The expansion of Christianity between the 1st and 4th centuries d. Ç. occurred towards the Asia Minor and to the core of Roman Empire, that is, the cities that were in Anatolia (present-day Turkey), in Greece and the city of Rome itself. This expansion phase was conventionally called "Early Christian Church" or yet, "The Age of the Church Fathers”. The Early Christian Church laid the foundations of Christian orthodoxy, establishing the main tenets that would be defended later. Among the main representatives of this phase of Christianity was Lyon Irenaeus, who committed to fighting the gnosticism, a heretical sect that flourished at the same time that Christianity was expanding.
Irenaeus, or Saint Irenaeus, was born in the eastern part of the Roman provinces in Greece, in 130 AD. C., and died in the present city of Lyon, France, in 202 d. C., where he was bishop. Hence the term adjacent to his name: Irenaeus of Lyon. Irenaeus was characterized by his ability with writing, having bequeathed monumental works to the Christian tradition. Among these works are the volumes of the so-called
Adversus Haereses, which means "Against Heresies", whose aim was to describe and refute the Gnostic heresies, especially the Valentinianism.The term “heresy” means “choice” and was used by the Church Fathers (in addition to Irenaeus, the following also stood out: Tertullian, mercifulof alexandria, origins and Hippolyteof rome) to qualify those who deliberately strayed from the path of orthodoxy (of right opinion). THE Gnosis (a term meaning “Knowledge”), or gnosticism, constituted a heretical sect that mixed philosophical assumptions of the neoplatonism and from other currents of Hellenistic philosophy with the Christian tradition. The Valentinian variation of Gnosis, a sect developed by valentine (100-160 d. C.), used the texts of the Gospels to defend ideas completely foreign to the traditional interpretation.
The Valentinians argued, for example, that there was a place of fullness called Pleroma, which was inhabited by divine beings, the Éons. One of these Éons he would have created the corruptible and mortal world, the visible world as we know it. well, JesusChrist, for the Valentinians, he would have received, at the time of his baptism, the infusion of another aeon, who would have a savior plan for men. In the words of Christ reproduced in the Gospels, this aeon I would have left the "clues", the "path" to know the Pleroma, that is, to be able to inhabit the world of the fullness of perfect beings.
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From this interpretation of Valentine resulted the fact that the Gnostics conceived of themselves as beings enlightened, who would be (more than the simple bishops of the Early Church) the ideal interpreters of occult knowledge I leave for aeon who dwelt in Christ. Thus, so that other people could have gnosis, that is, full knowledge of the occult knowledge, should "initiate", go through an initiation ritual mediated by a member enlightened.
Irenaeus identified in these Valentinian arguments a series of grave consequences. The first of these was the presupposition of two rival deities, the creator of the corruptible world and the savior. The second, the Gnostic pride that claimed to have with it a supposed key to unravel the mysteries of the universe and of Creation.
These positions of the Gnostics needed to be refuted, according to Irenaeus, because they were contrary, for example, to the dogma of the Trinity, which admits the coexistence of three people in the figure of one. God, and also to the dogma of the Incarnation and the Resurrection, which admits that the divine being in the person of the Word (Logos) incarnated in the perishable world and opened, in this world, the way of the redemption of the sins.
Understanding the thinking and actions of the “Church Fathers” is essential to better understand the spiritual and intellectual makeup of the Western world.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes