Primary source · Koine Greek (Books I–II survive whole only in Latin)

Against Heresies (Adversus Haereses)

Irenaeus of Lyon · c. AD 180

P.Oxy. III 405 — manuscript witness to Against Heresies (Adversus Haereses)
P.Oxy. III 405 — c. AD 200Irenaeus of Lyons · Public domain · Commons
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P.Oxy. III 405 — manuscript witness to Against Heresies (Adversus Haereses)

P.Oxy. III 405 — c. AD 200Irenaeus of Lyons · Public domain · Commons

What this text is

The five books of Irenaeus against the Gnostic systems — and the church’s first great synthesis of scripture, apostolic succession, and rule of faith. Its Roman bishop-list and its Polycarp–John anecdotes anchor much of this archive.

Profile of Irenaeus of Lyon →

Interlinear passages

Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.

Book III.3.3 · III.3.4 — the Roman succession; John and Cerinthus in the bath-house
Φύγωμεν,Let us flee,μὴlestκαὶevenτὸtheβαλανεῖονbath-houseσυμπέσῃ,fall in,ἔνδονwithinὄντοςbeingΚηρίνθουCerinthusτοῦtheτῆςof theἀληθείαςtruthἐχθροῦ.enemy
Book IV.20.7 — the living man
GloriaThe gloryenimforDeiof Godvivens[is] a livinghomo,man,vitathe lifeautemandhominisof manvisio[is] the visionDei.of God

Public-domain translations

Roberts–Rambaut (ANF, 1885)

“Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.” …For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God.

Manuscript witnesses

P.Oxy. III 405

c. AD 200

A scrap of Against Heresies copied within twenty years of composition — 'the ink scarcely dry,' as its editors said.

EARLIEST FRAGMENT

Latin version (Claromontanus & Arundel families)

9th–15th c. copies of an ancient translation

The full five books survive only in the old Latin; the Greek in quotations and papyri.

COMPLETE VERSION

Armenian version of Books IV–V

medieval copies

Discovered 1904, completing the eastern transmission.

EARLY VERSION

Provenance

Lyon, c. AD 180; Greek largely lost, Latin version complete

Editions & scholarship

Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.

Figures named in this text (39)

Complete public-domain text ↗