St. Irenaeus

Today the Church celebrates the feast day of St. Irenaeus of Lyons. He is one of the early Church Fathers and his writings were very helpful for me to see that the early Christians were Catholic in their beliefs and practices. Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp who was a disciple of the apostle John. He spoke on the Eucharist, apostolic tradition, and particularly against the heretical views of the gnostic movement that was gaining ground in the 2nd century.

Here's some of his writings:

"He took from among creation that which is bread, and gave thanks, saying, ‘This is my body.’ The cup likewise, which is from among the creation to which we belong, he confessed to be his blood. He taught the new sacrifice of the new covenant, of which Malachi, one of the twelve [minor] prophets, had signified beforehand: ‘You do not do my will, says the Lord Almighty, and I will not accept a sacrifice at your hands. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice; for great is my name among the Gentiles, says the Lord Almighty’ [Mal. 1:10–11]. By these words he makes it plain that the former people will cease to make offerings to God; but that in every place sacrifice will be offered to him, and indeed, a pure one, for his name is glorified among the Gentiles" (Against Heresies 4:17:5 [A.D. 189]).


"If the Lord were from other than the Father, how could he rightly take bread, which is of the same creation as our own, and confess it to be his body and affirm that the mixture in the cup is his blood?" (Against Heresies 4:33–32 [A.D. 189]).


"He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own body, from which he gives increase unto our bodies. When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread receives the Word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the body of Christ, and from these the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they say that the flesh is not capable of receiving the gift of God, which is eternal life—flesh which is nourished by the body and blood of the Lord, and is in fact a member of him?" (ibid., 5:2). "In the Church God has placed apostles, prophets, teachers, and every other working of the Spirit, of whom none of those are sharers who do not conform to the Church, but who defraud themselves of life by an evil mind and even worse way of acting. Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and all grace" (Against Heresies 3:24:1 [A.D. 189]).


"[The spiritual man] shall also judge those who give rise to schisms, who are destitute of the love of God, and who look to their own special advantage rather than to the unity of the Church; and who for trifling reasons, or any kind of reason which occurs to them, cut in pieces and divide the great and glorious body of Christ, and so far as in them lies, destroy it—men who prate of peace while they give rise to war, and do in truth strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel. For they can bring about no reformation of enough importance to compensate for the evil arising from their schism. . . . True knowledge is that which consists in the doctrine of the apostles, and the ancient constitution of the Church throughout all the world, and the distinctive manifestation of the body of Christ according to the successions of the bishops, by which they have handed down that Church which exists in every place [i.e., the Catholic Church]" (ibid., 4:33:7–8).

"[I]t is incumbent to obey the presbyters who are in the Church—those who, as I have shown, possess the succession from the apostles; those who, together with the succession of the episcopate, have received the infallible charism of truth, according to the good pleasure of the Father. But [it is also incumbent] to hold in suspicion others who depart from the primitive succession, and assemble themselves together in any place whatsoever, either as heretics of perverse minds, or as schismatics puffed up and self-pleasing, or again as hypocrites, acting thus for the sake of lucre and vainglory. For all these have fallen from the truth" (ibid., 4:26:2).

Old Time Religion

"I Want to Go To A NEW TESTAMENT Church" (Part 1) Be Careful What You Wish For!

Early in my born-again years, I desired to go to a church that "preached the Word" and resembled the church of the New Testament. Even then, I knew that the water closest to the head of the stream would be the purest. Most of the books of the New Testament were written between 50 and 145 A.D., and provided many details of that early church, but were not written as the "Official Handbook and History of the Early Church. "

So how do I know for sure that my church is worshipping like a "New Testament Church?" Well, we know something of the early church behavior in that they met together for the "breaking of the bread" in Acts and had a meal together that Paul describes as the body and blood of Christ in
1 Corinthians and Christ himself in John told us to eat His body and drink his blood. Granted, I am "cherry picking" the scriptures to prove my point here, but unfortunately, the New Testament wasn't written with a complete order of service such as a church bulletin we have nowadays to know what is going to happen in the service.
So we turn to recorded history to get a better picture of the early church. It turns out the church was organized into bishops and presbyters (priests) who possessed the succession from the apostles. So apostolic succession wasn't a Catholic myth, but was actually an important criteria for the early church in discerning what was a legitimate church. Already, heretical sects were springing up and the ability of a bishop to trace his roots to Peter and the apostles was key for determining orthodoxy.

Ignatius of Antioch (110 AD)

"Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God. . . . They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes" (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2–7:1 )

St. Irenaeus said in his Treatise Against Heresies in the 2nd Century:

"Therefore it is necessary to obey the presbyters who are in the Church, those who I have shown, possess the succession from the apostles; those who, together with the succession of the episcopate, have received the certain gift of truth, according to the good pleasure of the Father. But, to hold in suspicion others who depart from the primitive succession, and assemble together in any place whatsoever."

St Cyril of Jerusalem (4th Century) said:

"and if ever you are sojourning in cities, inquire not simply where the Lord's House is (for the other sects of the profane also attempt to call their dens houses of the Lord), nor merely where the church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the peculiar name of this Holy Church, the mother of us all."

So the early church didn't just meet "wherever two or more were gathered" and flipped open a Bible for a Bible study? I guess not, since there were no Bibles floating around but the early Christians did assemble in a place called the Catholic Church that had received the gift of God's truth through "primitive succession." The notion of just meeting together on one's own initiative and authority and calling it church was not acceptable or legitimate in the early church as St. Cyril clearly tells us.

St. Augustine (Late 4th Century) said:

"[T]here are many other things which most properly can keep me in [the Catholic Church’s] bosom. The unanimity of peoples and nations keeps me here. Her authority, inaugurated in miracles, nourished by hope, augmented by love, and confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession of priests, from the very see of the apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave the charge of feeding his sheep [John 21:15–17], up to the present episcopate, keeps me here. And last, the very name Catholic, which, not without reason, belongs to this Church alone, in the face of so many heretics, so much so that, although all heretics want to be called ‘Catholic,’ when a stranger inquires where the Catholic Church meets, none of the heretics would dare to point out his own basilica or house" (Against the Letter of Manicheus Called "The Foundation" 4:5 [A.D. 397]).

These are just a few samples from the massive volumes of writings of this early Church that describe its organization, its succession from Peter and gives us a "snapshot" of what it "looked like." So when I was 14 years old and went looking for a "New Testament Church" I didn't need to look further than Our Lady of Notre Dame (my childhood parish). Because, this is the same Church that could trace its roots to the "primitive church" and still carries forth the "gift of truth."
After all, the Bible tells us that the Church is the pillar and foundation of Truth. 1 Tim 3:15

Thoughts on the Didache

Why am I blogging about the Didache, a non-inspired (non-canonical) document of history written some 30 years after Jesus ascended? One reason is that I have always been a fan of history and I won the Daughters of the American Revolution award for history in 8th grade in 1972! Yet when it came to studying my faith as an evangelical christian, I only considered modern church history from 1500's onward and never thought about the "black hole" of Church history from the Pentecost to the Reformation. I thought all I needed to know about church history was found in the Bible, yet it's not intended to be an accurate primer on 1st century history.

So back to the Didache. My thoughts are this: there was no "Bible" being passed around or other "sole rule of faith" yet this new church was growing and spreading throughout the ancient world like wildfire! To be sure, there was certainly some letters and epistles being read in churches and being circulated but some of the gospels and letters may not have been written down yet! So how did this fledlging group of believers know what to believe and what was correct if they did not have a Bible until some 300 years later, fully "bound" and set in one volume so to speak? Even if they did have copies of the "New Testament" there is a fair chance that many of the folks were illiterate. They did have the Old Testament and many of Paul's letters refer back to it including his references that can be traced to the deuterocanonical books, (which were removed from the scriptures during the reformation.)
So the church grew and spread without a formal Bible, but they did have letters of instruction , including the Didache which obviously didn't make the "cut" at the early Church councils. However it is still useful as a peek into the history of the primitive church.
2000 years from now, when future historians/theologians are trying to understand what the 21st century church believed and practiced, they will no doubt consult sources other than the Bible. The Bible alone will not give them information regarding how this current 21st Century church believed and worshipped. They would consult letters, books, any records that survived through history (perhaps "Prayer of Jabez", "The Purpose Driven Life?" Writings of John Paul 2 and others?) to give them a "snapshot" of what this church was like in worship and practice. In the same way, we look to extra-biblical sources to help us now understand how the early church worshipped and practiced their new found faith. I thank God for the documents of history that have been preserved to this day for our edification. They have opened my eyes of faith in ways that I never thought possible.

Peter, Linus, Clement.........John Paul 2, Benedict 16

The primacy and papal succession of Peter is often discounted because it can't be "proven" by the New Testament. Others still argue that Peter never went to Rome because his travels there aren't specifically mentioned in Scripture. A Christian in the 2nd century named Irenaeus was a disciple of a bishop named Polycarp who was himself a disciple of John. This gentleman wrote a book called "Against Heresies." In his book, he gives us an early picture of apostolic succession:

Since, however, it would be too long to enumerate in such a volume as this the succession of all the churches, we shall confound all those who, in whatever manner, whether through self-satisfaction or vainglory, or through blindness and wicked opinion, assemble other than where it is proper, by pointing out here the successions of the bishops of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, that church which has the tradition and the faith which comes down to us after having been announced to men by the apostles. With that church, because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree, that is, all the faithful in the whole world, and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition.

The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the bishopric. This man, as he had seen the blessed apostles, and had been conversant with them, might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone [in this], for there were many still remaining who had received instructions from the apostles. In the time of this Clement, no small dissension having occurred among the brethren at Corinth, the Church in Rome dispatched a most powerful letter to the Corinthians, exhorting them to peace, renewing their faith, and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from the apostles…