Jerome. Lives of Illustrious Men 35
35 Irenæus the bishop PL 23, 649
Irenæus, a presbyter under Pothinus the bishop who ruled the church of Lyons in Gaul, being sent to Rome as legate by the martyrs of this place, on account of certain ecclesiastical questions, presented to Bishop Eleutherius certain letters under his own name which are worthy of honour. Afterwards when Pothinus, nearly ninety years of age, received the crown of martyrdom for Christ, he was put in his place. It is certain too that he was a disciple of Polycarp, the priest and martyr, whom we mentioned above. He wrote five books Against heresies and a short volume, Against the nations and another On discipline, a letter to Marcianus his brother On apostolical preaching, a book of Various treatises; also to Blastus, On schism,to Florinus On monarchy or That God is not the author of evil, also an excellent Commentary on the Ogdoad at the end of which indicating that he was near the apostolic period he wrote “I adjure thee whosoever shall transcribe this book, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by his glorious advent at which He shall judge the quick and the dead, that you diligently compare, after you have transcribed, and amend it according to the copy from which you have transcribed it and also that you shall similarly transcribe this adjuration as you find it in your pattern.” Other works of his are in circulation to wit: to Victor the Roman bishop On the Paschal controversy in which he warns him not lightly to break the unity of the fraternity, if indeed Victor believed that the many bishops of Asia and the East, who with the Jews celebrated the passover, on the fourteenth day of the new moon, were to be condemned. But even those who differed from them did not support Victor in his opinion. He flourished chiefly in the reign of the Emperor Commodus, who succeeded Marcus Antoninus Verus in power.
Irenaeus, Pothini episcopi, qui Lugdunensem in Gallia regebat Ecclesiam, presbyter, a martyribus ejusdem loci, ob quasdam Ecclesiae quaestiones legatus Romam missus, honorificas super nomine suo ad Eleutherum episcopum perfert litteras. Postea jam Pothino prope nonagenario, ob Christum martyrio coronato, in locum ejus substituitur. Constat autem Polycarpi, cujus supra fecimus mentionem, sacerdotis et martyris, hunc fuisse discipulum. Scripsit quinque adversus haereses libros, et contra gentes volumen breve, et de disciplina aliud, et ad Martianum fratrem de Apostolica praedicatione, et librum variorum tractatuum, et ad Blastum de Schismate, et ad Florinum de Monarchia, sive quod Deus non sit conditor malorum, et de Ogdoade egregium commentarium, in cujus fine significans se Apostolicorum temporum vicinum fuisse, sic subscripsit: Adjuro te, qui 875 transcribis librum istum, per Dominum Jesum Christum, et per gloriosum ejus adventum, quo judicaturus est vivos et mortuos, ut conferas, postquam transcripseris, et emendes illum ad exemplar, unde scripsisti, diligentissime: hanc quoque obtestationem similiter transferas, ut invenisti in exemplari. Feruntur ejus et aliae ad Victorem episcopum Romanum de quaestione Paschae epistolae: in quibus commonet eum, non facile debere unitatem collegii scindere. Siquidem Victor multos Asiae et Orientis episcopos, qui decima quarta luna cum Judaeis Pascha celebrabant, damnandos crediderat. In qua sententia hi, qui discrepabant ab illis, Victori non dederunt manus. Floruit maxime sub Commodo principe, qui M. Antonino Vero in imperium successerat.
Εἰρηναῖος, Ποθεινοῦ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου Λουγδούνων τῆς ἐν Γαλλίαις Ἐκκλησίας πρεσβύτερος, παρὰ τῶν μαρτύρων τῆς εἰρημένης πόλεως, διά τινας ἐκκλησιαστικὰς αἰτίας, πρεσβευτὴς εἰς Ῥώμην σταλεὶς, ἐπ' ὀνόματι οἰκείῳ δεξάμενος ἐπιστολὰς γεμούσας τιμῆς, πρὸς Ἐλεύθερον ἐπίσκοπον Ῥώμης ἀπηνέγκατο. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ποθεινοῦ σχεδὸν ἐνενήκοντα ἔτους μαρτυρήσαντος, εἰς τὸν τούτου τόπον ὑπεισέρχεται. Ὡμολόγηται δὲ Πολυκάρπου, οὗτινος προεμνήσθημεν, γεγενῆσθαι μαθητής. Ἔγραψε πέντε κατὰ τῶν αἱρετικῶν βίβλους, καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν τεῦχος βραχὺ, καὶ περὶ ἐπιστήμης ἕτερον, καὶ πρὸς Μαρκιανὸν ἀδελφὸν περὶ τοῦ Ἀποστολικοῦ κηρύγματος, καὶ βίβλον ποικίλων ὁμιλιῶν. καὶ πρὸς Βλάστον περὶ Σχίσματος, καὶ πρὸς Φλωρῖνον περὶ Μοναρχίας, καὶ Ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς κτιστὴς κακῶν οὐκ ἔστι, καὶ περὶ Ὀγδοαστῶν ἐξαίρετον σύνταγμα, ἐν τῷ τέλει δὲ τοῦ αὐτοῦ συντάγματος ὑπέγραψεν οὕτως· « Ὁρκῶ σε τὸν μεταγράφοντα ταύτην τὴν βίβλον, κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ κατὰ τῆς ἐνδόξου ἐλεύσεως αὐτοῦ, ἐν ᾗ κρινεῖ ζῶντας καὶ νεκροὺς, ἵνα ἀντιβάλῃς μετὰ τὸ γράψαι, καὶ ἐκδιορθώσῃ πρὸς τὰ ἀντίγραφα, ἀφ' ὧν ἔγραψας, 876 ἐπιμελῶς, καὶ ταύτην τὴν κατάκρισιν ὁμοίως μεταγράψῃς, καθὼς εὗρες ἐν τοῖς ἀντιγράφοις. » Φέρονται αὐτοῦ καὶ ἄλλαι πρὸς Βίκτωρα ἐπίσκοπον Ῥώμης περὶ ζητήσεως τοῦ Πάσχα ἐπιστολαὶ, ἐν αἷς παραινεῖ αὐτῷ, μὴ ῥαδίως ὀφείλειν τὴν ἕνωσιν τῆς ἑταιρότητος διασχίσαι. Καὶ δὲ Βίκτωρ πολλοὺς τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ τῆς Ἀνατολῆς ἐπισκόπους καθεῖλεν, οἵτινες τῇ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ τῆς σελήνης μετὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων τὸ Πάσχα ἐπετέλεσαν. Ταύτῃ δὲ τῇ γνώμῃ τοὺς διαφωνήσαντας μὴ συναινέσαι Βίκτωρι. Ἤνθησε μάλιστα ἐπὶ Κομόδου Βασιλέως, ὅστις εἰς τόπον Ἀντωνίνου Βήρου ὑπεισῆλθεν.