Opening the library…

Search the Bible

Against Heresies

Irenaeus of Lyons

Book 2 · Chapter 23

About this work

A five-book account and refutation of competing Christian movements that also develops Irenaeus’s positive theology of creation, Scripture, apostolic tradition, incarnation, salvation, and recapitulation in Christ.

Author: Irenaeus of Lyons
Date: c. AD 175–185
Origin: Lyons, Gaul
Genre: Heresiology

The woman who suffered from an issue of blood was no type of the suffering Æon.

Section 1

1. Moreover, their ignorance comes out in

‹ Book 2 · Chapter 22 Book 2 · Chapter 24 ›

a

clear

light

with

respect

to

the

case

of

that

woman

who

,

suffering

from

an

issue

of

blood

,

touched

the

hem

of

the

Lord’s

garment

,

and

so

was

made

whole

;

for

they

maintain

that

through

her

was

shown

forth

that

twelfth

power

who

suffered

passion

,

and

flowed

out

towards

immensity

,

that

is

,

the

twelfth

Æon

.

[

This

ignorance

of

theirs

appears

]

first

,

because

,

as

I

have

shown

,

according

to

their

own

system

,

that

was

not

the

twelfth

Æon

.

But

even

granting

them

this

point

[

in

the

meantime

]

,

there

being

twelve

Æons

,

eleven

of

these

are

said

to

have

continued

impassible

,

while

the

twelfth

suffered

passion

;

but

the

woman

,

on

the

other

hand

,

being

healed

in

the

twelfth

year

,

it

is

manifest

that

she

had

continued

to

suffer

during

eleven

years

,

and

was

healed

in

the

twelfth

.

If

indeed

they

were

to

say

that

eleven

Æons

were

involved

in

passion

,

but

the

twelfth

one

was

healed

,

it

would

then

be

a

plausible

thing

to

say

that

the

woman

was

a

type

of

these

.

But

since

she

suffered

during

eleven

years

,

and

[

all

that

time

]

obtained

no

cure

,

but

was

healed

in

the

twelfth

year

,

in

what

way

can

she

be

a

type

of

the

twelfth

of

the

Æons

,

eleven

of

whom

,

[

according

to

hypothesis

,

]

did

not

suffer

at

all

,

but

the

twelfth

alone

participated

in

suffering

?

For

a

type

and

emblem

is

,

no

doubt

,

sometimes

diverse

from

the

truth

[

signified

]

as

to

matter

and

substance

;

but

it

ought

,

as

to

the

general

form

and

features

,

to

maintain

a

likeness

[

to

what

is

typified

]

,

and

in

this

way

to

shadow

forth

by

means

of

things

present

those

which

are

yet

to

come

.

Section 2

2. And not only in the case of this woman have the years of her infirmity (which they affirm to fit in with their figment) been mentioned, but, lo! another woman was also healed, after suffering in like manner for eighteen years; concerning whom the Lord said, “And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound during eighteen years, to be set free on the Sabbath-day?” If, then, the former was a type of the twelfth Æon that suffered, the latter should also be a type of the eighteenth Æon in suffering. But they cannot maintain this; otherwise their primary and original Ogdoad will be included in the number of Æons who suffered together. Moreover, there was also a certain other person healed by the Lord, after he had suffered for eight-and-thirty years: they ought therefore to affirm that the Æon who occupies the thirty-eighth place suffered. For if they assert that the things which were done by the Lord were types of what took place in the Pleroma, the type ought to be preserved throughout. But they can neither adapt to their fictitious system the case of her who was cured after eighteen years, nor of him who was cured after thirty-eight years. Now, it is in every way absurd and inconsistent to declare that the Saviour preserved the type in certain cases, while He did not do so in others. The type of the woman, therefore, [with the issue of blood] is shown to have no analogy to their system of Æons.

Notes

163
Luke xiii. 16.
164
John v. 5.
165
The text of this sentence is very uncertain. We follow Massuet’s reading, “negotio Æonum,” in preference to that suggested by Harvey.