s, Instit. div., I. VII., Victorinus, Commentary on the
Apocalypse. It is very remarkable that Cyprian already set chiliasm
aside; cf. the conclusion of the second Book of the Testimonia and the
few passages in which he quoted the last chapters of Revelation. The
Apologists were silent about chiliastic hopes, Justin even denied them
in Apol. I. 11, but, as we have remarked, he gives expression to them in
the Dialogue and reckons them necessary to complete orthodoxy. The
Pauline eschatology, especially several passages in 1 Cor. XV. (see
particularly verse 50), caused great difficulties to the Fathers from
Justin downwards. See Fragm. Justini IV. a Methodic supped. in Otto,
Corp. Apol. III., p. 254, Iren. V. 9, Tertull. de resurr. 48 sq.
According to Irenaeus the heretics, who completely abandoned the
early-Christian eschatology, appealed to 1 Cor. XV. 50. The idea of a
kind of purgatory--a notion which does not originate with the realistic
but with the philosophical eschatology--is quite plainly found in
Tertullian, e.g., in de anima 57 and 58 ("modicum delictum illuc
luendum"). He speaks in several passages of stages and different places
of bliss; and this was a universally diffused idea (e.g., Scorp. 6).]

[Footnote 624: Irenaeus begins with the resurrection of the body and the
proofs of it (in opposition to Gnosticism). These proofs are taken from
the omnipotence and goodness of God, the long life of the patriarchs,
the translation of Enoch and Elijah, the preservation of Jonah and of
the three men in the fiery furnace, the essential nature of man as a
temple of God to which the body also belongs, and the resurrection of
Christ (V. 3-7). But Irenaeus sees the chief proof in the incarnation of
Christ, in the dwelling of the Spirit with its gifts in us (V. 8-16),
and in the feeding of our body with the holy eucharist (V. 2. 3). Then
he discusses the defeat of Satan by Christ (V. 21-23), shows that the
powers that be are set up by God, that the devil therefore manifestly
lies in arrogating to himself the lordship of the world (V. 24), but
that he acts as a rebel and robber in attempting to make himself master
of it. This brings about the transition to Antichrist. The latter is
possessed of the whole power of the devil, sums up in himself therefore
all sin and wickedness, and pretends to be Lord and God. He is described
in accordance with the Apocalypses of Daniel and John as well as
according to Matth. XXIV. and 2nd Thes