c. 180

Irenaeus: the apostolic succession of bishops against the Gnostics

The Gnostics presented their teaching as secret apostolic knowledge. Irenaeus replies that if the apostles had had secret knowledge, they would have passed it on to the bishops they appointed; therefore the truth is kept openly in the churches where the succession of bishops from the apostles can be checked by lists – above all in the Roman church. González shows that under the pressure of heresies the ideas of succession and of the monarchical episcopate merged into the notion of an unbroken chain of bishops. Berkhof sees a turning point here: the Church came to be understood as an external organization governed by the bishop as the direct heir of the apostles, and the visible communion as the channel of grace.