Irenaeus Puts Himself and his Contemporaries on the Same Level as the Author of the Marcionite Gospel

[Secret Alias]

Proof of the Apostolic Preaching:

Now faith occasions this for us; even as the Elders, the disciples of the Apostles (presbyteri apostolorum discipuli) have handed down to us.

Marcion, of course, is said not to have this status as a "apostolic." So in a sense, Irenaeus was in a unique position to correct the Marcionite gospel as it was written by someone (= Luke) who was of the same rank "a disciple of the Apostles" as Irenaeus but not Marcion who was not a disciple of the Apostles. Irenaeus could "correct" Marcion's copy of Luke's (alleged) gospel.