D. Wanke, Irenaeus and the heretics of Rome - A thesis on the historical consequences following the 'Adversus Haereses' - A study in anti-Gnostic polemics, Z ANTIKES C, 3(2), 1999, pp. 202-240
Citations number
73
Categorie Soggetti
Religion & Tehology
Journal title
ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ANTIKES CHRISTENTUM-JOURNAL OF ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY
The exceptional role of the gnostic school of Ptolemaeus in Adversus haeres
es leads to the assumption, that the addressee of Irenaeus' famous work, as
the addressees of at least five of his writings or letters, is a Roman. Th
e thesis, that the martyr Ptolemaeus of Justin's second apology (dagger app
roximately 152 AD) is the gnostic school-founder, whose followers are fough
t by Iranaeus thirty years later (cf. von Harnack, Langerbeck, Ludemann, La
mpe and others), is not directly supported by Adversus haereses, but Irenae
us indicates (cf. haer. IV 33,9), that his main opponents were honouring (g
nostic) martyrs (maybe the Christian teacher Ptolemaeus?). Haer. III proem.
-5.3 is one of the most discussed passages of Irenaeus' work. These chapte
rs contain some interesting indications, that support the supposition, that
Irenaeus addresses his five books against the heresies to a Roman. The pri
ncipal intention of that passage is not to establish the primacy of the Rom
an church or its bishop, but to commit it to that responsibility for the en
tire church, that apostle-founded churches have accepted. Irenaeus criticiz
es former Roman bishops, who didn't prevent prominent gnostics like Valenti
n from their activity as Polycarp of Smyrna did, staying in Rome (!), and t
he Gallic barbarian in Irenaeus' diocese still do. The consequence is, that
the Roman church, if it permits the admiration of a gnostic martyr, endang
ers the existence of the church all over the world, who suffers martyrdom i
n the name and the succession of the crucified Lord Jesus Christ, whose rea
l suffering is denied by the heretics. Doing so, the Roman church itself de
nies the real suffering of Christ by accepting the martyrdom (and with the
martyrdom the doctrine) of a prominent gnostic, and it cuts the other churc
hes from the apostolic succession of truth handed down to the church first
of all by the true martyrs.