Irenaeus describes Enoch and Elijah as being caught up as a prophecy of the assumption of those who are spiritual.
For Enoch, when he pleased God, was translated in the same body in which he did please Him, thus pointing out by anticipation the translation of the just. Elijah, too, was caught up [when he was yet] in the substance of the [natural] form; thus exhibiting in prophecy the assumption of those who are spiritual, and that nothing stood in the way of their body being translated and caught up.
Where, then, was the first man placed? In paradise certainly ... And then afterwards when [man] proved disobedient, he was cast out thence into this world. Wherefore also the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were translated were transferred to that place (for paradise has been prepared for righteous men, such as have the Spirit; in which place also Paul the apostle, when he was caught up, heard words which are unspeakable as regards us in our present condition 2 Corinthians 12:4), and that there shall they who have been translated remain until the consummation [of all things], as a prelude to immortality.
At the same time, Irenaeus defends God's ability to preserve the bodies of Jonah and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the midst of extreme peril, arguing against an idea that Elias's flesh must have been consumed in the fiery chariot.
I think Irenaeus is saying Enoch and Elijah were transported whole-body to Paradise as a demonstration God's ability to preserve the body in the midst of destruction, as a prelude to immortality, and as a prophecy of the assumption of the Church. I think the assumption of the Church is the Rapture.
(New Advent - Against Heresies (Book V, Chapter 5) @ https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103505.htm, Accessed July 12, 2023)
When discussing Revelation and the Antichrist, he describes the function of the tribulation as refining the Church.
And therefore throughout all time, man, having been moulded at the beginning by the hands of God, that is, of the Son and of the Spirit, is made after the image and likeness of God: the chaff, indeed, which is the apostasy, being cast away; but the wheat, that is, those who bring forth fruit to God in faith, being gathered into the barn. And for this cause tribulation is necessary for those who are saved, that having been after a manner broken up, and rendered fine, and sprinkled over by the patience of the Word of God, and set on fire [for purification], they may be fitted for the royal banquet. As a certain man of ours said, when he was condemned to the wild beasts because of his testimony with respect to God: "I am the wheat of Christ, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of God."
(New Advent - Against Heresies (Book V, Chapter 28) @ https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103528.htm, Accessed July 12, 2023)
Then he says all creation was created for the benefit of human nature which is saved. Those who did not raise their eyes unto heaven are like "as waste water from a sink, and as the turning-weight of a balance — in fact, as nothing;" He says the unsaved are "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." Isaiah 40:15 So, in other words, useless trash in some cases, and as fuel for the refining fire in other cases, I think.
Finally, he says the Church shall be caught up, and greater tribulation follows.
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.
(New Advent - Against Heresies (Book V, Chapter 29) @ https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103529.htm, Accessed July 12, 2023)