What did the church fathers believe about end times?

Church historians and theologians offer some reflections : 

Philip Schaff writes:

"The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene [i.e., prior to AD 325] age is the prominent chiliasm, or millenarianism, that is the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment. It was indeed not the doctrine of the church embodied in any creed or form of devotion, but a widely current opinion of distinguished teachers, such as Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Methodius, and Lactantius"

William Alger writes:

“Almost all the early Fathers believingly looked for a millennium, a reign of Christ on earth with his saints for a thousand years.”

William Masselink writes:

“The Chiliastic [Premillennial] conception immediately found acceptance in the Christian church. … The Apostolic history shows us that many of the old church fathers were leaning toward this view.”

Donald K. McKim writes:

“The eschatology of the early [patristic] theologians regarding the kingdom of God is marked by the development of chiliasm, a term that refers to the thousand-year reign of Christ (Rev. 20:1-10) connected with his second coming, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment.”

Roger E. Olson writes:

“Augustine [in the fourth century] developed what has come to be known as amillennialism, whereas most of the earliest church fathers were premillennialists.”

Christopher Rowland writes:

“The Book of Revelation offers an example of theology which is at the heart of earliest Christian conviction rather than being marginal to it. Millennial beliefs were still widely held from the second century onward, as is evident in the writings of Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, and Lactantius.”

Quotes taken from Christ's Prophetic Plans: A Futuristic Premillennial Primer (Edited by John F MacArthur.