46. But since the Saviour was the beginning of the resurrection of all
men, it was meet that the Lord alone should rise from the dead, by whom too the
judgment is to enter for the whole world, that they who have wrestled worthily
may be also crowned worthily by Him, by the illustrious Arbiter, to wit, who
Himself first accomplished the course, and was received into the heavens, and
was set down on the right hand of God the Father, and is to be manifested again
at the end of the world as Judge. It is a matter of course that His forerunners
must appear first, as He says by Malachi and the angel, “I will send to you
Elias the Tishbite before the day of the Lord, the great and notable day,
comes; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the
disobedient to the wisdom of the just, lest I come and smite the earth
utterly.” These, then, shall come and proclaim the manifestation of Christ that
is to be from heaven; and they shall also perform signs and wonders, in order
that men may be put to shame and turned to repentance for their surpassing
wickedness and impiety. (Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and
Antichrist, 46 [ANF 5:213]
