Why We Can Be Sure that Irenaeus Wrote from Rome Rather than Lyons

Clear historical information is hard to come by in the early Church. The story of Irenaeus can be developed as follows, first from Jerome:

Irenæus, a presbyter under Pothinus the bishop who ruled the church of Lyons in Gaul, being sent to Rome as legate by the martyrs of this place, on account of certain ecclesiastical questions, presented to Bishop Eleutherius certain letters under his own name which are worthy of honour. Afterwards when Pothinus, nearly ninety years of age, received the crown of martyrdom for Christ, he was put in his place ... He flourished chiefly in the reign of the Emperor Commodus, who succeeded Marcus Antoninus Verus in power. [Jerome, Lives, XXXV]

Irenaeus' coming to Rome from 'the Celts' is witnessed in a letter cited by Eusebius:

The same witnesses also recommended Irenæus, who was already at that time a presbyter of the parish of Lyons, to the above-mentioned bishop of Rome, saying many favorable things in regard to him, as the following extract shows:

We pray, father Eleutherus, that you may rejoice in God in all things and always. We have requested our brother and comrade Irenæus to carry this letter to you, and we ask you to hold him in esteem, as zealous for the covenant of Christ. For if we thought that office could confer righteousness upon any one, we should commend him among the first as a presbyter of the church, which is his position.

No one disputes that he went from the south of France to Rome. Yet it is important to recognize that his literary works are ALWAYS said to have occurred in Rome when they are identified. So Eusebius says clearly that:

Irenæus wrote several letters against those who were disturbing the sound ordinance of the Church at Rome. One of them was to Blastus On Schism; another to Florinus On Monarchy, or That God is not the Author of Evil. For Florinus seemed to be defending this opinion. And because he was being drawn away by the error of Valentinus, Irenæus wrote his work On the Ogdoad, in which he shows that he himself had been acquainted with the first successors of the apostles.

The idea that Irenaeus wrote FROM Rome and TO either a Roman audience or those of 'the neighboring churches' to Rome is plainly evident in Eusebius' conclusion again:

And this can be shown plainly from the letters which he sent, either to the neighboring churches for their confirmation, or to some of the brethren, admonishing and exhorting them. Thus far Irenæus.

Similarly at the end of the Moscow manuscript of the Martyrdom of Polycarp we read:

This account Gaius copied from the writings of Irenaeus, and he also had lived with Irenaeus, who was a disciple of the holy Polycarp. For this Irenaeus, at the time of the martyrdom of the bishop Polycarp, was in Rome, and taught many, and many most excellent and correct writings are extant, in which he mentions Polycarp, saying that he had been his pupil, and he ably refuted every heresy, and he also handed on the ecclesiastical and catholic rule, as he had received it from the saint. And he also says this that once Marcion, from whom come the so-called Marcionites, met the holy Polycarp and said: "Recognise us, Polycarp," and he said to Marcion, "I do recognise you, I recognise the first-born of Satan." And this is also recorded in the writings of Irenaeus, that at the day and hour when Polycarp suffered in Smyrna, Irenaeus, who was in the city of Rome, heard a voice like a trumpet saying: "Polycarp has suffered martyrdom."

Clearly then there is a variant legend to the official line developed by Eusebius namely that Irenaeus was already in Rome at the time of Polycarp's death (c. 161 CE) and continued to be there until the time of his composition of Against the Heresies (c. 180 CE).

A number of scholars have already suggested that Irenaeus continued to stay into Rome throughout the reign of Commodus. Beyond this no one knows anything about Irenaeus. Even the Catholic Encyclopedia doubts the authenticity of the claim that he died a martyr. One might even argue that the whole idea of him being a 'bishop of Lyons' developed from that opening statement in Against the Heresies where he mentions his prolonged cohabitation with 'Celts.'