This post will cover Irenaeus and Valentinus, and the seeds of Orthodoxy that were beginning to develop in the second century. If you have been keeping up with the first five parts of this series, then you already know that the earliest Christianity had very different beliefs than today’s Orthodoxy. The earliest Christians relied heavily on Jewish tradition. They followed a strict moral code, subjugating their lives to God through a consecrated lifestyle. They believed that the man Jesus completely fulfilled the Law of God and this earned him a great honor. To the earliest Christians, Jesus was savior because he showed mankind the way to the Kingdom of God through obedience and by the teaching of esoteric wisdom (the science of the soul). [Read more…] about The Great Controversy: Irenaeus and the Development of the Orthodox Church Part 6