Spirituality and Religion

Against Heresies

On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called GnosisBy Irenaeus

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Against Heresies is a work of Christian theology written in Greek about the year 180 by Irenaeus, the bishop of Lugdunum (now Lyon in France). In it, Irenaeus identifies and describes several schools of Gnosticism, as well as other schools of Christian thought, and contrasts their beliefs with orthodox Christianity. The treatise remains historically important as one of the first unambiguous attestations of the canonical gospel texts and some of the Pauline epistles. Irenaeus argued that orthodox Christianity was passed down to him from the apostles who knew Jesus personally, while the Gnostics and Marcionites were distorting this apostolic tradition. Table of Contents: Book I. Book II: A rebuttal of the Gnostic systems employing philosophical arguments primarily rather than employing Scripture. Book III: Rebuttal based on apostolic succession and tradition passed down of the faith; defense of the incarnation of Jesus; defense of the virgin birth. Book IV: Demonstration that the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. Book V: A defense of the physical resurrection and eternal judgement.

Gods & Mortals Mythological World Supernatural Rebellion Betrayal

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GenreSpirituality and Religion

Length27 hrs 20 mins

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FormateBook with Audio

Publish dateAug 18, 2023

LanguageEnglish

1Introductory Note

2Preface.

3Chapter I. Absurd ideas of the disciples of Valentinus as to the origin, name, order, and conjugal productions of their fancied Æons, with the passages of Scripture which they adapt to their opinions.

4Chapter II. The Propator was known to Monogenes alone. Ambition, disturbance, and danger into which Sophia fell; her shapeless offspring: she is restored by Horos. The production of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, in order to the completion of the Æons. Manner of the production of Jesus.

5Chapter III. Texts of Holy Scripture used by these heretics to support their opinions.

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6Chapter IV. Account given by the heretics of the formation of Achamoth; origin of the visible world from her disturbances.

7Chapter V. Formation of the Demiurge; description of him. He is the creator of everything outside of the Pleroma.

8Chapter VI. The threefold kind of man feigned by these heretics: good works needless for them, though necessary to others: their abandoned morals.

9Chapter VII. The mother Achamoth, when all her seed are perfected, shall pass into the Pleroma, accompanied by those men who are spiritual; the Demiurge, with animal men, shall pass into the intermediate habitation; but all material men shall go into corruption. Their blasphemous opinions against the true incarnation of Christ by the Virgin Mary. Their views as to the prophecies. Stupid ignorance of the Demiurge.

10Chapter VIII. How the Valentinians pervert the Scriptures to support their own pious opinions.

11Chapter IX. Refutation of the impious interpretations of these heretics.

12Chapter X. Unity of the faith of the Church throughout the whole world.

13Chapter XI. The opinions of Valentinus, with those of his disciples and others.

14Chapter XII. The doctrines of the followers of Ptolemy and Colorbasus.

15Chapter XIII. The deceitful arts and nefarious practices of Marcus.

16Chapter XIV. The various hypotheses of Marcus and others. Theories respecting letters and syllables.

17Chapter XV. Sige relates to Marcus the generation of the twenty-four elements and of Jesus. Exposure of these absurdities.

18Chapter XVI. Absurd interpretations of the Marcosians.

19Chapter XVII. The theory of the Marcosians, that created things were made after the image of things invisible.

20Chapter XVIII. Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support of their hypothesis.

21Chapter XIX. Passages of Scripture by which they attempt to prove that the Supreme Father was unknown before the coming of Christ.

22Chapter XX. The apocryphal and spurious Scriptures of the Marcosians, with passages of the Gospels which they pervert.

23Chapter XXI. The views of redemption entertained by these heretics.

24Chapter XXII. Deviations of heretics from the truth.

25Chapter XXIII. Doctrines and practices of Simon Magus and Menander.

26Chapter XXIV. Doctrines of Saturninus and Basilides.

27Chapter XXV. Doctrines of Carpocrates.

28Chapter XXVI. Doctrines of Cerinthus, the Ebionites, and Nicolaitanes.

29Chapter XXVII. Doctrines of Cerdo and Marcion.

30Chapter XXVIII. Doctrines of Tatian, the Encratites, and others.

31Chapter XXIX. Doctrines of various other Gnostic sects, and especially of the Barbeliotes or Borborians.

32Chapter XXX. Doctrines of the Ophites and Sethians.

33Chapter XXXI. Doctrines of the Cainites.

34Preface.

35Chapter I. There is but one God: the impossibility of its being otherwise.

36Chapter II. The world was not formed by angels, or by any other being, contrary to the will of the most high God, but was made by the Father through the Word.5

37Chapter III. The Bythus and Pleroma of the Valentinians, as well as the God of Marcion, shown to be absurd; the world was actually created by the same Being who had conceived the idea of it, and was not the fruit of defect or ignorance.

38Chapter IV. The absurdity of the supposed vacuum and defect of the heretics is demonstrated.

39Chapter V. This world was not formed by any other beings within the territory which is contained by the Father.

40Chapter VI. The angels and the Creator of the world could not have been ignorant of the Supreme God.

41Chapter VII. Created things are not the images of those Æons who are within the Pleroma.

42Chapter VIII. Created things are not a shadow of the Pleroma.

43Chapter IX. There is but one Creator of the world, God the Father: this the constant belief of the Church.

44Chapter X. Perverse interpretations of Scripture by the heretics: God created all things out of nothing, and not from pre-existent matter.

45Chapter XI. The heretics, from their disbelief of the truth, have fallen into an abyss of error: reasons for investigating their systems.

46Chapter XII. The Triacontad of the heretics errs both by defect and excess: Sophia could never have produced anything apart from her consort; Logos and Sige could not have been contemporaries.

47Chapter XIII. The first order of production maintained by the heretics is altogether indefensible.

48Chapter XIV. Valentinus and his followers derived the principles of their system from the heathen; the names only are changed.

49Chapter XV. No account can be given of these productions.

50Chapter XVI. The Creator of the world either produced of Himself the images of things to be made, or the Pleroma was formed after the image of some previous system; and so on ad infinitum.