The Truth is to Be Found Nowhere Else But in The Catholic Church, The Sole Depository of....

The truth is to be found nowhere else but in the Catholic Church, the sole depository of apostolic doctrine. Heresies are of recent formation, and cannot trace their origin up to the apostles.

1. Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since the apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that every man, whosoever will, can draw from her the water of life. Revelation 22:17 For she is the entrance to life; all others are thieves and robbers. On this account are we bound to avoid them, but to make choice of the thing pertaining to the Church with the utmost diligence, and to lay hold of the tradition of the truth. For how stands the case?

Suppose there arise a dispute relative to some important question among us, should we not have recourse to the most ancient Churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the present question? For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary, [in that case,] to follow the course of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they did commit the Churches?

2. To which course many nations of those barbarians who believe in Christ do assent, having salvation written in their hearts by the Spirit, without paper or ink, and, carefully preserving the ancient tradition, believing in one God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and all things therein, by means of Christ Jesus, the Son of God; who, because of His surpassing love towards His creation, condescended to be born of the virgin, He Himself uniting man through Himself to God, and having suffered under Pontius Pilate, and rising again, and having been received up in splendour, shall come in glory, the Saviour of those who are saved, and the Judge of those who are judged, and sending into eternal fire those who transform the truth, and despise His Father and His advent.

Those who, in the absence of written documents, have believed this faith, are barbarians, so far as regards our language; but as regards doctrine, manner, and tenor of life, they are, because of faith, very wise indeed; and they do please God, ordering their conversation in all righteousness, chastity, and wisdom. If any one were to preach to these men the inventions of the heretics, speaking to them in their own language, they would at once stop their ears, and flee as far off as possible, not enduring even to listen to the blasphemous address.

Thus, by means of that ancient tradition of the apostles, they do not suffer their mind to conceive anything of the [doctrines suggested by the] portentous language of these teachers, among whom neither Church nor doctrine has ever been established.

3. For, prior to Valentinus, those who follow Valentinus had no existence; nor did those from Marcion exist before Marcion; nor, in short, had any of those malignant-minded people, whom I have above enumerated, any being previous to the initiators and inventors of their perversity. For Valentinus came to Rome in the time of Hyginus, flourished under Pius, and remained until Anicetus. Cerdon, too, Marcion's predecessor, himself arrived in the time of Hyginus, who was the ninth bishop. Coming frequently into the Church, and making public confession, he thus remained, one time teaching in secret, and then again making public confession; but at last, having been denounced for corrupt teaching, he was excommunicated from the assembly of the brethren.

Marcion, then, succeeding him, flourished under Anicetus, who held the tenth place of the episcopate. But the rest, who are called Gnostics, take rise from Menander, Simon's disciple, as I have shown; and each one of them appeared to be both the father and the high priest of that doctrine into which he has been initiated. But all these (the Marcosians) broke out into their apostasy much later, even during the intermediate period of the Church.

Your Comment was “I am amazed that any Christian would suggest that a mere mortal, no matter how righteous or well taught, is immune from spritual error. When the “first Pope” was called “Satan” by Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 16:23) and later denied his lord three times, wasn’t blasphemy involved? The Early Church Fathers are profitable reading but they are not inerrant. I suspect that they would be appalled by your implication. “

My comment had to do with Jesus knowing Peter was to be his foundation “Rock” prayed for Peter, so he would overcome Satan and then strengthen his fellow brethren and the church overall. Your comment leads one to believe that only the words from the Apostles have meaning. Yet words are interesting things and as we can tell by the various amount of religions based on Christianity many have interpreted them differently. For one to believe that only the words in the bible are all God gave to us leaves others wondering why God would have limited himself to this. Was not the bible itself composed by mere men? After all it was just a bunch of different scriptures before it became the bible and many were not included. Was it not assembled many years after the Apostles? Were these men inspired when they assemble the bible? If so then why could not St. Irenaeus have been inspired? If Not then what meaning is there in the bible for it would have no true foundation? Part of the foundation of Christianity has to do with the faith of inspiration in this case you say no way and I disagree and say yes way.

I for one think God also wrote things in our hearts, and left traditions such as the last super, which was both acted out and inscribe in scripture as one example. Yet is this to be found and practiced in most Christian religions?

Note: The Pope is not without error for if so why would he go to confession? He is guided by the holy spirit when studying and speaking on questions of faith of morals (Speaking from the Chair of Peter). He is human just as you and I and in so being fails to be perfect for sure.

Now I have a clearer idea where you are coming from.

Were the books of Holy Scripture inspired? Despite the fact that they were written by mere men, both Catholic and Protestant can agree that the Holy Spirit superintended the process to assure the writings' perfection in the case of the 66 books of the Protestant Bible. Catholics would insist that the same supernatural protection of the Holy Spirit was involved in the writing of the Books of the Apocrypha. Since the Catholic Church has not seen fit to canonize the writing of Irenaeus, his writings have to be seen as less inspired than these canonized writings. Valuable for the insight that they provide but not inerrant.

The fact that Irenaeus was only a couple of generations removed from the Apostles and sat under the teaching of Polycarp makes his writings valuable for the insights that they might provide about the practices of the Apostles but it doesn't provide a cloak of inerrancy to his writings. As far as I know, no one with any ecclesiastical authority (Catholic or Protestant) has canonized the writing of Irenaeus. So the working assumption has to be that these are the writings of a mere man and therefore could contain error.

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