ABSTRACT
This letter was written in the spring or early summer of 449, during the months leading up to the Latrocinium. The addressee is Count Irenaeus (later Bishop of Tyre), a devoted friend of Nestorius, who in 431 unofficially accompanied the patriarch of Constantinople to Ephesus, and after the council obtained an audience with Theodosius, in an attempt to secure the emperor’s support for the Eastern faction. The imperial decree which exiled Nestorius in August 435 pronounced the same verdict against Irenaeus and a presbyter named Photius. Irenaeus lost his position, had his property confiscated and was deported to Petra where he spent twelve years in Arabian exile. He reappears towards the end of 446 as the unanimous choice of the Phoenician bishops for the vacant see of Tyre, one of his chief supporters being Proclus of Constantinople himself. During these twelve years his doctrinal position may have undergone some changes, nevertheless, the main reason why his ordination as bishop of Tyre became possible seems to have been Cyril’s death in 444. Irenaeus was consecrated by Domnus of Antioch, who thus exposed himself to harsh criticism from the Alexandrian party. The latter group successfully convinced the emperor to issue a new decree on 17 February 448, which not only renewed the previous edicts published against Nestorius’ supporters, but also deposed Irenaeus from his bishopric, depriving him of the robe and title of priesthood, and compelling him to live as a layman in his own country and never enter Tyre again. Following Domnus’ futile attempts to rehabilitate him (the Antiochene patriarch was strongly reluctant to consecrate a successor) on 9 September 448 Photius was made bishop of Tyre. After this event, Irenaeus disappears from church history: his deposition was confirmed by the Latrocinium in 449, which passed an anathema on him. The council of Chalcedon,
however, does not mention his name, most probably because he was no longer alive.
