A. Cautions against

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IRENAEUS

“To give an example: Springing from Saturninus and Marcion, those who are called Encratites (self-controlled) preached against marriage, thus setting aside the original creation of God, and indirectly blaming Him who made the male and female for the propagation of the human race. Some of those reckoned among them have also introduced abstinence from animal food, thus proving themselves ungrateful to God, who formed all things.” (Against Heresies, Book One, chap. 28).1

  1. Prohibitions against marriage and animal meats are here called signs of heresy by Irenaeus, as, indeed, they were prophesied of heretics by the apostle Paul before him (1 Tim. 4:1-5). In whose spirit, therefore, do they act who prohibit the clergy from marriage, and bind upon the consciences of all men to abstain from animal meats at certain times and seasons which they have designated of their own devising?

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