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Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Irenaeus Doctor of the Church 6/28/2024. Irenaeus was a Greek from Polycarp's hometown of Smyrna in Asia Minor, now İzmir, Turkey, born during the first half of the 2nd century. The exact date is thought to be between the years 120 and 140.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, he was brought up in a Christian family rather than converting as an adult.
During the persecution of Christians by Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor from 161 to 180, Irenaeus was a priest of the Church of Lyon. The clergy of that city, many of whom were suffering imprisonment for the faith, sent him in 177 to Rome with a letter to Pope Eleutherius concerning the heresy of Montanism.
Returning to Gaul, Irenaeus succeeded the martyrSaint Pothinus and became the second bishop of Lyon.