Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 1.10
Indeed, the Church, spread throughout the whole world to the very ends of the earth, received this faith from the Apostles and their disciples. It is the faith in one God, the Father Almighty, who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them; in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who through the Prophets proclaimed the dispensations of God, and the advent, and the birth from a Virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Jesus Christ our Lord, and His coming from heaven in glory to recapitulate all things and to raise up all flesh of the human race. All this is so that, according to the will of the invisible Father, every knee may bow to Jesus Christ our Lord and God and Savior and King — of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth — and every tongue may confess to Him, and He may execute a just judgment on all (Philippians 2:10-11). He will send the spiritual powers of wickedness, the angels who transgressed and became apostates, and the impious, the unjust, the iniquitous, and the blasphemous among men, into eternal fire. But to the just, to those who have kept His commandments and persevered in His love — some from the beginning, others through repentance — He will grant the gift of incorruptible life and surround them with eternal glory.
Having received this preaching and this faith, as we have said, the Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, carefully guards it, as if dwelling in a single house. She believes these things as if having one soul and one heart, and she preaches, teaches, and hands them down with perfect harmony, as if possessing one mouth. For although the languages in the world differ, the power of the tradition is one and the same. Neither the churches founded in Germany, nor those in Spain, nor those among the Celts, nor those in the East, nor those in Libya, nor those in the center of the world believe or hand down anything different. Just as the sun, the creature of God, is one and the same in the whole world, so also the preaching of the truth shines everywhere and illuminates all who desire to come to the knowledge of the truth. No presbyter who excels in eloquence will teach otherwise; for no one is above the Master. Nor will one who is weak in speech diminish the tradition. Since the faith is one and the same, the one who can say much about it does not increase it, nor does the one who can say little reduce it.
Rather, the pious man — whether he knows more or less according to prudence — does so not to alter the argument, or to invent another God besides the Creator, Maker, and Nourisher of this universe, as if He were not sufficient for us, or another Christ, or another Only-Begotten. He seeks out all things spoken in parables and joins them to the argument of truth; he narrates the instrument and the disposition of God carried out in the human race. Because God is magnanimous, he declares why the angels transgressed and men disobeyed; why one and the same God made some things temporal, others eternal, some heavenly, others earthly; why, though invisible, He appeared to the Prophets not in one form but differently to each, to be present; why many testaments were given to humanity, and what is the character of each; why God confined all in unbelief so that He might have mercy on all. He gives thanks for why the Word of God became flesh and suffered. He announces why the advent of the Son of God took place in these last times — that is, at the end — and not at the beginning. He unfolds what Scripture sets forth concerning the end and the things to come. He does not keep silent about why God made the desperate Gentiles coheirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the saints. He proclaims how mortal and corruptible flesh was made incorruptible, and how those who were not a people became a people, and the unloved became beloved. He declares how the desolate woman has more children than she who has a husband. For with such things the Apostle exclaimed: "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!" (Romans 11:33). But he did not do this to invent a mother above the Creator and Maker, and so fall into such blasphemy; nor to fabricate lies beyond this Pleroma — sometimes thirty, sometimes innumerable Aeons — as those say who have truly been deserted by the divine judgment of the Master. For the whole Church throughout the whole world holds one and the same faith, as we have said.
Latin
EccLestA enim [et quidem] per universum orbem usque ad fines terre [dis|seminata, et ab Apostolis, et discipulis eorum accepit eam fidem, que est in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, qui fecit colum et terram, δὲ mare, et omnia quo $n eis sunt: et in unum Christum Jesum filium Dei, incarnatum pro nostra salute: et in Spiritum Sanctum, qui per Prophetas predicavit de ex dispositiones Dei, et adventum, et eam, qus est ex Virgine generationem, et passionem, et resurrectionem a mortuis, et in carne in ccelos ascensionem dilecti Jesu Christi Domini nostri, et de colis in gloria Patris adventum ejus, ad recapitulanda universa, et resuscitandam omnem earnem humani generis, ut Christo Jesu Domino nostro, et Deo, et Salvatori et Regi, secundum placitum Patris invisibilis omne genu curvet colestium, et terrestrium, et. infernorum, et omnis lingua confiteatur ei, et judicium justum in omnibus faciat: spiritalia quidem nequitia», et angelos transgressos, atque apostatas factos, et impios, et injustos, et iniquos, et blasphemos homines in sternum ignem mittat: justis autem et quis, et prsecepta ejus servantibus, et in dilectione ejus perseverantibus, quibusdam quidem ab initio, quibusdam autem ex poenitentia, vitam donans incorruptelam loco muneris conferat, et claritatem seternam circumdet. . Hance preedicationem cum acceperit, et hanc fidem, quemadmodum przediximus, Ecclesia, et quidem in universum mundum disseminata, diligenter custodit, quasi unam domum inhabitans: et similiter credit iis, videlicet. quasi unam animam habens et unum cor, et consonanter hsc prsdieat, et docet, et tradit, quasi unum possidens os. Nam etsi in mundo loquele dissimiles sunt, sed tamen virtus traditionis una et eadem est. Et neque he que in Germania sunt fundats ecclesise, aliter credunt, aut ahter tradunt: neque hz que in Hiberis sunt, neque he que in Celtis, neque hx quse in Oriente, neque hx que in neque he que in Libya, neque he qus in medio mundi sunt constituts: sed sicut sol creatura Dei in universo mundo unus et idem est; sic et 5(lumen,) preedicatio veritatis, ubique lucet, et illuminat omnes homines, qui volunt ad cognitionem veritatis venire. Et neque is qui valde prevalet in sermone, ex iis qui preesunt ecclesiis, alia quam hsec sunt dicet: nemo enim super magistrum est: neque infirmus in dicendo deminorabit traditionem, Cum enim una et eadem fides sit, neque is qui multum de ea potest dicere ampliat, neque is qui minus deminorat. Pius autem aut minus secundum prudentiam nosse quosnon in eo quod argumentum immutetur, efficitur, et alius Deus excogitetur preter fabricatorem, et factorem, et nutritorem hujus universitatis, quasi non ipse sufficiat nobis, aut alius Christus, aut alius Monogenes: sed in eo, quod omnia quz in parabolis dicta sunt exquirere, et adjungere veritatis argumento, et in eo, ut instrumentum et dispositionem Dei in genere humano factam enarrat: et quoniam magnanimus extitit Deus, et in transgressorum angelorum apostasia, et in inobedientia hominum, edisserere; et quare alia quidem temporalia, alia vero sterna, et quedam coelestia, qusedam terrena unus et idem [Deus] fecit, annunciare: et quare cum invisibilis sit, apparuit Prophetis Dei [Deus] non in una forma, sed aliis aliter, adesse: et quare testamenta multa tradita humano generi, annunciare, et quis sit uniuscujusque testamentorum character, docere: et quare conclusi omnia in incredulitatem Deus, ut universis misereatur, exquirere: et quare Verbum Dei caro factum est, et passus est, gratias agere: et quare in novissimis temporibus adventus Fili Dei, hoc est in fine apparuerit. et non in initio, annunciare : et de fine et de futuris, qu&ecunque posita sunt in Scripturis, revolvere: et quare desperatas Gentes cohzredes et concorporatas et participes Sanctorum fecit; Deus, non tacere: et quemadmodum mortalis cc caro eis ravra et corruptibile incorruptelam. annunciare et quemadmodum factus [/. fatus] est Qui non erat populus, populus : et dilecta, dilecta; et quemadmodum Plures filii ejus deserta est, magis quam ejus que habet virum, preconare. talibus enim et in similibus eis exclamavit, Apostolus: O a/titudo dieitiarum et sapientie οἱ agnitionis Dei! quam inscrutabilia Judicia ejus, et investigabiles eia gus. Sed non in eo, ut supra Creatorem et Fabricatorem, matrem ejus et illorum, Enthyerrantis adinvenires, et ad tantam pervenires blasphemiam: neque in eo quod est super hanc rursus Pleroma, aliquando quidem xxx. aliquando vero innumerabiles dines ZEonum mentiri: quemadmodum dicunt hi. qui vere sunt deserti a divina sententia magistri; cum ea, qus est Ecclesia universa, unam et eandem fidem habeat in universo mundo, quemadmodum prediximus’.