Does Sungenis Number St. Augustine Among Papias, Lactantius, Irenaeus, and, Not Quite a CF, Tertullian?

If I understood his live stream as it aired a few minutes ago and I just viewed with delay, his position is that the majority of Church Fathers who are NOT Pre-Millennialists did not believe in a Mass Conversion of Jews.

Now, St. Augustine is definitely not a Pre-Millennialist, and in City of God, he actually does not just believe in a Mass Conversion of Jews, but reports this as the common belief.

Here is City of God, Book XX, I'll excerpt chapter 29
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120120.htm

Chapter 29.— Of the Coming of Elias Before the Judgment, that the Jews May Be Converted to Christ by His Preaching and Explanation of Scripture.

After admonishing them to give heed to the law of Moses, as he foresaw that for a long time to come they would not understand it spiritually and rightly, he went on to say, And, behold, I will send to you Elias the Tishbite before the great and signal day of the Lord come: and he shall turn the heart of the father to the son, and the heart of a man to his next of kin, lest I come and utterly smite the earth. Malachi 4:5-6 It is a familiar theme in the conversation and heart of the faithful, that in the last days before the judgment the Jews shall believe in the true Christ, that is, our Christ, by means of this great and admirable prophet Elias who shall expound the law to them. For not without reason do we hope that before the coming of our Judge and Saviour Elias shall come, because we have good reason to believe that he is now alive; for, as Scripture most distinctly informs us, 2 Kings 2:11 he was taken up from this life in a chariot of fire. When, therefore, he has come, he shall give a spiritual explanation of the law which the Jews at present understand carnally, and shall thus turn the heart of the father to the son, that is, the heart of fathers to their children; for the Septuagint translators have frequently put the singular for the plural number. And the meaning is, that the sons, that is, the Jews, shall understand the law as the fathers, that is, the prophets, and among them Moses himself, understood it. For the heart of the fathers shall be turned to their children when the children understand the law as their fathers did; and the heart of the children shall be turned to their fathers when they have the same sentiments as the fathers. The Septuagint used the expression, and the heart of a man to his next of kin, because fathers and children are eminently neighbors to one another. Another and a preferable sense can be found in the words of the Septuagint translators, who have translated Scripture with an eye to prophecy, the sense, viz., that Elias shall turn the heart of God the Father to the Son, not certainly as if he should bring about this love of the Father for the Son, but meaning that he should make it known, and that the Jews also, who had previously hated, should then love the Son who is our Christ. For so far as regards the Jews, God has His heart turned away from our Christ, this being their conception about God and Christ. But in their case the heart of God shall be turned to the Son when they themselves shall turn in heart, and learn the love of the Father towards the Son. The words following, and the heart of a man to his next of kin, — that is, Elias shall also turn the heart of a man to his next of kin — how can we understand this better than as the heart of a man to the man Christ? For though in the form of God He is our God, yet, taking the form of a servant, He condescended to become also our next of kin. It is this, then, which Elias will do, lest, he says, I come and smite the earth utterly. For they who mind earthly things are the earth. Such are the carnal Jews until this day; and hence these murmurs of theirs against God, The wicked are pleasing to Him, and It is a vain thing to serve God.

Just in case Sungenis might be tempted to consider this as following from a carnal reading of prophecy, the very previous chapter, St. Augustine condemns the carnal reading of the Law.

When Tertullian speaks of the Millennium, as upcoming after the Second Coming, he does mention an opposing school. But when St. Augustine speaks of the upcoming conversion of Jews, he quite frankly does not mention an opposing school. On a previous occasion, he argued against the return of Elias the Thishbite in Apoc. 11, on the ground that that is a Septuagint reading. But basically to the Church Fathers, unless you go as late as Sts. Gregory and Bede, even Latin and not just Greek ones, the Septuagint was the Bible. That's why a Vulgate only stance would contradict the "consensus patrum" stipulation.

Now, check St. John of Damascus who died 749, well after Millennialism was laid aside.

An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book IV), I'll excerpt chapter 26:
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/33044.htm

Chapter 26. Concerning the Antichrist.

It should be known that the Antichrist is bound to come. Every one, therefore, who confesses not that the Son of God came in the flesh and is perfect God and became perfect man, after being God, is Antichrist. 1 John 2:22 But in a peculiar and special sense he who comes at the consummation of the age is called Antichrist. First, then, it is requisite that the Gospel should be preached among all nations, as the Lord said Matthew 24:14, and then he will come to refute the impious Jews. For the Lord said to them: I have come in My Father's name and you receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. John 5:43 And the apostle says, Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved, for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. The Jews accordingly did not receive the Lord Jesus Christ who was the Son of God and God, but receive the impostor who calls himself God. For that he will assume the name of God, the angel teaches Daniel, saying these words, Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers. Daniel 11:37 And the apostle says: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition: who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 , showing himself that he is God; in the temple of God he said; not our temple, but the old Jewish temple. For he will come not to us but to the Jews: not for Christ or the things of Christ: wherefore he is called Antichrist.

First, therefore, it is necessary that the Gospel should be preached among all nations Matthew 25:14: And then shall that wicked one be revealed, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders , with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, whom the Lord shall consume with the word of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming. The devil himself , therefore does not become man in the way that the Lord was made man. God forbid! But he becomes man as the offspring of fornication and receives all the energy of Satan. For God, foreknowing the strangeness of the choice that he would make, allows the devil to take up his abode in him.

He is, therefore, as we said, the offspring of fornication and is nurtured in secret, and on a sudden he rises up and rebels and assumes rule. And in the beginning of his rule, or rather tyranny, he assumes the role of sanctity. But when he becomes master he persecutes the Church of God and displays all his wickedness. But he will come with signs and lying wonders 2 Thessalonians 2:9, fictitious and not real, and he will deceive and lead away from the living God those whose mind rests on an unsound and unstable foundation, so that even the elect shall, if it be possible, be made to stumble Matthew 24:24 .

But Enoch and Elias the Thesbite shall be sent and shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children , that is, the synagogue to our Lord Jesus Christ and the preaching of the apostles: and they will be destroyed by him. And the Lord shall come out of heaven, just as the holy apostles beheld Him going into heaven, perfect God and perfect man, with glory and power, and will destroy the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, with the breath of His mouth. Acts 1:11 Let no one, therefore, look for the Lord to come from earth, but out of Heaven, as He himself has made sure 2 Thessalonians 2:8 .

In other words, St. John of Damascus also says Elias will come, and also specifies, along with Henoch. But even more, he also says, they will convert such Jews as are not impious. I think the position of Sungenis against a Mass Conversion of Jews can be dismissed. I'm not Elias, I was not born under Ahab or Omri or their predecessors, in Samaria, I did not flee from Jezebel. I will not see the Mass Conversion of Jews unless my life overlaps with their arrival, but maybe I can persuade a smaller conversion of Jews, prior to their coming. Obviously, if they are right around the corner, that means there are 7 or 3 and 1/2 years until the Second Coming, so, it means there are small chances of earthly happiness. Whichever it is depends on whether their preaching is concurrent with Antichrist's persecution or precedes it.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
16.VII.2025