And these same martyrs commended Irenaeus, who was then already a presbyter of the parish at Lyons, to the aforesaid bishop in Rome, bearing abundant witness to the man, as the words which run in the following manner make clear:
「We pray that you may rejoice in God in all things and always, Father Eleutherus. These letters we have urged our brother and companion Irenaeus to convey, and we beseech you to hold him in commendation, since he is a zealot for the covenant of Christ. For if we knew that rank could confer righteousness upon anyone, we would in the first place have commended him as a presbyter of the church, which indeed he is.」
What need is there to recount the list of the martyrs in the aforesaid writing—some perfected by the cutting off of the head, others cast to the beasts for food, and again those who fell asleep in the prison—and the number of the confessors still surviving at that time? For whoever desires can both readily and most fully ascertain these things by taking up the treatise in his hands, which itself has been incorporated by us into our collection of martyrdoms, as indeed I have said. Such, then, were the events in the time of Antoninus.