Participation in the Divine Logos According to Irenaeus’ Adversus haereses

Abstract

In the early Christian era, the apologist Irenaeus of Lyon contemplated the meaning of participation in the divine Logos by humans and all created beings. In his main work Adversus haereses, he offers an orthodox view of the Logos, Jesus Christ, as the Word and Wisdom of God the Father. He explains that the Logos is present in human beings and is also united with all creatures. Through the divine Logos, people are renewed, animated and become partakers of immortality. Furthermore, Irenaeus teaches that participation in the Logos is linked with the presence of the Holy Spirit. The universe exists through the divine Logos, who is inseminated in everything. Thus, the divine Logos plays a major role in the process of sanctification, and of unification and communion with God. Introduction As the most significant theologian of the second century, Irenaeus of Lyon 1 became famous for his main work, Unmasking and Refutation of the Gnosis Falsely So-Called. 2 His second important study was Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching, 3 1 Irenaeus was born around 140 in Smyrna, Asia Minor, and died in 202 in Lugdunum. In his youth he was a pupil of Polycarp of Smyrna, and later-during the reign of Marcus Aurelius-he became a presbyter and bishop in Lyon. He studied in Palestinian Caesarea, as well as in Rome under Pope Anicet. In Lyon, he took action against the Gnostics. See also B. Altaner, A. Stuiber,