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Irenæus
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Introductory Note to Irenæus Against Heresies
[4787] Thus in a Greek fragment; in the Old Latin, Deus.
[4794] 1 Cor. ii. 9; Isa. lxiv. 4.
[4796] Grabe and others suppose that some part of the work has been lost, so that the above was not its original conclusion.
[4797] This fragment is quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., v. 20. It occurred at the close of the lost treatise of Irenæus entitled De Ogdoade.
[4798] This interesting extract we also owe to Eusebius, who (ut sup.) took it from the work De Ogdoade, written after this former friend of Irenæus had lapsed to Valentinianism. Florinus had previously held that God was the author of evil, which sentiment Irenæus opposed in a treatise, now lost, called περὶ μοναρχίας.
[4799] Comp. p. 32, this volume, and Phil. iv. 22.
[4800] See pp. 31 and 312, of this volume. We are indebted again to Eusebius for this valuable fragment from the Epistle of Irenæus to Victor Bishop of Rome (Hist. Eccl., v. 24; copied also by Nicephorus, iv. 39). It appears to have been a synodical epistle to the head of the Roman Church, the historian saying that it was written by Irenæus, “in the name of (ἐκ προσώπου) those brethren over whom he ruled throughout Gaul.” Neither are these expressions to be limited to the Church at Lyons, for the same authority records (v. 23) that it was the testimony “of the dioceses throughout Gaul, which Irenæus superintended” (Harvey).
[4801] According to Harvey, the early paschal controversy resolved itself into two particulars: (a) as regards the precise day on which our Lord’s resurrection should be celebrated; (b) as regards the custom of the fast preceding it.
[4802] Both reading and punctuation are here subjects of controversy. We have followed Massuet and Harvey.
[4803] “The observance of a day, though not everywhere the same, showed unity, so far as faith in the Lord’s resurrection was concerned.”—Harvey.
[4804] Following the reading of Rufinus, the ordinary text has μετ’ αὐτούς, i.e., after them.
[4805] This practice was afterwards forbidden by the Council of Laodicea [held about a.d. 360].
[4806] It was perhaps in reference to this pleasing episode in the annals of the Church, that the Council of Arles, a.d. 314, decreed that the holy Eucharist should be consecrated by any foreign bishop present at its celebration.
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