And since, at the beginning of our work, we made a promise that we would set forth in due time the utterances of the ancient ecclesiastical presbyters and writers, in which they have handed down in writing the traditions that had come down to them concerning the canonical Scriptures—and Irenaeus too was among these—come, let us set forth his words as well.
And first of all those concerning the holy Gospels, which run thus: 「Matthew, for his part, brought forth among the Hebrews, in their own dialect, also a written Gospel, while Peter and Paul were preaching the gospel in Rome and founding the Church.」
「And after their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, himself also handed down to us in writing the things preached by Peter; and Luke, the follower of Paul, set down in a book the gospel preached by him.」
These things, then, were said in the third book of the said work by the aforesaid author. But in the fifth, concerning the Revelation of John and the number of the name of Antichrist, he treats thus: 「These things being so, and this number being set down in all the careful and ancient copies, and those very men who had seen John face to face bearing witness, and reason teaching us that the number of the name of the beast is shown forth, according to the reckoning of the Greeks, through the letters contained in it.」
And going on lower down concerning the same, he declares: 「We, then, do not run the risk of pronouncing positively concerning the name of the Antichrist. For if it had been needful that his name be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been spoken by him who also saw the Revelation. For it was not seen a long time ago, but almost in our own generation, toward the end of the reign of Domitian.」
These things, then, have been recorded by the aforesaid author concerning the Revelation. And he makes mention also of the first epistle of John, bringing forward very many testimonies from it; and likewise of the former epistle of Peter. And not only does he know, but he also accepts, the writing of the Shepherd, saying: 「Well, then, did the Scripture say which says, ‘First of all believe that there is one God, who created and set in order all things,’」 and what follows.
And he uses certain express statements from the Wisdom of Solomon, all but saying: 「The vision of God is productive of incorruptibility, and incorruptibility makes one to be near God.」 And he makes mention also of the memoirs of a certain apostolic presbyter, whose name he has handed down in silence, and he has cited expositions of the divine Scriptures made by him.
Moreover, he has made mention also of Justin the martyr and of Ignatius, again making use of testimonies from the things written by these men. And he himself has promised that he would, out of the writings of Marcion, refute him in a treatise of his own.
And concerning the translation of the inspired Scriptures by the Seventy, hear what manner of things he writes word for word: 「God, then, became man, and the Lord himself saved us, giving the sign of the virgin; but not as some of those now venturing to translate the Scripture say, ‘Behold, the young woman shall conceive in her womb and shall bring forth a son,’ as Theodotion the Ephesian translated it, and Aquila the Pontic, both Jewish proselytes; whom the Ebionites following, assert that he was begotten of Joseph.」
To these he subjoins after a little, saying: 「For before the Romans had established their dominion, while the Macedonians still held Asia, Ptolemy the son of Lagus, being ambitious to adorn the library which had been established by him in Alexandria with the writings of all men, as many as were of serious worth, requested from the people of Jerusalem to have their Scriptures translated into the Greek dialect.」
「And they—for they were still subject to the Macedonians at that time—sent to Ptolemy seventy elders, those among them most experienced in the Scriptures and in both dialects, to do that which he desired.」
「And he, wishing to make trial of them privately, and being cautious lest perchance they should by agreement conceal, through the translation, the truth in the Scriptures, separated them from one another and commanded them all to write the same translation; and this he did in the case of all the books.」
「But when they had come together to the same place before Ptolemy, and had each compared his own translation, God was glorified and the Scriptures were truly recognized to be divine, since they all read out the same things in the same words and the same names from beginning to end, so that even the heathen who were present knew that the Scriptures had been translated by the inspiration of God.」
「And it is nothing marvellous that God should have wrought this, who, in the captivity of the people under Nebuchadnezzar, when the Scriptures had been destroyed, and after seventy years the Jews had gone up again into their own land, then in the times of Artaxerxes the king of the Persians, inspired Ezra the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to set in order again all the words of the prophets who had gone before, and to restore to the people the legislation given through Moses.」 So much says Irenaeus.