ALEKSIEJUK Artur - Acta Patristica, volume 6, issue 13/2015
THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST IN RELATION TO GOD THE FATHER ACCORDING TO ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS
/OSOBA JEZUSA CHRYSTUSA W RELACJI DO BOGA OJCA WEDŁUG ŚWIĘTEGO IRENEUSZA Z LYONU/
Artur ALEKSIEJUK
lecturer, Katedra Prawosławnej Teologii Dogmatycznej i Moralnej, Wydział Teologiczny, Chrześcijańska Akademia Teologiczna, ul. Miodowa 21c, 00-246 Warszawa, Poland, ks.artur.aleksiejuk@gmail.com
Abstract
St. Irenaeus Christological reflection, whose essential aspect is defining the relationship between the hypostases of God the Father and God the Son (the Logos of God), is an important step in the development in the Church’s dogmatic consciousness of the first centuries. Its significance in the work of forming the Nicene Creed in the question relating to the person of God the Son and Saviour Jesus Christ is undisputed. The Bishop of Lyons shows himself to be a defender of orthodoxy in his main works, Against Heresies and The Demonstration of the Apostolic Teaching. Polemics with Gnostics of all persuasions served as an occasion for him to present the teaching about the Son of God “begotten and not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth, who for us men and for our salvation came down and was incarnate and became man” (The Creed of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, 325). The relations between God the Father and God the Son are for St. Irenaeus the starting point to a synthetic view of the economy of the salvation of man. God, through the Word, created the first man “in His image and likeness” (Gen 1:26-27), in order that he would partake in immortality and perfection. However, Adam’s disobedience destroyed this plan. The restoration of God’s plan for man is realized by the Logos of God. In response to the Gnostic concept, according to which the creator of the world (demiurge) is someone other than God and salvation is dependant exclusively on knowledge (gnosis) which releases the body, St. Irenaeus includes in theology the unity of God, who not only created humankind, but who also redeemed and displayed the unity of the human person, which as a whole is called to the divine state.
Keywords
St. Irenaeus of Lyon’s Christology, St. Irenaeus of Lyons, incarnation, unity, council
(Language: polish)