THE HERETIC GNOSTIC AND THE REAL “GNOSTIC” IN CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF IRENAEUS OF LYON

 VOX PATRUM 38 (2018) t. 69

A R T Y K U Ł Y

Eirini ARTEMI*

THE HERETIC GNOSTIC

AND THE REAL “GNOSTIC” IN CHRIST

ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING

OF IRENAEUS OF LYON**

Gnosticism was a mixture of a philosophical and religious movements

which appeared in pre-Christian times. There are many religious historians

who support that its source was in the Jewish community of Alexandria and

was later picked up by some Christian groups in Judea and the Galilee1. The

apostle Paul supported the belief that the heresy of gnosticism was the religion

of angels (cf. Col 2:18). The Gnostics recognized a divine hierarchy above the

angels who were thought to be more important than Christ.

The Gnostics believed that matter, whether it be the physical universe or

the human body, was evil. It is obvious that there was a great tension between

spirit and matter. This affected many of their beliefs and especially the way

they perceived the world and God’s interactions with it. Gnosis (knowledge,

“insight”) was the only way for examining the universe, humanity, the salvation

of mankind and of course Jesus Christ2. In gnostic Christianity, spiritual gnosis

was not just knowledge of facts or figures or an intellectual understanding of

theological ideas. Rather, it was an experience. This knowledge or gnosis was

subjective in its nature. The gnostic didn’t just believe in God, he or she experienced

God. Spiritual gnosis could not be attained through the intellect. It was

a special initiatory knowledge given to the few who were ready to receive it.

Through devotion and spiritual practice, the gnostic had a revelatory experience

that modified human perception, and transfigured the individual3.

* Dr Eirini Artemi – Theologist & Classical Philologist, Post Doc of Ancient Greek and Byzantine

Philosophy of University of Patras, MA & Ph.D. of Theology of National and Capodistrian

University of Athens, Lecturer in the Hellenic Open University; e-mail: eartemi@theol.uoa.gr.

** This paper was presented in 10th Annual Conference in Saint Petersburg State University of

Aerospace Instrumentation, Research and Education Centre for Religion, Philosophy and Culture Studies,

Asia – Pacific Early Christian Studies Society, 9-11 September, 2016, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1 Cf. B.A. Pearson, Gnosticism, Judaism and Egyptian Christianity, Minneapolis 1990, 17;

idem, Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions and Literature, Minneapolis 2007, 14; K. Scouteris, History

of Dogma, vol. 1, Athens 1998, 282-283.

2 Cf. J. Daniélou, Les traditions secrètes des Apôtres, “Eranos Jahrbuch” 31 (1962) 17.

3 Cf. S. Papadopoulos, Patrologia, vol. 1, Athens 1991, 145-150.

40 EIRINI ARTEMI

So, gnosticism was one of the earliest heresies to arise in the Christian

Church and it was known mainly from Irenaeus’ of Lyon writings, who was

one of its chief early opponents. Not all Gnostics believed exactly the same

thing, but the general outlines of the belief were fairly clear. The Gnostics

were dualists, teaching that there were two great opposing forces: good versus

evil, light versus darkness, knowledge versus ignorance, spirit versus matter.

According to them, this world, the material cosmos, was the result of a primordial

error on the part of a supra-cosmic, supremely divine being, usually called

Sof…a (Wisdom) or simply the ΛÒgoj (Word). This being was described as the

final emanation of a divine hierarchy, called the Pl»rwma or “Fullness”, at the

head of which resided the supreme God, the One beyond Being4.

Since the world is material, and leaves much place for improvement, they

denied that God had made it. “How can the perfect produce the imperfect,

the infinite produce the finite, the spiritual produce the material”? they asked.

One solution was to say that there were thirty beings called aeons (a„înej),

and that God had made the first aeon, which made the second aeon (a„èn),

which made the third, and so on to the thirtieth aeon (a„èn), which made the

world. This, Gnostics pointed out to the initiate, was the true inward spiritual

meaning of the statement that Jesus was thirty years old when he began to

preach. As anti-gnostic writers pointed out, this did not help at all. Assuming

the Gnostic view of the matter, each of the thirty must be either finite or infinite,

material or non-material, and somewhere along the line you would have

an infinite being producing a finite one, a spiritual being producing a material

one5. Also, to the Gnostics salvation had a totally different meaning from its

Christian meaning. In gnosticism, salvation was to be alerted to the existence

of the gnostic’s divine spirit and then, as a result of this knowledge, to escape

from death from the material world to the spiritual6.

For Christians, salvation means deification anf salvation began with the

incarnation. Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwell in one another in

a constant movement of reciprocal love, so humans are, made in the image

and likeness of the Holy Trinity, called to dwell in that same Trinitarian movement

of love. The salvation began with the incarnation, in which God became

human. God incarnated as Jesus was both true God and true man. He had two

natures, not separate from each other, and not confused with each other. The

crucifixion was God’s loving act to break down the barrier of sin between God

and humanity. Christians are saved by God’s grace alone, we are not capable

of saving ourselves, no matter how good we are. This salvation is a process,

worked out by participating in and cooperating with the grace of God. It is an

ongoing, everlasting process of moving from glory to glory, becoming more

and more holy and God-like forever. This is called theosis.

4 Cf. ibidem.

5 Cf. S. Hoeller, Gnosticism, new light on the ancient tradition of inner knowing, Illinois 2002, 2-55.

6 Cf. Scouteris, History of Dogma, vol. 1, p. 296.

THE HERETIC GNOSTIC AND THE REAL “GNOSTIC” IN CHRIST 41

Generally, gnosticism was a very powerful spiritual phenomenon and the

result of a mixture of different religions, such as paganism, Christianity, Persian

and Greek philosophical theories, and:

“devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations

rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith”7.

One of the main things which separated the Gnostics from Christians was

the mysticism of their beliefs. It began with their views of God and creation8.

They viewed the One which they called the true God as having a feminine part

which was the Spirit. In accord, they also held that Jesus came from God and

the Spirit to form the Trinity. In the gnostic version of creation of the world

the Spirit of God was referred as the Wisdom of God or Sophia who was

also a feminine creative force. So gnosticism was a very dangerous heresy for

the Church and threatened Christians9, because it divided the believers into

two categories, the “perfect” and “purified” Christians who obtained the real

Knowledge and the simple believers who obtained only the faith in Christ10.

To sum up, the ancient gnosticism claimed a secret knowledge superior

to that of the Church, in effect challenging the teaching authority of the bishops.

Also, it held that the spiritual was superior to the physical and that the

true Christ was a pure spirit being, thereby rejecting the incarnation11. Early

Christian Gnostics conceived a division in God prior to creation wherein the

material world became the production of the “lesser god” of the division. It

led Gnostics to devalue the material world within which a only select few

possessed a “spark” of divinity, experienced as a longing for the “true God”

beyond hapless matter. The escape route was gnosis or knowledge, a type of

“awakening” that not all were capable of undergoing.

1. Irenaeus of Lyon and the theology of the holy tradition. Irenaeus of

Lyon (Lugdunum) is considered by many to be one of the greatest Christian

theologians of the second century. Irenaeus is well known for his work Against

Heresies, c. 175-185 CE, a theological classic in which he defended the Christian

faith against the heresy of gnosticism. For Irenaeus, the real theological

tradition is the tradition of the Christian Church and it is gift from God:

7 Cf. 1Tim 1:4.

8 Cf. Scouteris, History of Dogma, vol. 1, p. 297.

9 Cf. Scouteris (History of Dogma, vol. 1, p. 299) argued that the Christian gnosticism cannot be

countered in Christian heresies, because it rejected the most Christian doctrines and adopted peculiar

teachings. But it was a great problem for the Christian Church for many centuries.

10 Cf. R.E. Olson, The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform,

Illinois 1999, 88.

11 Cf. R. Arakaki, Irenaeus of Lyons: Contending for the Faith Once Delivered, “Again” 27

(2005) n. 3, https://sethearl.wordpress.com/2006/09/03/irenaeus-of-lyons-contending-for-the-faithonce-

delivered/ [access: 28.08.2016].

42 EIRINI ARTEMI

“For this gift of God has been entrusted to the Church, as breath was to the

first created man, for this purpose, that all the members receiving it may be

vivified; and the (means of) communion with Christ has been distributed

throughout it, that is, the Holy Spirit, the earnest of incorruption, the means

of confirming our faith, and the ladder of ascent to God. For in the Church,

it is said, God has set apostles, prophets, teachers, and all the other means

through which the Spirit works; of which all those are not partakers who do

not join themselves to the Church, but defraud themselves of life through their

perverse opinions and infamous behaviour”12.

Irenaeus supported that the holy tradition was given to the Church and

this was the basic distinction between the real tradition of the Church and the

tradition of gnosticism13. The tradition of the apostles, made clear in the entire

world, can be seen clearly in the Christian Church by those who wished to behold

the truth. The bishops were the true successors of the apostles so they kept

the true tradition without adding any insane ideas, without any errors14. Christ

didn’t give any secret tradition to the Gnostics only, that they only should be

worthy and believing15. The Church Father explained that the members of the

Church, baptised Christians received that preaching and faith from Christ, who

is the divine source through his apostles. The words of the apostles and prophets

are Christ’s words and the very foundation of the Church (cf. Eph 2:19-

20). Although the Church scattered in the whole world, carefully preserved it,

in this real tradition as if living in one house, the Gnostics had no relation to

it16. So for Irenaeus, the apostolic tradition was one and public, not private or

secret. Lastly, the apostolic tradition, was pneumatic, in other words, spiritual,

guided by the Holy Spirit, and it is the final arbiter of truth in the Church.

Perhaps, some scholars would underline that the father of Lyon separated

the oral apostolic tradition from the written tradition in scripture. He didn’t do

anything like that. He thought both the oral tradition and the written tradition,

the scripture as equal, and the both reveal the will of God. Scripture and the

Church’s unwritten tradition are identical in content. The grace and the will

of God enlightened the authors of the gospels to hand down to believers the

preaching of Christ, so the scriptures became the ground and the pillar of the

Christians’ faith17, and the compass for the life of every Christian, the rule of

12 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses III 24, 1, ed. A. Rousseau – L. Doutreleau,

SCh 211, Paris 1974, 472-474, transl. A. Roberts – W. Rambaut, ed. A. Roberts – J. Donaldson

– A. Cleveland Coxe, ANF 1, Buffalo – New York 1885, 458; revised and edited for New Advent by

K. Knight, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103324.htm. Cf. 1Cor 12:28.

13 Cf. ibidem III 4, 1-2.

14 Cf. ibidem III 3, 1.

15 Cf. ibidem I 25, 5.

16 Cf. ibidem III 12, 5.

17 Cf. ibidem I 9, 4.

THE HERETIC GNOSTIC AND THE REAL “GNOSTIC” IN CHRIST 43

faith18. So, according to Irenaeus, the scriptures provide the basis of real faith,

and tradition is appealed to as confirmation of the scripture19,

“to flee to the Church, and be brought up in her bosom, and be nourished with

the Lord’s Scriptures”20.

The development of the oral tradition in the Church didn’t mean the counterfeiting

of the context of faith but the better understanding of the God’s

words and the perception of the divine economy21. Man may not forget, Irenaeus

supported, he has finite mind and the infinite nature of God cannot be

fully conceived by the human beings:

“there are some things (the knowledge of) which belongs only to God, and

others which come within the range of our own knowledge, what ground is

there for complaint, if, in regard to those things which we investigate in the

Scriptures (which are throughout spiritual), we are able by the grace of God

to explain some of them, while we must leave others in the hands of God, and

that not only in the present world, but also in that which is to come, so that

God should for ever teach, and man should for ever learn the things taught

him by God? As the apostle has said on this point, that, when other things have

been done away, then these three, faith, hope, and charity, shall endure”22.

2. The Heretic Gnostic and the Real “Gnostic” in Christ. Irenaeus of Lyon

confronted the heretical teaching of the Gnostics with the theological teaching

of the Church. Because of his confrontation with the Gnostics, he placed appropriate

importance to the continuity of teaching within the Church23. He believed

that the truth was in the Church only and this was the only effective and powerful

weapon against any heretical opinion. In his treatise Against Heresies, he

expounded and defended the orthodox Christian faith and refuted gnosticism24.

The bishop of Lyon explained that the real “gnostic” in Christ differed

from the heretic gnostic, because the first participated in the recapitulation of

the nature of the human race because of the incarnation, passion, death and resurrection

of Christ. The heretic gnostic falsified the oracles of God, and proved

himself an evil interpreter of the good word of revelation25. He underestimated

18 Cf. ibidem I 9, 5.

19 Cf. ibidem V 20, 2.

20 Ibidem, ed. A. Rousseau – L. Doutrelau – Ch. Mercier, SCh 153, Paris 1969, 258, ANF 1, 548.

21 Cf. ibidem I 10, 3.

22 Ibidem II 28, 3, ed. A. Rousseau – L. Doutreleau, SCh 294, Paris 1982, 274, ANF 1, 399. Cf.

1Cor 13:13.

23 Cf. K. Ware, Patterns of Episcopacy in the Early Church and Today, An Orthodox View, in:

Bishops, But What Kind? Reflections on Episcopacy, ed. P. Moore, London 1982, 1-24, esp. p. 11.

24 Cf. Papadopoulos, Patrologia, vol. 1, p. 296.

25 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses I, Prolegomena I.

44 EIRINI ARTEMI

the real meaning of God’s revelation through His creation of the universe26. By

this way instead of realizing the real divine truth, the heretic gnostic supported

blasphemous and impious opinions27. Also he had pessimistic attitude for the

life. The world was seen as being evil at the time of its origin, because it had

been created by an inferior God. Only the deliverance from the material world

could bring happiness28.

The heretic gnostic didn’t have access only in the lower psychic level of

salvation, but he himself had attained the higher pneumatic salvation also29.

In order to be saved the person had to freely choose to believe and to do good

works. The psychic level of salvation was decisive in that it opened the person

to the possibility of attaining the pneumatic level. Receiving the gnostic

tradition was only a first step towards the goal of gnosis30. At the pneumatic

level the gnostic person was reborn through spiritual resurrection and directly

experienced the divine Truth through gnosis-knowledge31.

The knowledge which existed in gnostic men came from other sources:

“either the prophets announced, nor the Lord taught, nor the apostles delivered,

but of which they boast that beyond all others they had a perfect knowledge.

They gathered their views from other sources than the Scriptures”32.

It was aptly characterized in the personal mystical experience of the gnostic as

Self-Knowledge being the Knowledge of God33. So he was spiritual – a pneumatic

Christian who had gained connection to the higher spirit and who possessed

the inner meaning of scripture and opposed to simply physic Christian.

The gnostic believed that he obtained the knowledge of God through questions,

trying to find answers about God, but in reality he managed to cast away

the firm and true knowledge of God34. James George Bushur argues that according

to Irenaeus, the heretic gnostic fell into the abyss of error because

he arrogantly sought after the divine essence and must resorted to tenuous

speculations. For Irenaeus, the theological task began with humility. The real

gnostic in Christ should recognize his own weakness before he was prepared

to declare the fullness of God’s power35:

26 Cf. ibidem.

27 Cf. ibidem.

28 Cf. Scouteris, History of Dogma, vol. 1, p. 299.

29 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses I 6, 1-4.

30 Cf. ibidem I 6, 2.

31 Cf. ibidem.

32 Ibidem I 8, 1, SCh 264, 112, ANF 1, 326.

33 Cf. ibidem II 28, 2.

34 Cf. ibidem II 28, 1.

35 Cf. J.G. Bushur, Joining the end to the beginning divine providence and the interpretation of

scripture in the teaching of Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, Durham 2010, 47.

THE HERETIC GNOSTIC AND THE REAL “GNOSTIC” IN CHRIST 45

“But learning by experience that we possess eternal duration from the excelling

power of this Being, not from our own nature, we may neither undervalue

that glory which surrounds God as He is, nor be ignorant of our own nature,

but that we may know what God can effect, and what benefits man receives,

and thus never wander from the true comprehension of things as they are, that

is, both with regard to God and with regard to man”36.

The real gnostic in Christ’s desire and love for the knowledge of the divine

being was as dependent upon God’s will to reveal himself as a creature’s desire

to live was dependent upon God’s gifts of food, drink, and breath37. This true

believer captured the higher knowledge from his love to Christ and his belief

in Christ’s deity, incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. So he had true faith

because he had followed the rule of faith which was based on the knowledge

and praise concerning God38. According to Irenaeus the real gnostic in Christ,

the believer had the true knowledge which was the teaching of the apostles,

and the ancient order of the Church found throughout the world; and the character

of the Body of Christ according to the succession of bishops, to whom

the Apostles committed that the Church which was in each place39.

The gnostic in Christ was a “spiritual” man. In him the Holy Spirit was

joined to the soul and body and lightened his mind in order to know God40. He

didn’t attain salvation by learning secret knowledge of his spiritual essence:

a divine spark of light or spirit. He didn’t then need any secret knowledge to escape

from the prison of his body at death. His soul cannot ascend to be reunited

with the Supreme God at the time of his death41. So the gnostic in Christ didn’t

disregard the order and connection of the Scriptures and didn’t dismember and

destroy the truth and moreover the real salvation in Christ42. He realized that the

Apostles’ words in the Scriptures were in full agreement with the tradition of

teaching that had come down to the Church leaders of his day43.

The believer, who had the true knowledge for God, was made perfect because

of his love for God and his righteousness to his neighbour,

“As in the law, therefore, and in the Gospel (likewise), the first and greatest

commandment is, to love the Lord God with the whole heart, and then there

follows a commandment like to it, to love one’s neighbour as one’s self; the

author of the law and the Gospel is shown to be one and the same. For the precepts

of an absolutely perfect life, since they are the same in each Testament,

36 Ibidem. Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses V 2, 3, SCh 153, 38-40, ANF 1, 528.

37 Cf. Bushur, Joining the end to the beginning divine providence, p. 47.

38 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses II 28, 3; E. Osborn, Irenaeus of Lyons, Cambridge

2001, 160.

39 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses IV 33, 8.

40 Cf. ibidem V 6, 1; V 8, 2; 1Thess 5:23.

41 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses V 6, 1.

42 Cf. ibidem.

43 Cf. ibidem III 3-4.

46 EIRINI ARTEMI

have pointed out (to us) the same God, who certainly has promulgated particular

laws adapted for each; but the more prominent and the greatest (commandments),

without which salvation cannot (be attained), He has exhorted

(us to observe) the same in both”44.

He knew that he could not have attained the absolute knowledge of God in

this life, because there were some things (the knowledge of) which belonged

only to God45. Irenaeus underlined that:

“we are able by the grace of God to explain some of them, while we must

leave others in the hands of God, and that not only in the present world, but

also in that which is to come, so that God should for ever teach, and man

should for ever learn the things taught him by God”46.

Finally, the knowledge of God could not become property of man, unless

the Holy Spirit helped the human creature’s mind. Without the Spirit’s enlightenment,

the man was merely flesh and blood and could have no ability and

perspective to inherit the eternal divine kingdom,

“The flesh, therefore, when destitute of the Spirit of God, is dead, not having

life, and cannot possess the kingdom of God”47.

To sum up for Irenaeus, the real Gnostic in Christ had realized that the

human knowledge of God did not begin with the divine essence, but with the

divine will. God is not known except in his free and personal association with

creation48. This became more difficult with the exile of Adam from paradise.

The ability to have possession of God’s knowledge became a possibility again

because of the incarnation of Christ. Then the doctrine of recapitulation established

Christ’s person and work as the ontological ground for the Christian

knowledge of God49. The obedience in God’s will was the most important

factor for obtaining the real knowledge of God; otherwise the man (gnostic)

possessed a false knowledge. He was victim of a fraud and he could not manage

the likeness to God50.

3. The truth of God as present of the power of Spirit in the Church. For

Irenaeus the Church was the holy place in which the gift of recapitulation was

44 Ibidem IV 12, 3, ed. A. Rousseau, SCh 100/2, Paris 1965, 514-516, ANF 1, 476.

45 Cf. ibidem II 28, 3.

46 Ibidem, SCh 294, 274, ANF 1, 399.

47 Ibidem V 9, 3, SCh 153, 112, ANF 1, 535.

48 Cf. ibidem; Bushur, Joining the end to the beginning divine providence, p. 43.

49 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses III 16-19; Bushur, Joining the end to the beginning

divine providence, p. 26.

50 Cf. G. Wingren, Man and the Incarnation: A Study in the Biblical Theology of Irenaeus,

Philadelphia 1959, 26-29.

THE HERETIC GNOSTIC AND THE REAL “GNOSTIC” IN CHRIST 47

proving the personal history for every faithful man51. Within the Church there

was the continuity of the real teaching concerning God. The Church received

testimony from the prophets, the apostles, and all the disciples and through

them and the entire dispensation of God. All these had only the goal of man’s

salvation, namely, the true faith; which, having been received from the Church

because of Spirit’s grace52. Only the truth which was proclaimed by the Church

was constant53.

The Church had the truth of God through the grace of the Spirit. The canonicity

and interpretation of Scripture was ultimately referred to the authority

of the Church. Irenaeus compared the books of the Bible to trees in the garden

of the Church:

“It behoves us, therefore, to avoid their doctrines, and to take careful heed lest

we suffer any injury from them; but to flee to the Church, and be brought up

in her bosom, and be nourished with the Lord’s Scriptures. For the Church has

been planted as a garden (paradisus) in this world; therefore says the Spirit of

God, «Thou mayest freely eat from every tree of the garden», that is, Eat ye

from every Scripture of the Lord; but ye shall not eat with an uplifted mind,

nor touch any heretical discord”54.

Also, the basic pillar of the divine truth was the revelation of the triune

teaching. The faith in trinitarian deity was the regula veritatis which gave to

the Church the characterization of holiness55.

The bishop of Lyon insisted that the life of the Church was:

“organically connected to the fleshly existence of this world. The incorruptible

life accomplished in the spiritual waters of baptism was not the life of

another world, but it was a gift of Holy Spirit for the present world until eternity.

Rather, it was the intended perfection of earthly life”56.

51 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses III 24, 1.

52 Cf. ibidem. III 24, 1-2.

53 Cf. ibidem.

54 Ibidem V 20, 2, SCh 153, 258, ANF 1, 548.

55 Cf. ibidem V 20, 1, SCh 153, 254-256, ANF 1, 548: “But the path of those belonging to

the Church circumscribes the whole world, as possessing the sure tradition from the apostles, and

gives unto us to see that the faith of all is one and the same, since all receive one and the same God

the Father, and believe in the same dispensation regarding the incarnation of the Son of God, and

are cognizant of the same gift of the Spirit, and are conversant with the same commandments, and

preserve the same form of ecclesiastical constitution, and expect the same advent of the Lord, and

await the same salvation of the complete man, that is, of the soul and body. And undoubtedly the

preaching of the Church is true and steadfast, in which one and the same way of salvation is shown

throughout the whole world”.

56 Cf. Bushur, Joining the end to the beginning divine providence, p. 76.

48 EIRINI ARTEMI

The Church was the mystical body of Christ, in which the believers united

through the mystery of eucharist57 have received the gift of immortality58. Joel

R. Kurz underlined,

“the eucharist thus establishes the faith of the church and imparts to humankind

the very divine life of the creator through the life of creation”59.

Without the Holy Spirit, it was impossible for the believer to know the

Son and the Father and to accept the salvation through the incarnation of the

Son60. Christ recapitulated and recapitulates not only the past but the future by

continuing as head of the Church until the end of the world: “He takes the primacy

to himself and by making himself the head of the Church, he will draw

all things to himself at the appointed time”61. However, Christ as the head of

the Church kept the truth in the Church and because of the holy creative attribute

of the Spirit, it could go on working in the apostolic ministry of the

Church. For the bishop of Lyon, the same power that brought forth life out of

non-existence, created the Church through the apostles:

“It certainly was in the power of the apostles to declare that Christ descended

upon Jesus, or that the so-called superior Savior came down upon the dispensational

one, or he who is from the invisible places upon him from the Demiurge

[…] But what really was the case, that did they record, that the Spirit of

God as a dove descended upon him; the Spirit, of whom it was declared by

Isaiah, «And the Spirit of God shall rest upon him», as I have already said.

And again, «The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me».

That is the Spirit of whom the Lord declares, «For it is not you that speak,

but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you». And again, giving to the

disciples the power of regeneration into God”62.

For Irenaeus, the Spirit donated the unique truth of God in Church. The

latter and the Spirit were inseparable.

“For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of

God is, there is the Church and every kind of grace”63.

There wasn’t any secret doctrine concealed in the Church’s common

Creed. There wasn’t any superior Christianity for intellectuals. The faith publicly

confessed by the Church was the common faith of all. This faith alone is

57 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus Haereses IV 7, 10.

58 Cf. ibidem V 2, 3.

59 J.R. Kurz, The Gifts of Creation and the Consummation of Humanity: Irenaeus of Lyons’

Recapitulatory Theology of the Eucharist, “Worship” 83 (2009) n. 2, 115.

60 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses I 9, 2.

61 Cf. ibidem III 16, 6.

62 Ibidem III 17, 1, SCh 211, 328, ANF 1, 444. Cf. Bushur, Joining the end to the beginning

divine providence, p. 77.

63 Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses III 24, 1, SCh 211, 474, ANF 1, 458.

THE HERETIC GNOSTIC AND THE REAL “GNOSTIC” IN CHRIST 49

apostolic, it was handed down from the Apostles that was, from Jesus and from

God. In adhering to this faith, it was publicly transmitted by the Apostles to

their successors64 because of Spirit’s grace.

Finally, Irenaeus revisited the idea that the Spirit was presented to the

Church now, however, as the gift that brought and brings to life those who

receive it65. Here the bishop of Lyon implied not only the scripture, but also

the baptism and the eucharist to all the participating members as sacramental.

By this way any man can become the temple in which the Spirit dwells66. The

Spirit gave the opportunity to many of the believers to drive out demons effectually

and truly, so that those who had been cleansed from evil spirits frequently

believed and united with the Church, and took as a present the gift of

Spirit’s knowledge (divine knowledge).

By the gift of the Spirit which was the enlightenment of the believers of the

holy truth, people who became part of the Church comprehended the connection

between Old and New Testament. Through the Church, there was a christological

interpretation of the Old Testament. The latter defended the unity of

the Bible as the revelation of God’s redemptive plan in the creation event, both

before and after the Fall67. In this way it linked Christology with the work of

the “two hands of God”68. Finally, Irenaeus of Lyon explained how the Spirit

revealed the Word through the prophetic visions in Daniel 3 and Ezekiel 1 and

how the Spirit donated the truth of God to his believers, real Gnostics in Christ69.

As conclusion it could be emphasised that the holy The Spirit accomplished

the Father’s will in men who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in

Christ. The Spirit, the advocate came down on the disciples at Pentecost, after

the Lord’s ascension, with power to open the gates of life to all nations and to

make known to them the new covenant. So it was that men of every language

joined in singing one song of praise to God, and scattered tribes, restored to

unity by the Spirit, were offered to the Father as the first fruits of all the nations70.

Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have

become one in body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul71.

64 Cf. Pope Benedict XVI, Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/

en/audiences/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20070328.html [access: 14.10.2017].

65 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses III 24, 1; A. Briggman, Irenaeus of Lyons and

the Theology of the Holy Spirit, Oxford 2012, 86.

66 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses V 1-3.

67 Cf. ibidem IV 14, 2.

68 Cf. ibidem IV 20, 1.

69 Cf. ibidem IV 20, 10-11; V. Bebis, The Pneumatology of St Irenaeus of Lyons, (Thesis submitted

for the degree Doctor of Philosophy), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus 2010, 48.

70 Cf. Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses III 17, 1-2.

71 Cf. ibidem III 17, 3.

50 EIRINI ARTEMI

***

The real gnostic in Christ in Irenaeus had belief in the great orthodox doctrines

of unity: One God, who is the Father and Creator of all things, immaterial

and material, and who orchestrates one harmonious history of revelation

and redemption; one Savior, who is both divine spirit and human flesh, both

Christ and Jesus; one human nature, which is both spiritual and fleshly; one

salvation of both the spiritual and material realms, which is by faith72.

The knowledge of God and His eternal glory can be realized through the

Incarnate Word of God who is the source of real knowledge. The latter is received

through the Church, as the body of Christ, especially by participation

in the eucharist. The real gnosis in Christ is revealed in our inner man, if it has

been purified and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Finally, the knowledge of God

and His eternal glory can be realized partially in this world, through our unity

with the Father in His Only-Begotten Son, by the work of the Holy Spirit, and

completed in the world to come.

On the other hand, the heretic gnostic thought that there were two gods, the

good and the evil. The latter created every material thing. Gnostics interpreted

the Scriptures according to their own secret tradition and without accepting the

Church tradition of the apostles, prophets and bishops, successors of the apostles.

The process of Salvation began when the Gnosis, the Gospel, descended

like a beam of light, or a letter, or a bird, through the intermediate spheres

and worlds. Only in Church can the believers have the real gnosis of God and

through the mysteries of baptism and eucharist the Holy Spirit reveals the real

divine truth to the believers. This truth is the one and the same with the truth

or the holy tradition, oral and written in Scripture.

Finally, it is obvious that Ireneaus supported that:

“God has placed in the Church, first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly,

teachers”73. “Where, therefore, the gifts of the Lord have been placed, there it

behoves us to learn the truth, (namely), from those who possess that succession

of the Church which is from the apostles, and among whom exists that

which is sound and blameless in conduct, as well as that which is unadulterated

and incorrupt in speech. For these also preserve this faith of ours in one

God who created all things; and they increase that love (which we have) for

the Son of God, who accomplished such marvellous dispensations for our

sake: and they expound the Scriptures to us without danger, neither blaspheming

God, nor dishonouring the patriarchs, nor despising the prophets”74.

72 Cf. J. Bingham, One God, One Christ, One Salvation. Irenaeus the “peacemaker” was the

early church’s best warrior against Gnostic heresy, in: “Christian History: The Hunger for Secret

Knowledge” 96 (2007), http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-96/one-god-onechrist-

one-salvation.html [access: 6.10.2017].

73 Cf. 1Cor. 12:28.

74 Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Adversus haereses IV 26, 5, SCh 100/2, 728, ANF 1, 498.

THE HERETIC GNOSTIC AND THE REAL “GNOSTIC” IN CHRIST 51

(Summary)

The fight against gnostics allowed the holy bishop to develop the Christian

doctrine with a perfect way. At first, he showed that the knowledge (gnîsij) that

heretics sought in vain in mythical narratives was not real. The only real gnosis

was love and grace for believers in Christ and they were given to them by the Holy

Spirit. Only in Church man can be saved. And the real “gnostics” were not those

who rejected and despised their body in order to worship an “incomprehensible

God” and “Creator,” but the “spiritual” people who received from the Holy Spirit

the resurrection of the flesh and its indestructibility.

GNOSTYK HETERODOKSYJNY

I PRAWDZIWY GNOSTYK W CHRYSTUSIE

WEDŁUG NAUCZANIA IRENEUSZA Z LYONU

(Streszczenie)

Walka z gnostycyzmem pozwoliła św. Ireneuszowi z Lyonu rozwinąć w doskonały

sposób doktrynę chrześcijańską. Przede wszystkim wykazał on, że wiedza

(gnîsij), którą gnostycy dostrzegali na próżno w mitologicznych opowieściach,

nie była prawdziwa. Jedyną rzeczywistą gnozą była miłość i łaska udzielona wyznawcom

Chrystusa przez Ducha Świętego. Człowiek może być zbawiony tylko

w Kościele. Prawdziwymi gnostykami byli nie ci, którzy zwalczali swoje ciało lub

gardzili nim jako dziełem niepoznawalnego Boga Stwórcy, ale ludzie duchowi,

którzy otrzymali od Ducha Świętego zmartwychwstanie ciała i niezniszczalność.

Key words: gnosticism, gnostics, Irenaeus of Lyon, Holy Spirit, spiritual

people, aeons.

Słowa kluczowe: gnostycyzm, gnostyk, Ireneusz z Lyonu, Duch Święty, człowiek

duchowy, eony.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sources

Irenaeus Lugdunensis, Advesus haereses 1-5, ed. A. Rousseau – L. Doutreleau – B. Hemmerdinger

– Ch. Mercier, I, SCh 263-264, Paris 1979; II, SCh 293-294, Paris 1982;

III, SCh 210-211, Paris 1974; IV, SCh 100/1-2, Paris 1965; V, SCh 152-153, Paris

1969; transl. A. Roberts – W. Rambaut, ed. A. Roberts – J. Donaldson – A. Cleveland

Coxe, ANF 1, Buffalo – New York 1885, 315-567, revised and edited for New Advent

by K. Knight, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103.htm [access: 14.10.2017].

52 EIRINI ARTEMI

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