Revelation 1:5

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book III

For the Lord, having been born "the First-begotten of the dead,"[446]

Methodius From the Discourse on the Resurrection

But Moses and Elias arose and appeared with this form of which you speak, before Christ suffered and rose. How then could Christ be celebrated by prophets and apostles as "the first begotten of the dead? "[112]

The Letter of the Churches of Vienna and Lugdunum

been again taken back to prison after exposure to the wild beasts, and bore about with them the marks of the burnings and bruises and wounds all over their bodies, yet did they neither proclaim themselves Witnesses, nor indeed did they permit us to address them by this name; but if any one of us on any occasion, either by letter or in conversation, called them Witnesses, they rebuked him sharply. For they willingly gave the title of Witness to Christ, `the faithful and true Witness, '[36]