Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 3.3
The plan of the Apostles stands open to view in every church throughout the world, for all who truly desire to see it; we can trace the bishops appointed by the Apostles and their unbroken succession down to our own day, and none of them ever taught the fancies these people now proclaim. If the Apostles had possessed secret mysteries, reserved for a select few and taught in private, they would surely have entrusted them above all to those to whom they also committed the care of the churches. They wanted those successors to be steadfast and blameless in everything, so that their right stewardship of the apostolic office would bring great benefit, while their failure would bring utter disaster. But to list the succession of every church would swell this work beyond measure; therefore we set forth the tradition of that greatest and most ancient church, known to all, which the two most glorious Apostles Peter and Paul founded and established at Rome, and the faith it has handed down to humanity through the succession of its bishops. By this we confound all who, whether from self-will, empty pride, blindness, or perverse judgment, gather apart from the true communion. For every church must agree with this church — that is, with the faithful everywhere — because in it the tradition from the Apostles has been preserved without interruption. (cf. 1 Tim 1:20; Titus 3:10)
Having founded and built the Church, the blessed Apostles entrusted its oversight to Linus; Paul himself mentions Linus in his letters to Timothy. After Linus came Anacletus, and third from the Apostles, Clement received the episcopate — a man who had seen the Apostles, conversed with them, and held their living preaching and tradition before his eyes. He was not alone in this; many who had been taught by the Apostles were still alive. When a serious dispute broke out among the brothers at Corinth, the Church of Rome sent a most powerful letter to restore peace, renew their faith, and proclaim the tradition it had recently received from the Apostles: one God, almighty, maker of heaven and earth, fashioner of man, who sent the flood, called Abraham, led his people out of Egypt, spoke with Moses, gave the law, sent the prophets, and prepared fire for the devil and his angels. This Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is proclaimed by the churches from Scripture itself; those who wish to learn can recognize the apostolic tradition there, for this letter is older than those who now falsely teach and invent another God above the Demiurge and Creator of all things.
After Clement came Evaristus, then Alexander; sixth from the Apostles came Sixtus, then Telesphorus, who gloriously suffered martyrdom; then Hyginus, then Pius, then Anicetus. When Soter succeeded Anicetus, Eleutherius now holds the episcopate in the twelfth place from the Apostles. This ordered succession demonstrates that the tradition from the Apostles in the Church and the proclamation of truth are one and the same, and have come down to us intact — proving that the life-giving faith preserved and handed on in the Church from the Apostles until now is one and the same.
Polycarp, too, was not only taught by the Apostles and familiar with many who had seen the Lord, but was appointed bishop of the church at Smyrna in Asia by the Apostles themselves. We saw him in our early years; he endured to a great age and departed this life by a glorious and noble martyrdom. He always taught what he had learned from the Apostles — teachings that alone are true. All the churches in Asia and those who have succeeded Polycarp to this day bear witness to this; he is a man of far greater authority and a more faithful witness to the truth than Valentinus, Marcion, and the rest of their perverse school. When he came to Rome under Anicetus, he converted many of the heretics we have mentioned to the Church of God, proclaiming the one truth he had received from the Apostles and handed on to the Church. There are those who heard him tell how John, the Lord's disciple, once went to bathe in Ephesus, saw Cerinthus inside, and rushed out unbathed, saying he feared the bathhouse would collapse because the enemy of truth was within. And when Marcion once confronted Polycarp and asked, "Do you recognize us?" he answered, "I recognize you as the firstborn of Satan." Such was the dread the Apostles and their disciples had of any communion, even in word, with those who corrupted the truth — just as Paul commands: "Avoid a divisive person after a first and second warning, knowing that such a one is warped and self-condemned." (Titus 3:10; cf. 1 Tim 1:20) Polycarp also wrote an excellent letter to the Philippians, from which those who desire to learn and care for their salvation can discern the character of his faith and his proclamation of truth. The church at Ephesus, founded by Paul and where John remained until the time of Trajan, stands as a true witness to the tradition of the Apostles.
Latin
1. Trapirionem itaque Apostolorum in toto mundo manifestatam, in omni Ecclesia adest perspicere omnibus qui vera velint videre, et habemus annumerare eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt Episcopi in ecclesiis, et successiones eorum usque ad nos, qui nihil tale docuerunt, neque cognoverunt, quale ab his deliratur. Etenim si recondita mysteria scissent Apostoli, que seorsim et latenter ab reliquis perfectos docebant, his vel maxime traderent ea quibus etiam ipsas ecclesias committebant. Valde enim fectos et irreprehensibiles in omnibus eos volebant esse, quos et successores relinquebant, suum ipsorum locum magisterii tradenemendate agentibus fieret magna utilitas, lapsis autem summa calamitas, Sed quoniam valde longum est, in hoe tali volumine omnium ecclesiarum enumerare successiones, maximz, et antiquissimz, et omnibus cognitz, a gloriosissimis duobus Apostolis ? Petro et Paulo Rome fundatz et constitute ecclesiz, eam quam habet ab Apostolis traditionem, et annuntiatam hominibus fidem, per successiones Episcoporum pervenientem .usque ad nos indicantes, confundimus omnes eos, qui quoquo modo vel per sibiplacentiam malam, vel vanam gloriam, vel per cecitatem et malam sententiam, preeterquam oportet colligunt. Ad hane enim ecclesiam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem Sconvenire Ecclesiam, hoc est, eos qui sunt undique fideles, in qua semper ab his, qui sunt undique, conservata est ea que est ab Apostolis traditio. pena. Aiadexeras de avrov 2. Fundantes igitur et instruentes beati Apostoli Ecclesiam, Lino episcopatum administrande Ecclesiz tradiderunt. Hujus Lini Paulus in his que sunt ad Timotheum epistolis meminit. Succedit autem ei Anacletus: post eum tertio loco ab Apostolis episcopatum sortitur Clemens, qui et vidit ipsos Apostolos, et contulit cum eis, et cum adhuc insonantem preedicationem A postolorum et traditionem ante oculos haberet; non solus; adhuc enim multi supererant tune ab Apostolis docti.. Sub hoe igitur mente, dissensione non modica inter eos qui Corinthi essent fratres facta, scripsit quae est Romze Ecélesia potentissimas literas Corinthiis, ad pacem eos congregans, et reparans fidem eorum, et annuntians quam in recenti ab Apostolis acceperat traditionem, annuntiantem unum Deum omnipotentem, factorem cceli et terre, plasmatorem hominis, qui induxerit cataclysmum, et advocaverit Abraham, qui eduxerit populum de terra A®gypti, qui collocutus sit Moysi, qui legem disposuerit, et prophetas miserit, qui ignem preeparaverit diabolo et angelis ejus. Hune Patrem Domini nostri Jesu Christi ab ecclesiis annuntiari, ex ipsa scriptura, qui velint discere possunt, et apostolicam Ecclesize traditionem intelligere, cum sit vetustior epistola his qui nune falso docent, et alterum Deum super Demiurgum et factorem horum omnium que sunt commentiuntur, 8. Huie autem Clementi succedit Euaristus, et Euaristo Alexander, ac deinceps sextus ab Apostolis constitutus est Sixtus, et ab hoc Telesphorus, qui etiam gloriosissime martyrium fecit: ac deinceps Hyginus, post Pius, post quem Anicetus. Cum autem successisset Aniceto Soter, nunc duodecimo loco Episcopatum ab Apostolis habet Eleutherius. Hac ordinatione et successione ea quee est ab Apostolis in Ecclesia traditio et veritatis praeconatio Et est plenissima hee ostensio, unam et pervenit usque ad nos. eandem vivificatricem fidem esse, quae in Ecclesia ab Apostolis usque nunc sit conservata, et tradita in veritate> 4. Et Polycarpus autem non solum ab Apostolis edoctus, et conversatus cum multis ex eis qui Dominum nostrum viderunt ; sed etiam ab Apostolis in Asia, in ea que est Smyrnis Ecclesia constitutus Episcopus, quem et nos vidimus in prima nostra eetate, multum enim perseveravit, et valde senex gloriosissime et nobilissime martyrium faciens exivit de hac vita, heee docuit semper quie ab Apostolis didicerat, quee et Ecclesiz tradidit, et sola sunt vera. estimonium his perhibent que sunt in Asia ecclesi omnes, et qui usque adhuc successerunt Polycarpo: qui vir multo majoris auctoritatis, et fidelior veritatis est testis, quam Valentinus et Marcion, et reliqui qui sunt perversze sententiz. Is enim est qui sub Aniceto cum advenisset in urbem, multos ex his quos preediximus, hzereticos convertit in Ecclesiam Dei, unam et solam hane veritatem annuntians ab Apostolis percepisse se, quam et Keclesize tradidit. Et sunt qui audierunt eum®, quoniam Johannes Domini discipulus in Epheso iens lavari, cum vidisset intus Cerinthum, exsilierit de balneo non lotus, dicens, quod timeat ne balneum concidat, cum intus esset Cerinthus inimicus veritatis. Et ipse autem Polycarpus Marcioni aliquando occurrenti sibi, et dicenti, Cognoscis nos? respondit: Cognosco te primogenitum Satan. Tantum Apostoli et horum discipuli habuerunt timorem, Sut neque verbo tenus communicarent alicui eorum qui adulteraverant veritatem, quemadmodum et Paulus ait: Hareticum autem hominem post unam correptionem devita, sciens quoniam perversus est qui est talis, et est a semetipso damnatus, Est autem et epistola Polycarpi ad Philippenses scripta perfectissima, ex qua et characterem fidei ejus, et preedicationem veritatis, qui volunt et curam habent suz salutis, possunt discere. Sed et que est Ephesi ecclesia a Paulo quidem fundata, Johanne autem permanente apud eos usque ad Trajani tempora, testis est verus Apostolorum traditionis,