No, the Church Fathers Did Not Teach the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

In response to the claims that the pre-tribulation rapture can be traced back to the second or third century:

Did some digging on your claims. As I suspected, your information is based on citations taken out of context, mistranslated, or outright fabricated. The writings of the Pre-Nicene fathers were a required study for me during my seminary courses as I prepared for the priesthood. I knew something wasn’t right when you listed of Irenaeus and Cyprian. I’d heard of the Ephraim citation, but have never been able to find a copy of the source text to read for myself. Regardless, Ephraim was very much an Orthodox Catholic Priest

Irenaeus Book V, Chapter 29 - “1. In the previous books I have set forth the causes for which God permitted these things to be made, and have pointed out that all such have been created for the benefit of that human nature which is saved, ripening for immortality that which is [possessed] of its own free will and its own power, and preparing and rendering it more adapted for eternal subjection to God. And therefore the creation is suited to [the wants of] man; for man was not made for its sake, but creation for the sake of man. Those nations however, who did not of themselves raise up their eyes unto heaven, nor returned thanks to their Maker, nor wished to behold the light of truth, but who were like blind mice concealed in the depths of ignorance, the word justly reckons as waste water from a sink, and as the turning-weight of a balance — in fact, as nothing; Isaiah 40:15 so far useful and serviceable to the just, as stubble conduces towards the growth of the wheat, and its straw, by means of combustion, serves for working gold. And therefore, when in the end the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, There shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall be. Matthew 24:21 For this is the last contest of the righteous, in which, when they overcome they are crowned with incorruption.” - Irenaeus is clearly speaking of the resurrection when both dead and living will be transformed. In your parlence, a “post-tribulation” rapture. Not a pre-trib.

Cyprian Epistle 63 and Treatise 4 – The first writing is about a specific Christian, and Christians in general who fall away. The second is a treatise on the Lord’s Prayer. There is nothing in his writings describing an escape from the tribulation of the last days, nor two comings of Christ.

Both of the above texts are available for free at newadvent.org

St. Ephraim of Nisibis “On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World”, also known as the “Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ephraem” – I’m afraid I can’t find any actual English translations of this work except as produced by organizations with a vested interest in promoting a pre-tribulation rapture. This being said, most scholars believe this work wasn’t actually written by St. Ephraim himself, but a “pseudo-Ephraim” centuries after, and there are serious questions by scholars about the translations being made available by those aforementioned organizations as being deliberately mistranslated to reflect a pre-trib rapture. I know for a fact that St. Ephraim originally only wrote in Syriac, his native tongue. Those Latin and Greek texts which exist are either translations or forgeries written long after St. Ephraim’s death. The text in question is currently dated to the seventh century. According to the Wikipedia article on this text,

A passage from the Latin version of the text has been used to argue that a pretribulational rapture view existed in the early church. This passage from the Latin version says:

"All the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see."[6]

However, the Syriac version implies that it is death that will cause some to avoid the tribulation. The Syriac version says:

"Pronouncing the good fortune of the deceased Who had avoided the calamity: 'Blessed are you for you were borne away (to the grave) And hence you escaped from the afflictions!"

Additionally, there are several passages even in the Latin version that imply Christians will not escape the tribulation. For example:

"In those days [during the tribulation] people shall not be buried, neither Christian, nor heretic, neither Jew, nor pagan, because of fear and dread there is not one who buries them; because all people, while they are fleeing, ignore them."

"Then, when this inevitability has overwhelmed all people, just and unjust, the just, so that they may be found good by their Lord; and indeed the unjust, so that they may be damned forever with their author the Devil."

Based on this evidence, I maintain that the teaching of the pre-tribulation rapture is a modern invention at the very least by Darby, if not by Margaret MacDonald, and was never taught in the ancient church.