Irenaeus of Lyons

Others of them employ outward marks ... They style themselves Gnostics. They also possess images, some of them painted and others formed…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

As long as any one has the means of doing good to his neighbours, and does not do so, he shall be…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

[Peter] testified to [the Jews in Acts 2] that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the Judge of the living and…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

And when we come to refute them, we shall show in its fitting place that this class of men [i.e., the gnostics]…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

[Naaman] dipped himself," it says, "seven times in Jordan." It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy,…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

But following the only true and stedfast Teacher, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love,…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

God became man, that we might be gods.

— Irenaeus of Lyons

A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

The church has been planted as a paradise in this world.

— Irenaeus of Lyons

Since it is impossible, without God, to come to knowledge of God, he teaches men through his Word to know God.

— Irenaeus of Lyons

He [Jesus] fought and conquered. On the one hand, he was man who struggled for his fathers and through his obedience cancelled…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

It is not necessary to seek the truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since the apostles,…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

Suppose there arise a dispute relative to some important question among us, should we not have recourse to the most ancient Churches…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

He who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man ... might become the son of God.

— Irenaeus of Lyons

For where the church is, there is the Spirit of God, and where the Spirit of God, there is the church and…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

The preaching of the Church truly continues without change and is everywhere the same. It has the testimony of the Prophets and…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

One should not seek among others the truth that can be easily gotten from the Church. For in her, as in a…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

Prior to Valentinus, those who follow Valentinus had no existence. Nor did those from Marcion exist before Marcion. Nor, in short, did…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

Through a tree we were made debtors to God; so through a tree we have our debt canceled.

— Irenaeus of Lyons

No man can know God unless God has taught him; that is to say, that without God, God cannot be known.

— Irenaeus of Lyons

We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

Error, indeed is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

When we stand in the light it is not we who illumine the light and cause it to shine but we are…

— Irenaeus of Lyons

The glory of God is the human person fully alive.

— Irenaeus of Lyons