St. Irenaeus-Truth, Love, Peace

Today is the feast of St. Irenaeus of Lyons, who is one of my favorite saints. I have been slowly working through his massive work Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies), and I have read  his delightful shorter work On the Preaching of the Apostles. If you want really clear evidence that, roughly 100 years after the death of Christ, the Church had a pretty solid grasp on Tradition as handed down by the Apostles, on the importance of Orthodoxy of belief and Scriptural interpretation, and on the importance of using the intellect, especially through theology, look no further than St. Irenaeus.

Here is the Adversus
Here is the the Preaching

It is very interesting to note that the name "Irenaeus" means "peace", hence the adjective "irenic" which means directed towards peace. And, as Aquinas notes, and the Church frequently has to reiterate, peace is not an absence of conflict or war, but it is union, it is a just and balanced relationship. In St. Irenaeus' day, the Gnostic heresy (let us all shudder) was drastically tearing apart and dividing the Church. Hence, where there is heresy, apostasy, or schism, there is no longer any peace, since division is the opposite of the unitive power of peace. And we know well from the writings of St. Paul, that division is completely unbecoming of the Body of Christ, the Church. We also know, again from Aquinas, that peace is the proper effect of love (II-II.29.3), so where there is division, there can be no love, and, hence, there can be no peace.

St. Irenaeus, in the 2nd century (the Council of Nicea was much later), puts forward this staggering summation of the faith as a counter to the division caused by the Gnostics.

"The Church, though dispersed through out the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: She believes in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His future manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father to gather all things in one, and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, every knee should bend, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send spiritual wickedness, and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning, and others from their repentance,  and may surround them with everlasting glory...She also belives these points of doctrine just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth." (I.X.1-2, Adv. Haer.)

What we see from the example of this great saint, is that faithful adherence to the revealed truth of faith, the humble acceptance of what has been handed on to us ([T]radition and [t]radition), is the greatest means to acheive peace within the Body of Christ, the Church, as well as eternal glory with Christ in heaven. Where so many divisions occur between liberals and conservatives, there is no love, and, hence, no peace. As Catholics we must seek with hearts and minds open to the grace of God and the movements of the Holy Spirit, to adhere to Truth, to Christ, and only then may we hope for peace to be established among ourselves and in the world. Truth gives way to Love, and Love gives way to Peace. We are all called then, by Christ, to hold fast to the Truth (which is Himself), to express that with our love, and thus become peace-makers. As Christ himself says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (Mt. 5:9)

I would like to argue, based on what has been said, that to be a peacemaker is essentially to be an evangelist. As Paul VI notes in Evangelii Nuntiandi, evangelization is the primary mission and the foremost identity of the Church, and, thus, of all Her members.  Peace (union and right-relationship) is the product of love, and love and truth come together from a relationship with Christ. Evangelization (the Greek, eu-good, angelos-message/decree, think of the Latin derivative Angelus, whereby we get the word "angel") is done by messengers, Angeli, the message is that of the person of Jesus, and all Christians are called to be evangelizers, literally, good message-ers. Christians share Jesus with the world, and that is pure evangelization. Now, if Jesus is the Truth, and the Truth begets love, and, hence, peace, and if Christians are sent (apostellein) to share Jesus with the world, then Christians, as evangelizers, are peacemakers. And as Pope Benedict (God protect him!) is wont to argue, true peace, true justice, comes not from governments alone, but from following the natural law of Jesus as written in the hearts of all people. We must look at all the conflict in the world, physical and spiritual, and see that only Jesus, the infinite self-giving of the God, can offer healing. We as Christians, following the example of St. Irenaeus, must radically adhere to the Truth of our faith, Jesus, and share it with others, so that, as evangelizers, we may also be peacemakers, and thus be worthy of the title, "Sons of God".



                                                             St. Irenaeus, pray for us!