Irenaeus and the heretics of Rome - A thesis on the historical consequences following the 'Adversus Haereses' - A study in anti-Gnostic polemics

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.