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[[Image:AgiosEirinaios01.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Irenaeus of Lyons]]
The holy and glorious, right-victorious Hieromartyr '''Irenaeus of Lyons''' (c. 130-202) was [[bishop]] of Lugdunum in Gaul, which is now Lyons, France. His writings were formative in the early development of Christian [[theology]]. He was a disciple of [[Polycarp of Smyrna]], who himself was a disciple of the [[Apostle John|Apostle John the Theologian]]. His [[feast day]] is [[August 23]].
Irenaeus is remembered as the second bishop of Lyons, although there is no clear evidence that he ever officially assumed the episcopal duties. The first bishop, [[Pothinus of Lyons|Pothinus]], was martyred around 177 during persecutions under [[Marcus Aurelius]], when Irenaeus was visiting Rome.
Irenaeus is remembered as a [[martyr]], although there is no evidence for how he died, presumably shortly after the turn of the third century. He was buried under the [[church ]] of Saint John in Lyons, which was later renamed St. Irenaeus. His tomb and his remains were destroyed in 1562 by the Calvinist Huguenots. (The remains of Leonardo da Vinci and Kepler, among others, also were lost in the religious wars of those times.)
==Writings==
Irenaeus cites from most of the [[New Testament]] canon, as well as works from the [[Apostolic Fathers]], [[I Clement]] and the [[Shepherd of Hermas]], however he makes no references to [[Book of Philemon|Philemon]], [[II Peter]], [[III John]] and [[Book of Jude|Jude]], which isn't surprising, since the canon of the [[Holy Scriptures]] had not yet been set. Irenaeus was the first Christian writer to list all four and exactly four of the canonical [[Gospel]]s as divinely inspired, possibly in reaction to [[Marcion]]'s edited version of [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]], which Marcion asserted was the one and only true gospel.
His works were published in English in 1885 in the ''[[Ante-Nicene ]] Fathers'' collection.
==His theology==
== External link ==
*[http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/TOC.htm A nineteenth-century translation of Irenaeus' work]
*[http://www.comeandseeicons.com/i/phn28.htm Icon and Troparion of St. Ireneaus of Lyons]
[[Category:Church Fathers]]
[[Category:Saints]]
[[Category:Ante-Nicene Saints]]
[[Category:Ante-Nicene Fathers]]
[[Category:Bishops]]
[[Category:2nd-3rd-century bishops]]
[[Category:3rd-century saints]]
[[el:Ειρηναίος Λουγδούνου]]
[[ro:Irineu de Lyon]]
