“If there should be a dispute over some kind of question, ought we
not have recourse to the most ancient Churches in which the
Apostles were familiar, and draw from them what is clear and
certain in regard to that question? What if the Apostles had not in
fact left writings to us? Would it not be necessary to follow the
order of tradition, which was handed down to those to whom they
entrusted the Churches? ( 3, 4, 1).”
The Blessed Virgin Mary as the New Eve:
“(Eve) having become disobedient, was made the cause of death
for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed
to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made
the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human
race...Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the
obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief,
the Virgin Mary loosed through faith (3, 22, 4).”
The Eucharist as the actual Body and Blood of Christ:
“He took that created thing, bread, and gave thanks and said, This
is My Body. And the cup likewise, which is part of that creation to
which we belong, He confessed to be His Blood, and taught the
new oblation of the new covenant, which the Church, receiving
from the Apostles, offers to God throughout the
world…concerning which Malachy, among the twelve prophets
thus spoke beforehand: From the rising of the sun to the going
down, My name is glorified among the gentiles, and in every place
incense is offered to My name and a pure sacrifice…indicating in
the plainest manner that in every place sacrifice shall be offered to
Him, and at that a pure one (4, 17, 5).”
“If the body be not saved, then, in fact, neither did the Lord redeem
us with His Blood; and neither is the cup of the Eucharist the
partaking of His Blood nor is the Bread which we break the
partaking of His Body…He has declared the cup, a part of creation,
to be His own Blood, from which He causes our blood to flow; and
the bread, a part of creation, He has established as His own Body,
from which gives increase to our bodies (5, 2, 2).”
Other works of St. Irenaeus include the recently discovered treatise
Demonstration of the Apostolic Teaching, which contains an exposition
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