Writings of Irenaeus xiii
Minor over the date of Easter (HE V.24.11, with a fragment quoted at 24.12-
and another at 24.14-17);
(7) On Knowledge (ἐπιστήμη), against the pagans (HE V.26);
(8) A book of various discourses (HE V.26).
Eusebius also claims in passing that Irenaeus wrote a book against Marcion (HE IV.25)
but that, as HE V.8.9 shows, is simply an inference from Irenaeus’ own expressed inten-
tion (Hae r. I.25.2 and III.12.16) to produce such a work.
There are in addition (9) a number of fragments—many of dubious authenticity—
in Greek, Syriac, and Armenian. There is a list in CPG 1 (1983), numbers 1311–
(= 112–17).
Among spurious works should be noted (10) the so-called “Pfaffian fragments”—
four fragments in Greek, primarily relating to the eucharist, which Ch. M. Pfaff “dis-
covered” in a manuscript in Turin—a manuscript, oddly enough, never seen again
—and published in 1715. Their authenticity was vigorously debated from the moment
of their publication. They are still included, as genuine, by Harvey in his 1859 edition of
Irenaeus (fragments xxxv–xxxviii = vol. 2, 498–506), but Harnack proved conclusively
in 1900 that they were forgeries: Adolf Harnack, Die Pfaff ’schen Irenäus-Fragmente als
Fälschungen Pfaffs nachgewiesen, TU 20.3 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1900).