Legacy and Reception

How St. Irenaeus of Lyons was received after his death — his immediate debtors Hippolytus and Tertullian, the portrait Eusebius drew, the lineage of his “wonderful exchange” running to Athanasius, his eclipse in Byzantium when Against Heresies survived chiefly in Latin, the fate of his relics at Lyons, and his Orthodox commemoration — and the modern renaissance, from the printed editions and the 1945 Nag Hammadi vindication to the theological retrievals and Rome’s 2022 “Doctor of Unity” declaration.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Church Father)

This section turns from Irenaeus’ own works to his afterlife in the tradition and in the academy. Two complementary stories are told.

The first is the story of reception. Irenaeus’ anti-gnostic argument passed almost immediately into the tradition: Hippolytus of Rome and Tertullian both drew heavily on him, and Eusebius of Caesarea preserved much of what is known of his life. His soteriological “exchange” formula — the Word became what we are that we might become what he is — became the seed of the admirabile commercium that Athanasius would give its most famous form. Yet Irenaeus also faded in the Greek-speaking East: his great work survived largely in an early, wooden Latin translation, the Greek preserved only in florilegia. His tomb at the church later named Saint-Irénée in Lyons was destroyed in 1562. The Orthodox Church commemorates him as a hieromartyr on August 23.

The second is the story of recovery: the printed editions from Erasmus (1526) through Harvey to the Sources Chrétiennes critical edition; the 1945 Nag Hammadi codices, which let scholars test his reports of the gnostics against their own texts; and the modern theological retrievals, Orthodox (John Behr) and Western (von Balthasar; John Hick’s distinct “Irenaean theodicy”), culminating in Pope Francis’ 2022 declaration of Irenaeus as a Doctor of the Church under the title Doctor Unitatis.

Section Contents

• Patristic Reception — Hippolytus and Tertullian’s debts; Eusebius’ portrait; the exchange-formula lineage to Athanasius; the Latin-only transmission and the Greek florilegia; the relics and the 1562 destruction; the Orthodox feast (August 23).
• Modern Recovery — the editions (Erasmus → Harvey → Sources Chrétiennes); Nag Hammadi (1945) and the reassessment of his gnostic reports; the theological retrievals (Behr; von Balthasar; Hick’s “Irenaean theodicy” distinguished from Irenaeus); Rome’s 2022 “Doctor of Unity” declaration; why Irenaeus matters now.

See Also

• Exchange and Deification — the formula whose lineage this section traces forward
• The Work and Its Targets — the gnostic reports Nag Hammadi later tested
• Theosis in Athanasius — the later flowering of the exchange formula
• The Church Fathers — the patristic frame in the broader guide

References

• Behr, John. Irenaeus of Lyons: Identifying Christianity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
• Eusebius of Caesarea. Ecclesiastical History, Book 5. Trans. NPNF II/1.
• Irenaeus. Against Heresies (Adversus Haereses). Trans. ANF 1; ed. Sources Chrétiennes 100, 152–153, 210–211, 263–264, 293–294.
• Congregation for the Causes of Saints / Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Decree declaring St. Irenaeus a Doctor of the Church, Doctor Unitatis (January 2022).