Photo by Craig McLachlan on Unsplash

Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings
but chosen and precious in the sight of God,
and, like living stones,
let yourselves be built into a spiritual house
(1 Peter 2:4–5)

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the Church Fathers
Fifth Sunday of Easter
St. Irenaeus on the Eucharist
May 7, 2023

St. Irenaeus (c. 130 to c. 202 AD) was the Bishop of Lyon in what is now France. He was however born in the East most likely in Syrma in today’s Turkey. His assignment to Lyon was not happenstance. It was then, as it is now, a commercial center and had a large population of traders and merchants from the east. Irenaeus spoke Greek knew the culture and was uniquely able to minister to their needs. Also, they not only imported goods but also the church’s first major heresy, Gnosticism.

Gnostic means knowledge and although it came in many forms Gnostics of every kind believed that people were saved by having the right knowledge not by the death and resurrection of Jesus. They usually believed that the body was disposable or even evil and only the non-material spirit was important. This is an eternal temptation. We saw that Paul constantly taught the Gentiles that they would be raised “body and soul”. Pope Francis, as we will see, finds it in our own society, The Gnostics often went far beyond this and considered the human body to be a creation of a lesser god or even the devil. St Irenaeus fought the most dangerous form of Gnosticism devised by a charismatic Roman teacher Valentinus (c.  100 to c.  180 AD).
Continue reading “Fifth Sunday of Easter – Entering Heaven Together” →

The Good Shepherd,
Stained Glass Window at St. Charles Borromeo

I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
(John 10:14)

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on Church Fathers and the Eucharist
Fourth Sunday of Easter
St. Justin the Martyr
April 30, 2023

This week we will look at St. Justin Martyr (100 to c.165 AD). He was a philosopher and the first Christian writer to engage educated pagans with their own thoughts and language. He had some interesting insights but most of them were better expressed by St. Augustine several centuries later and we will examine them in several weeks. He provides, however, in his “First Apology” a good description of the Eucharist in 2^nd century Rome. There are more extensive quotations than usual this week, they mostly speak for themselves and reveal that what was present from the beginning still gives life to us now. All quotations are form the First Apology.

Continue reading “Good Shepherd Sunday – We Are His Body” →