78 Jesus, Prophet of Islam
In 190 AD Iranaeus himself wrote to Pope Victor urging him to
stop the massacre of Unitarian Christians who were being killed
solely for their differences in belief. The story was again repeated
and like Bishop Pothinus, he himself was murdered in 200 AD for
espousing the cause of Christians who did not follow the Pope.
Iranaeus believed in One God and supported the doctrine of
the manhood of Jesus. He strongly criticised Paul for being respon
sible for injecting doctrines borrowed from the European pagan
religions and Platonic philosophy into Christianity. Iranaeus quoted
extensively from the Gospel of Barnabas. lt was after reading the
writings of Iranaeus that Fra Marino became interested in this Gos
pel, which in turn led to his discovery, in the Papallibrary, of the
ltalian manuscript of the Gospel of Barnabas -which as we shall see
further on, is the earliest version known to be in existence today.
Tertullian 060-220 AD)
Tertullian belonged to the African Church. He was a native of
Carthage. He believed in the Unity of God and identified Jesus
with the Jewish Messiah. He opposed Pope Callistus for teaching
that capital sin was forgiven after doing canonical penance. He
stressed the unity of the heart with existence.
He wrote: 'Common people think of Christ as a man.'
Ironically it was Tertullian who introduced the term 'iriniias'
into Latin ecclesiastical writings when analysing and refuting this
strange new doctrine. The term 'trinity' is not once used in the
inspired Scriptures-which strongly confirms that it was a concept
with which Jesus was entirely unfamiliar,
Origen 085-254 AD)Origen was an Egyptian by birth. Perhaps he was born in Alexan
dria. His father, Leonidas, founded a centre of learning and ap
pointed the famous theologian Clement as its head. Origen received
his education here. The Pauline Church did not approve of the be
liefs held by Leonidas, who followed Apostolic Christianity and
refused to accept the interpretations and innovations of Paul. He
was murdered in 208 AD. Origen was so affected by this event that
he too wished to offer himself as a martyr, but was prevented from
doing so by his mother.http://www.islamicbulletin.com