Hieromartyr Irenaeus, Bishop of Lugdunum (Lyons)
Our holy and God-bearing father Irenaeus, who, by divine providence received the name of peace [ειρήνη (eirene) in Greek] and became a messenger of the Holy Spirit, was born in Asia Minor in about 140.
August 23: The Holy Hieromartyr Irinaios, Bishop of Lugdunum (Lyons)
Our holy and God-bearing father Irinaios, who, by divine providence received the name of peace [ειρήνη (irini) in Greek] and became a messenger of the Holy Spirit, was born in Asia Minor in about 140. From his early youth in Smyrna he was nourished by the teachings of his elder, Saint Polycarpos the bishop (23 February), who passed on to him the tradition he had himself received from St. John the Theologian. In this way, he learned to remain true to the Apostolic tradition of the Church. He taught that: “God placed the Apostles, prophets and teachers and all the rest of the energy of the Holy Spirit in the Church. By the Spirit, then, all those are excluded who, having refused to have recourse to the Church, have deprived themselves of life, with their false doctrines and their immoral actions. Because where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and every gift. And the Spirit is Truth”.