediate place, and yet again from the = Pleroma, but that they themselves, indubitably, unsulliedly, and purely, = have=20 knowledge of the hidden mystery: this is, indeed, to blaspheme their = Creator=20 after a most impudent manner! It comes to this, therefore, that these = men do now=20 consent neither to Scripture nor to tradition.

3. Such are the adversaries with whom we have to deal, my very dear = friend,=20 endeavouring like slippery serpents to escape at all points. Where-fore = they=20 must be opposed at all points, if per-chance, by cutting off their = retreat, we=20 may succeed in turning them back to the truth. For, though it is not an = easy=20 thing for a soul under the influence of error to repent, yet, on the = other hand,=20 it is not altogether impossible to escape from error when the truth is = brought=20 alongside it.

-= -Against=20 Heresies, Bk III

Posted = by Clifton at=20 November 12, 2003 01:02 PM | TrackBack=20

Wisdom!:=20 Readings from the Fathers of the Church

November 12, 2003

St. Irenaeus of Lyons: On How Heretics Depart from = Scripture and=20 Tradition