Episode 2

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Published on:

1st Feb 2024

Lyon and Irenaeus

In part 2 of The Life of the Church we travel to the French city of Lyon. Throughout the 2nd Century the officials in Lyon persecuted the church. Christians would be taken and imprisoned. This official persecution led the populous of Lyon taking matters into their own hands and go after their neighbours who were Christians. The problem for Lyon was that this was against the current practice of the Empire. By AD170 persecution was limited to small pockets and wasn't sustained for any length of time. But in Lyon the Roman official went after the church in what can be described as severe persecution.

The Christians stood firm, but a total of 48 were martyred for their faith. The church historian Eusebius records this in his book The History of the Church. In his record he speaks of a young man named Irenaeus who was from Smyrna. He was a disciple of Polycarp and Polycarp ordained him an elder. He took the plight of the persecuted Christians to Rome in the hope of appealing directly to Caesar. We don't know if he was successful in this hope, but when he returned to Lyon he discovered the 48 Christians had already been martyred.

But Irenaeus wasn't going to stop. He was appointed Bishop of Lyon and led the church until his martyrdom in AD202. During his ministry he stood firm against gnosticism, those who believed that there was a secret knowledge to becoming a Christian. Irenaeus refuted this and held to the truths of the gospel, that salvation was for everyone. For us today, we stand on this truth knowing the full truth of the gospel and the freedom it brings to everyone.

The Life of the Church - Learning our Church History is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. For videos and handouts visit www.annalongpc.org/midweek.

The podcast was recorded using Ecamm Live. Start your free trial at https://www.ecamm.com/mac/ecammlive/?fp_ref=david97.

Transcript
David McCullagh:

So, we're on part two of looking at the life of the church.

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And I told you last week, I,

I particularly enjoy this.

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I particularly enjoy church history.

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I, I like the, the history of,

of who we are, because as I

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said last week, it defines us.

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And we're gonna see similar threads,

the se similar, similar threads this

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evening as we did last week, um, of

what it means to be the church in the

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second century as we get into who we are.

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Last week we looked at

Ignatius and Polycarp.

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Um, we looked at those two.

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They were disciples of the Apostle John.

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That's important for us tonight because

throughout this, one of the threads, not,

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not each night, but, but most nights.

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We're going to see how it moves

from one generation to the next.

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Ignatius and Polycarp, well they were

the disciples of the Apostle John.

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And tonight we continue to the

next generation of disciples

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as we look at someone who was

indeed discipled by Polycarp.

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In fact Polycarp most

likely was his minister.

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So, that's where we're heading,

but before we are introduced to

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that man, we'll get started with

what is really the continuation of

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persecution, in the early church.

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So it didn't end with Polycarp.

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Remember, he was the one last week that

we heard of the first persecutions.

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It's most likely, and of course it was,

that others face persecution, but in the

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martyrdom of Polycarp we get a detailed

account of what that persecution looked

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like and what his martyrdom looked like.

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So the reason why we look to

Polycarp is because it is the

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first written account that gives

us, quite literally, the gruesome

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and gory details of what happened.

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And it didn't stop with him.

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Unfortunately, in fact, as we

know, persecution has continued

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throughout the life of the church.

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There has never been a moment

in the history of the church

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where there was not persecution.

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And as we know, thanks to our mission

partners Open Doors, we learn of what is

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soft persecution and hard persecution.

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Hard persecution of what we see

in Polycarp, but soft persecution

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perhaps of what we see in the

Victorian times where The church

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was free to do whatever it wanted.

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In fact, it seemed that the

church had power and authority.

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But actually, the church was softly

being persecuted to water itself

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down to meet what society wanted.

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I wouldn't say that's

what's happening now.

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I don't think it's soft persecution.

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I think what we're seeing is a middle

ground persecution of somewhere between

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soft and hard where we are being forced

to conform quite blatantly with society.

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And of course, with political shifts

this week, we've always wanted to blame

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Westminster because they were over there,

but with the dynamic shift at Stormont,

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don't be surprised if we begin to see

more liberal agendas and more liberal

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laws that will mean the church's voice

is reduced in this society, not in the

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next decade, but in the very term or

the life term of this current assembly.

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So this is relevant.

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I don't think any of us

will be like Polycarp.

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I don't think any of us will be

chased over the hills to Newry

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and hiding out in some hay shed.

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Although, check with Francis before

you go home tonight just in case

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the head roads as far as you get.

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I don't think we'll be put to the stake

at the age of 86 and burned alive.

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But it will become harder and harder.

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to be a Christian in this so called

Christian society that we've been used to.

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And so our studies, as we come

to look at our questions, they're

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about helping us get ready for that.

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Please don't think it's

not going to happen to you.

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It will.

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The conversations will

become more difficult.

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And don't think Moran will continue

to remain a place apart, ten

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years behind everywhere else.

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It's already coming, it's already here,

and the church is already being challenged

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by these liberal shifts in society.

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And it all is summed up in that word,

persecution, where the church's voice is

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desired to be silenced so that society

can get on without feeling judged, without

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feeling they're doing any wrong, without

anyone telling them that they're not

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right, because that's not what they want.

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But the good news of this

is the promise of Jesus.

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Because be it now or be it at the time of

Polycarp, we heard these words from Jesus

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in Matthew 16 and verse, uh, verse 18.

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And I tell you, you are Peter.

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On this rock I will build my

church, and the gates of hell

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shall not prevail against it.

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Jesus told us he's going

to build his church.

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Yes, persecution may come.

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Persecution did come to these early

believers that we're looking at.

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But Christ continued to build his church.

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How do I know that?

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Because we're still here.

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The church has never been done away with.

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As I told you last week, that account

of China where there was great concern

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whenever the missionaries were kicked

out of China, where they couldn't

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go in and now when they've gone back

fifty years after the revolution,

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however long it was, they're now

saying that the church exploded.

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The Church didn't die, the Church

will never die, and don't let

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anyone tell you that it will die.

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It will never die.

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Oh, it might need to be pruned,

of course, but it will never

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die because God has promised.

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That through His Son, Jesus, and on

what we call apostolic succession,

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not that we still have apostles today,

but as we've seen through the Apostle

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John to Ignatius and Polycarp, and

we'll see that continue today, through

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that line, the Church continues to us.

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We are here because of who was

before us, the generation before

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us, and the Church will be here

because of the generation to come.

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And what we do to proclaim the

truths so that the Church will be

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strong for the next generation.

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So we're going to read as we

begin because we're going to go

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now to the French city of Lyon.

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Not that we find Lyon in the

Scriptures, but as we go, we're

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going to focus on this city that

really faced quite harsh persecution.

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in the end of the 1st and

the start of the 2nd century.

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But let's remind ourselves of what

the Apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy

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chapter 3 and verses 10 to 17.

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Paul writes, You, speaking to Timothy,

however, have followed my teaching, my

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conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my

patience, my love, my steadfastness.

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My persecutions and sufferings that

happened to me in Antioch, at Iconium, and

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at Lystra, which persecutions I endured,

yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

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Indeed, all who desire to live a godly

life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

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While evil people and imposters will

go on from bad to worse, deceiving and

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being deceived, but as for you, continue

in what you have learned and affirmly

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believe, knowing from whom you learned

it and how from childhood you have become

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acquainted with the sacred writings,

which are able to make you wise for

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salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

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All Scripture is breathed out by God and

profitable for teaching, for reproof.

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And so we go to Lyon.

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I don't know if you've ever

been to Lyon on your holidays.

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It's a place that actually comes up again

in church history, in Reformation history.

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Um, but it's a city that has always

been at the center of things.

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It was an important city at

the time of the Roman Empire.

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It continues to be an important city.

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And in the early 100s, so, yes,

we're, we're going back that

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generation of Ignatius and Polycarp.

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The church was, uh, established in Lyon,

but from day one it faced persecution.

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In fact, it was quite strong

persecution because of the

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influences of the Roman world.

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And on the top of page two

there, I've given you this

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picture of what Lyon looked like.

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And the reason why I show it

to you is, just look at Rome.

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You have everything there

that Rome brought with it.

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Whenever Rome established a place, there

would be an amphitheater or a coliseum.

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There would be great buildings where

the, the civil authorities or the

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civil magistrates would be based.

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There would be bridges across

rivers and roads, because

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again, all roads lead to Rome.

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There would be aqueducts.

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There would be investment in places

so that they looked like Rome.

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So, this shows you just how Lyon was.

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It was truly a Roman city, and

because of that, some would say it

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became more Roman than Rome itself.

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But, regardless of the

persecution, the church grew.

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The church was established,

and it thrived.

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And the local leaders there, decided

they were going to persecute Christians.

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This is what happened in the

generation before them, and

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they were going to continue.

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And so the Christians in

the city were harassed.

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They were taken.

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They were punished.

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And by the 170s, the local officials

in Lyon had stepped up their, um,

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their aggression against Christians.

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They didn't trust them.

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But the problem for Lyon was that

they were truly out of step with Rome.

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Because by the time that we get to

the late 100s, this is the Caesar.

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This is Marcus Aurelius.

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Caesar from 161 to 180.

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He was a different Caesar.

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He wasn't the Caesar of the

time of Polycarp and Ignatius.

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He wasn't a Caesar of war.

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He wasn't looking more conflict.

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The Roman Empire was safe and secure.

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He didn't need to defend it.

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He didn't need to expand it.

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He was a philosopher.

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He was a thinker.

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He turned to the arts.

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And this was really a renaissance,

uh, from Greek culture at this

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point coming into Roman society.

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And so he wasn't concerned so much.

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If you want another word for

this man, he was liberal.

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All things.

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As long as you worship a god, you're fine.

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Because of course the Romans

had a pantheon of gods and you

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could take your, your choice.

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And so he wasn't so hard on Christians

as his predecessors had been.

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And so there was no official policy

at the time in Rome about persecution.

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And this is when Leon becomes

more Rome, Roman than Rome itself.

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Because they, rather than following

the rest of the empire, they decide

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they're going to up the ante.

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They're going to be the ones who are going

to really push hard on the Christians.

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And so that's where we move to,

the great persecution in Lyon.

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And a lot of what we learn about this is

from a church historian called Eusebius.

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And he wrote a book called

The History of the Church.

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And he was very detailed because he

wanted to, to really explain to the

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generation that would come what the

church went through to be established.

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And this is what he wrote

about the persecutions in Lyon.

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It's just there at the bottom of page one.

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First of all, they endured nobly

the injuries heaped upon them by

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the populace, clamors and blows, and

draggings and robberies, and stonings

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and imprisonments, and all the things

which an infuriated mob might mob delight

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in, flicting on enemies and adversaries.

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Just think about that for a moment.

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What does it say about the Christians?

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It says there they endured nobly.

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They took their stand for Christ.

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They suffered well.

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A word that's going to

come up again is recant.

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They did not recant on what they believed.

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But look at the people.

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Neighbors.

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Friends.

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Not knowing who to trust.

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Because they might be the one who

grabs you, who clamors with blows and

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draggings, and robberies and stonings.

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And interestingly enough, robbery was one

of those things that could be more subtle.

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And it turns out, Eusebius records

for us, that whenever the Christians

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would head off to worship, to meet,

then the locals would come and break

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in and steal from their houses.

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Soft persecution.

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It's not a safe area to live.

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Move out.

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We don't want you.

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Just get away.

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We have the power.

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We have the authority.

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We don't want you here.

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The subtlety of persecution,

it's not just being flogged in

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the street or being arrested.

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Doesn't even have to come officially.

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It's simply a case of them and us.

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And this is what was going

on to the Christians in Lyon.

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And the crucial moment came in

one hundred and seventy seven.

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Because the officials of the city,

they rounded up all of the Christians

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together, and they put them in

prison and charged them as criminals.

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They jailed them one after the other.

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And after a month or two, they brought

them out into the amphitheater,

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those great places that Rome built.

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Now this isn't from my

holidays, as was last week's.

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I've never been to Lyon,

so I can't go there.

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I'm told by Google what the amphitheater

in Rome looks like, or in Lyon looks like.

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But this is the very place where

those Christians were dragged out.

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And this is the very place where

they were told to recant their faith.

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Now maybe the word recant is

a new word for you, but it's a

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word that's used in church terms

of taking away your confession.

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Where one minute you said you were

a Christian, you recant your faith

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by saying, I didn't believe that,

I was making it up, I was a fool.

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And what the officials wanted, they

would ask each Christian to come

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forward onto that very stage on

that amphitheater, and they would

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say, Say you're not a Christian.

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In other words, recant your faith.

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And this would have done two things.

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Number one, it would have made a mockery

out of the person who was standing there.

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But secondly, it would have given power

and authority to the officials to say this

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faith that they talk about is nonsense.

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And so the more people you have recant,

then the easier it is to quash this.

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Because whenever you start saying

this is rubbish, then that's when

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society jumps on board and helps you

to clean out the so called rubbish.

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And one of the things in church history

that happens Those who do survive all

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of this and those who recanted and

those who didn't recant, there became a

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great division in the church, a schism,

where those who didn't recant, who stood

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firm, they pointed the finger and they

shunned those who recanted because they

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couldn't understand why they could.

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But then those who had recanted

said, look, we're mere mortals, we're

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human, we still love and believe in

God, but the pressure was too much.

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And so actually it was kind

of a conquer and divide.

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Get them to recant, and those

that don't recant and live, well

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they're going to divide themselves

anyway, they're going to split, and

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eventually they're going to die out.

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So that was the whole idea of recanting

publicly, to make a fool of you, so

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that the officials would look strong.

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Think about that.

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Imagine if you were dragged down to

Christmas Tree Corner here in Annalong.

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And imagine if you were put up on the

blocks in front of the little hedges.

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And you were told to recant

your faith in front of a crowd.

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Would you do it?

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We're gonna, in a moment or two,

hear of one particular incident

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of a girl called Blandina.

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And there's a description there

that's used that we look at, and

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it's called that they were like

wild beasts against the Christians.

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Imagine being faced with that.

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Looking to tear you limb from limb

because of what you believe and

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what you practice in that belief.

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Well, the Christians were brought forward,

and they confessed to no great crime.

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They confessed to no issue with the

Roman Empire or the Roman Caesar.

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All they simply confessed was

that they were Christians and that

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they were followers of Christ.

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They would not recant, and for this

then, they were taken back, and

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they were put into prison again.

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The interesting thing about this

is, it's all contrary to Roman law.

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They shouldn't have been tried and

treated like this, because Rome was

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genuinely open to this pantheon, this,

this whole collection of gods that you

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could pick and choose who you worshipped.

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This went against the very foundation

of what Rome was built on, that,

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that everyone had the right.

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But here in Lyon, becoming more

Roman than Rome itself, well then

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the Roman law really was secondary

to what they wanted to do to ensure

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their city was safe and secure.

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And that's the other

thing about this period.

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It's not like Anna Long and Kilkeel

and then Town Hall is in Newry and

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that's where we're governed from.

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Every town had its own government.

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They're all like city states almost.

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Yes, there's one, uh, Roman law,

but there was a lot of local law as

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well, based by a magistrate and civil

leaders in these towns, and they

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really held more sway than Caesar did.

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And so this is what they had chosen to do.

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But they were brought out again.

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They were put in front of the

people, given a chance to recant,

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and a few did, but the vast majority

maintained their confession in Christ.

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And for the entertainment of

the mob, they were martyred.

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And Eusebius tells us that there were 48

Christians in Lyon martyred at this time.

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And I think we become very

sensitized because of what we

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hear on the news of figures of

people being killed in wars daily.

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One is a large number.

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Forty eight is a huge number.

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For what reason?

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Simply believing in Jesus Christ.

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One particular martyr that I mentioned

there, uh, Bal uh, Blandina, Eusebius

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refers to her, um, in his writings.

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He also refers to a few others

and, and one other said, This.

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Even if they had before, um,

sorry, even if they had before been

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moderate on account of friendship,

they were now exceedingly furious

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and gnashed their teeth against us.

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This is neighbors, supposedly friends.

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And it was friends who brought Blondina

towards that place of having to recant.

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And Eusebius describes her in terms of how

Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 9, 25 27.

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Where he says every athlete

exercises self control in all things.

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They do it to receive a perishable

wreath, but we are imperishable.

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So I do not run aimlessly.

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I do not box as one beating the air.

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But I discipline my body and keep it

under control, lest after preaching to

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others, I myself should be disqualified.

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And why this is significant, and why

this is important for Eusebius to record

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is because Blandina did exactly that.

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She stood, and she stood, and she stood,

before that crowd of raging beasts,

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and she simply said, I am a Christian.

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She would not fall down.

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She had strength to take whatever

they were going to throw at her.

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Exactly what Paul had described.

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She had trained herself.

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She was ready to stand.

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And mixed in the middle of all

of this is the person that we're

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going to look at this evening.

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And his name is Irenaeus.

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And Irenaeus, uh, was

born in Smyrna in 130 A.

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D.

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or thereabouts.

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And that fits in with

the time of Polycarp.

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Polycarp would have been about 60 when,

uh, Irenaeus was born, and, uh, he

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would have taught, or Irenaeus would

have sat under Polycarp's ministry.

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In fact, he was ordained by Polycarp as

an elder, uh, to go to Leon, and he would

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eventually become the Bishop of Leon.

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So Polycarp is important in Irenaeus life.

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So do you see?

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John the Apostle, Polycarp, Irenaeus.

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This is the living life of the Church

that goes from one generation And what is

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significant about Irenaeus is that he took

a defence for the persecution, or for the

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persecuted Christians of Leon to Rome.

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He knew his Roman law and he says,

much like Paul did a century before,

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I want to take my defence to Caesar.

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He knew who Caesar was, he knew he

wasn't the military hard nosed Nero.

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He knew that this Marcus Aurelius

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And so off he went to Rome, and

he met with the Roman Christians

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there, and he shared with them

what was going on in Lyon.

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We don't know if he ever met Caesar.

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We don't know if he ever made his defense.

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But we do know that he went back, and by

the time he went back, the 48 had been

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executed and martyred for their faith.

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But that didn't stop Arrhenius.

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He went from strength to strength.

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He stood up against the civil

leaders, but it wasn't just the

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civil leaders he had to worry about.

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He had to worry about some other

Christians, who we now look

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back and call the Gnostics.

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Gnosticism.

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And what these Christians believed

was, now two or three generations

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beyond the resurrection and ascension

of Jesus Christ, two generations

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:

beyond the Apostles, They believed

that they were the ones that had

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been given a secret knowledge.

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That's what Gnosticism is.

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A secret knowledge, which

means I'm better than you.

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I know more than you, but I'm not

going to tell you what that is

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because you're just going to have

to find out how to join our club.

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So what they were doing is they were

restricting Christianity to knowledge.

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Christianity, how you became a

Christian, was through your knowledge.

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Now we look back and go,

well, that's ridiculous.

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Because it's by faith alone, that's what

the Reformation, but the Reformation

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is 1, 400 years in the future.

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People were easily swayed.

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They did not have the

theological grounding that we

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have, that we take for granted.

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And so he took his stand

against the Gnostics.

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The Gnostics who, who said it's

all about a secret knowledge rather

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than about faith in Jesus Christ.

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And he took a stand against them.

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And you know the church in Lyon grew from

strength to strength because of his stand.

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He was facing persecution

from the Roman officials.

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He was, uh, receiving persecution,

as you could call it, from

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:

Christians, or so called Christians.

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And he was a man who stood, and

he was a man who passed on the

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faith to the next generation.

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You see, what Irenaeus did is the

foundation on which we worship today.

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He took a stand for the truth,

and the truth of the Gospel.

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And in fact, many things that that

Irenaeus did and said and taught would

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:

come out in the Council of Nicaea, where

we get the Nicaean Creed, which is a

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:

further expansion of the Apostles Creed.

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And so it is his work deep down

that influences the creeds of

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:

the church that we still recite

today and still believe today.

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:

And yet here we are at the end of

the 100s into the 200s, where these

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:

battles were fought so that we

can stand on a heritage of faith.

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Today, Irans was eventually

martyred and it was in 202 AD that

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:

he was martyred for his faith.

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But what he did was he took

what Paul said to Timothy in

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second Timothy chapter three.

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That's why we began with that passage.

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Paul says, if you try to do good.

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If you try to live a life for

Christ, good as in the Christian

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:

good, well then expect persecution.

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:

Not only did Irenaeus expect

it, but he took it head on.

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:

He survived it many times, but he

was eventually martyred, but before

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:

he was, he influenced the church

for the next generation so that it

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:

would continue to take its stand.

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Leon would appear in church history

and will appear in:

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:

the Reformation is key in Lyon.

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:

And in fact it is from there that

the Huguenots leave France under

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:

the French persecution around the

:

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:

And where the Gospel then takes hold

in the southern part of that country.

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:

Or that continent even, never

mind the country of South Africa.

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:

And so, that's why we started

looking at a place and not a person.

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:

Because it's actually the place as well

as the person that has huge influence.

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:

and leanings when it comes

to our church history.

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:

And what Paul does in 2 Timothy 3,

after he says that this is gonna

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:

happen, he wants to give us assurance.

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And he says those wonderful verses,

all Scripture is breathed out by

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:

God and profitable for teaching,

for reproof, for correction, and

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:

for training in righteousness.

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:

You see, this is what Paul points us

to, and this is what Irenaeus knew,

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and this is what our brothers and

sisters around the world know today.

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They know that to survive,

we stand on the Word of God.

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And before Christmas, we had those three

weeks looking at why we read the Bible.

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I wonder how that's going for you.

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:

I don't want to assume anything.

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:

I don't want to guess.

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:

But let me ask you as a

check in a month later.

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How is Bible reading going?

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:

Are you reading it?

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:

Are you reading a good

chunk of it at a time?

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:

Maybe you're listening to it.

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:

Maybe you've found some way of listening

in the car and paying attention.

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:

See, the only way we can stand

is to take the Word of God,

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:

to read it and to know it.

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I'm gonna say again what I said last

week because I think it's wonderful.

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Something I heard on someone's interview

with Derek Thomas where he said, I may not

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:

remember every meal, but I know I was fed.

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:

We may not remember every bit of

teaching we receive, but we need to know.

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:

Are you feeding on the Word of

God so that when persecution comes

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:

we can stand firm and believe?

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:

And that's where our questions

take us this evening.

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:

Because they're on the back of,

or just at the bottom of page 3.

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:

Three questions for your

tables in the next few minutes.

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:

Uh, 15 minutes or so.

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:

Looking at that passage in 2 Timothy

3, two verses there, have that open.

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:

How are we seeing evil people

and impostors going from bad

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:

to worse in society today?

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:

Secondly, we may not have to recant

our faith, but how do we shy away from

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:

faith in our everyday, and what can

we do to ensure we remain faithful?

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:

to sharing the gospel.

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:

And Irenaeus took a stand against

the false teaching of Gnosticism,

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:

that is secret knowledge.

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:

Do we still have Gnostics today?

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:

Do we still have people who

proclaim a different gospel?

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:

Perhaps a gospel of, of certain knowledge.

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:

And if so, how do we identify them?

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:

So that we can be aware of them.

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:

I'm going to pray to finish this

bit off, and then we'll let you

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:

get thinking about those questions.

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:

So let's pray.

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:

Our Father God, we thank you

that we can learn from the past.

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:

It's probably something that does

interest us a little to learn and

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:

hear some of these stories of,

of our, of our forefathers, of

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:

those who have gone before us.

477

:

People like Blondina, who stood well

for Christ, where she would not fall

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:

down, but like an athlete, stood firm.

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:

Thank you for her training.

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:

Thank you for Irenaeus and his training

and the discipleship he received, so he

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:

too could stand firm and influence the

Church for the next generation so that

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:

we, the Church, would still be here today.

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:

Thank you for that promise that you

are building your Church, and the gates

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:

of hell will not prevail against it.

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:

May we believe that.

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:

May we know it to be true.

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:

And Father, may that give us a passion

to proclaim the good news of the Gospel

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:

in this village and around the world so

that we will see souls coming to Christ

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:

so that the Church can be built for you.

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:

So hear us as we pray and be

with us in our time of discussion

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:

as we seek you in Jesus name.

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:

Amen.

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