Jun 28 – St. Irenaeus, bishop, martyr
Irenaeus (c.130–202) was a disciple of St. Polycarp of Smyrna. He was ordained in 177. He was Bishop of Lugdunum, Gaul (modern Lyons, France). He worked and wrote against Gnosticism, basing his arguments on the works of St. John the Apostle, whose gospel is often cited by Gnostics. He dispatched evangelists, including St. Ferreolus of Besancon, and St. Ferrutio of Bescancon. He is considered the first great Western ecclesiastical writer and theologian, and he emphasized the unity of the Old and New Testaments, as well as Christ’s simultaneous human and divine nature, and the value of tradition. He is a Father of the Church, and was martyred for his faith.
- Patron Saint Index
Gn 15:1-12,17-18
Mt 7:15-20
“Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves.”
A colleague once shared that Christians are called to be the ‘Fifth Gospel’. Sensing my confusion, he elaborated that beside the Four Gospels in the Biblical canon, we are the living Gospel read by the rest of the world who do not believe in Christ. We go to Church to be nourished by the Word of God and the Holy Eucharist and when we are dismissed to “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life,” we instantly become the ‘Fifth Gospel’, which is read by non-believers. The words we speak, the actions we do and the behaviour we show to others will allow the Gospel to be animated in the world we live in.
We celebrate the memorial of St Irenaeus today and it is a special one for me because I love the quote, “The glory of God is a man fully alive,” which has been attributed to St Irenaeus. Some translate the original Latin as, “For the glory of God is the living man, and the life of man is the vision of God.” I find the latter version more appealing because it reminds me that I should be the ‘Fifth Gospel’ that others read. St Irenaeus spent a significant proportion of his time to battle the Gnostic heresy, which the Church was up against during his lifetime. He had no patience with the heretics for he knew that they were like ravenous wolves in sheep clothing. He presented a very clear and logical flow of refutation against their points, which decimated their argument. It is worth reproducing this statement in full to illustrate the depth of St Irenaeus’s theological understanding:
“St Irenaeus had a clear, unambiguous devotion to and understanding of the Word, and he was one of the first to put forth the inclusion of four Gospels in the New Testament.”
It can be seen that St Irenaeus was indeed the ‘Fifth Gospel’ of his time. I always knew St Irenaeus as one of the Church Fathers but in preparing for this reflection, I learnt that Pope Francis declared him a Doctor of the Church on 21 Jan 2022 and assigned him the title of ‘Doctor of Unity’. The French Bishops conference appealed to Rome to consider him as a doctor of the church, but Rome wanted them to seek greater support from other episcopal conferences across the world. The US Catholic Conference of Bishops voted unanimously in support for the French Bishops Conference in 2019. This illustrates the unifying role of St Irenaeus to bring together conferences of different countries to arrive at the same conclusion on matters of doctrine.
What we can learn from this episode is that the four marks of the Church: one, holy, catholic and apostolic remain true since its founding by Jesus. The Magisterium and teaching authority of the Bishops allow us to have a clear interpretation of Scripture on how to become true and authentic Christians living out as the ‘Fifth Gospel’ for the world to see.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Nicholas Chia)
Prayer: St Irenaeus, pray for us.
Thanksgiving: We give thanks for all Bishops who hold the teaching authority.
OXYGEN 
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