Revelations of John the theologian Babylon. The Whore of Babylon, the Dragon and the Angels. elder at the Throne of God

About one of the seven holy Angels, who showed Blessed John the destruction of the city of the harlot, and about the seven heads and ten horns

. And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me and said to me: Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters;

. The kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and those who dwell on the earth became drunk with the wine of her fornication.

. And he led me in spirit into the desert; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.

Some considered ancient Rome to be a “harlot”, as located on seven hills; A "seven horns of the beast" on which she sat - the seven most wicked kings who persecuted, from Domitian to Diocletian. But we, in order to be consistent with the sequence of what is happening, think that by a harlot in general we need to understand an earthly kingdom, represented as if in one body, or a city that will rule over others until the Antichrist, because ancient Rome has already lost its power, unless assume that she will return to him again. But if we assume the latter, then the city that now dominates will remain without explanation, for the apostle says: “Woman, thou hast seen that there is a great city, which shall have a kingdom over the kings of the earth.”(). But God willing, we will talk about this further. Now let us explain what needs to be understood by the “desert” into which the seer was led by the spirit. In the spiritual sense, we consider as a desert any city or human society that is hated by the Lord for spiritual blindness, adultery and other vices. But this can be understood in another way, namely, that the Apostle John saw and contemplated the desolation of this harlot, who is represented under the image of a woman to show her inclination and weakness to sin. She was sitting "on a scarlet beast" because with her evil deeds she seems to rest on the devil, who rejoices in murder and blood, and through her blasphemies she becomes, as it were, the helper of an apostate. The crimson color of the beast indicates its cruelty and tendency to kill. What seven heads and ten horns mean, we will learn about this, with God’s help, from the further words of the Angel.

. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls,

"The woman was clothed in scarlet and purple"– symbols and signs of power over everyone; that is why it is decorated with precious stones and beads.

and she held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominations and the uncleanness of her fornication;

The “cup” indicates the sweetness of evil before tasting it, and the gold indicates its tempting nature. It is said about Job that he “drank reproach like water” (), and here it is indicated that the wife does evil not for satiation, but out of a desire for destruction. That is why she was “filled with abominations” that feed a sin-loving society, reveling in sin and lustful defilement like a sweet drink.

. and on her forehead was written a name: mystery, Babylon the great, mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.

“The mark on the forehead” testifies to the shamelessness of untruth, fullness of sin and heartfelt confusion; she is a “mother” because in the cities under her control she leads spiritual fornication and encourages them to commit iniquities that are abominable before God.

Article fifty-four

About how the Angel interpreted the secret he saw

. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus, and seeing her, I was amazed with great surprise.

. And the Angel said to me: Why are you marveling? I will tell you the secret of this woman and of the beast that bears her, which has seven heads and ten horns.

The names of cities are given in the Holy Scriptures, as can be seen from many places in it, in accordance with their lives and deeds. That is why ancient Babylon is called the rejoicing (that is, enjoying her fornication) harlot, the mistress of sorcerers and magicians, and about Jerusalem it is said: "The face of a harlot's wife may appear to you"(), and in the Epistle of Peter ancient Rome is called Babylon (). But, of course, the most correct name is Babylon for the city that was in power under the Persians, and then for every other city that amuses itself with blood and murder. The Evangelist was horrified when he saw one of these cities, but learned from the Angel that this city - the ruler of the world - at his death will be punished for its iniquities, no matter what city we mean by it: Persian, or Rome, which has received ancient power, or some new one , or in general world kingdoms, by their nature taken for one. For they are all full of sins and stained with the blood of saints, although not in the same way - some more, others less. Who, for example, will measure the blood of martyrs since the time of Diocletian or those martyred in Persian soil? Readers can know from history what happened, for example, under Aelian, or about the persecution of Christians by the Arians in the new Rome.

. The beast that you saw was and is not, and will come out of the abyss and go to destruction;

This beast is Satan, killed by the Cross of Christ; he will come to life again at the end of the world and will try to overthrow the Cross with false signs and wonders of the Antichrist. He acted before the Cross, but now he is gone, for he is weakened by the sufferings of the Savior and deprived of his dominion over the nations, which he had over them through their idolatry. Having emerged at the end of the world from the abyss or from the place where he was imprisoned by his condemnation and where the demons asked Christ not to send them, but rather to throw them into the herd of swine, he will appear in the world. Or he will appear from real life, which allegorically is also called the abyss because of the depth of sin and the agitation of passions on the sea of ​​life. From here the Antichrist will also come out - Satan’s instrument to ensnare people, for which he will be condemned to death in the next century.

and those who dwell on the earth, whose names were not written in the book of life from the beginning of the world, will be surprised, seeing that the beast was, and is not, and will appear.

Those whose names are not written in the book of the eternally living and who did not guess the Antichrist according to Christ’s predictions will be surprised at the coming of the beast and his false miracles, they will be surprised, not understanding why he received his former power again.

. Here is a mind that has wisdom.

Spiritual wisdom is needed to understand what is said spiritually.

The seven heads are the seven mountains on which the woman sits,

And seven kings,

We think that the seven heads and seven mountains indicate seven places that surpassed others in their power and strength and in which world kingdoms were founded at different times. The first of them is the Assyrian kingdom, the second is the rule of the Medes in Ecbatana, whose king Arbak, according to history, killed the Assyrian king Sardanapalus; then Nebuchadnezzar established the Chaldean kingdom in Babylon, and Cyrus, having defeated this kingdom, restored the Persian kingdom in Susa. Alexander the Great destroyed it and founded Macedonian. After these kingdoms in ancient Rome, after its first kings and consuls, under Caesar Augustus, the Roman Empire became a world empire, which was supported by its wicked kings until the Great Constantine. The seven kings must be understood in the same way, and the difference in the gender of the words heads, mountains and kings should not prevent them from being interpreted the same way. For in the Holy Scriptures, names are often given completely indifferently - male instead of female, and vice versa, for example: Ephraim is a butting youth, and in another place: Ephraim is a dove without a heart (), and according to the Apostle Theologian: “Three are he who bears witness to the earth, the spirit and the water and the blood: and the three are one”(), and according to Solomon: a goat, a rooster and a king speaking to the people (). Thus, seven heads mean cities, seven mountains - seven states, when at times they surpassed other areas of the earth not in population, but in glory, and kings in the same way mean either famous places, as the seat of the king, or the first kings in each of the mentioned places after which their kingdoms are called. Namely: the name of Nina is the Assyrian kingdom, Arbacus is the Median kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar is the Babylonian kingdom, Alexander is the Macedonian kingdom, Romulus is the ancient Roman kingdom and Constantine is the modern Roman kingdom.

of which five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he will not be long.

Blessed Hippolytus means by the name of the five kings who fell from among the seven centuries, of which five have passed, the sixth, in which this vision to the apostle was, continues now, but the seventh has not yet come and when it comes, it will be short. And if, according to Blessed Irenaeus, seven days, seven heavens and seven ranks of angels were created, having power over others, then, having accepted this opinion, we must agree with our interpretation that the seven kingdoms are those that have existed from the creation of the world until now; five of them have already died, the sixth, in which this revelation took place, was in ancient Rome, and the seventh, which has not yet occurred, will be in new Rome. It would be a good explanation to consider the dominion of universal Babylon as the continuous reign of one city until the coming of the Antichrist, and the last kingdom as the torment of the Antichrist, which will last a week in comparison with the previous kingdoms, which ruled for up to five hundred and thousand years. In addition, any temporary number of years is generally insignificant in comparison with the future endless Kingdom of the saints.

. And the beast that was and is not is the eighth, and from among the seven, and will go to destruction.

"The Beast" is the Antichrist; he is called the eighth because he will rise to deceive people and devastate the earth after the seven kingdoms; he is from seven, because he will come out of one of these kingdoms. And he will come as the king of Rome, and not from any of the mentioned nations, to the destruction and torment of those who do not submit to him, and then he himself will go to hell.

. And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received the kingdom, but will take power with the beast as kings for one hour.

Daniel also saw the “ten horns” that preceded the Antichrist, of which one destroyed three and subjugated the rest. “One hour” means either a short time, or one part of the year, that is, three months, after which the kings will submit to the Antichrist as their master.

. They have the same thoughts and will transfer their strength and power to the beast.

. They will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them; for He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and the chosen and the faithful.

“These have one will.” And that's true, because "no one can serve two masters"(). Therefore, those who are like-minded in evil and have submitted to the Antichrist resist the true Christ. But the Lamb of God, slain for our sake, will defeat them and give His Kingdom to the elect, since even after the Incarnation He still had the Kingdom and dominion over all.

. And he says to me: The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are people and peoples and nations and languages.

. And the ten horns that you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, and will devastate her, and make her naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire;

. because he put it on their hearts to do His will, to do one will, and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God were fulfilled.

. The woman whom you saw is a great city, reigning over the kings of the earth.

“And the verbs were: the waters where thou hast seen, where the fornicator sitth, they are men and nations, and nations and tongues.” Since these words were explained by the Angel, it is unnecessary to talk about them in detail. But it seems amazing to me how the enemy and avenger the devil will help the ten horns subordinate to him to rise up and arm themselves against the virtue-loving Christ our God, and devastate a populous city that has been deceived by him and has departed from the commandments of God, and then feed on his blood like a beast. I am also amazed at how he, for whom devastation serves as joy and the killing of people as food, strife and disagreement as a consolation, will give his consent to the ten apostate horns? But the assumption that the wife is a great city ruling over the kings of the earth makes plausible the prediction of the suffering of the then world kingdom. May He deliver us from the trial of these calamities and may He settle us in the city on high - heavenly Jerusalem, in which, as the Apostle says, He Himself is all and in all, when He abolishes all (apostate) rulers, authority and power, and places those who serve Him faithfully with Himself and will serve them, that is, will delight them with the blessings prepared for them from the foundation of the world. May we also be worthy of this delight in Christ, our Savior and Redeemer; To Him and the Father be glory and power, together with the Holy and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Whore of Babylon. Painting by William Blake (1809)

The great harlot sits on the red dragon (according to the prophecies of the Holy Orthodox Fathers - the false church).The Whore of Babylon is depicted as a woman in expensive robes (usually purple), sitting on a seven-headed beast, holding a cup in her hand.

In the image Whore of Babylon(Rev. Chapter 17) depicts humanity that has apostatized from God, concentrated in the capital of the kingdom of the beast-Antichrist. Some theologians view the Whore of Babylon as an image of a church that has fallen away from the faith (Catholic Church). Bishop Alexander (Mileant) believes that the fullness of the symbolism of the 17th chapter of the Book of Revelation, which tells about the harlot and her fall, will become obvious only after the coming of the Antichrist.

Theologians note the mutual connection between the harlot and the beast, their common activities and manifestations. Therefore, the wealth and beauty of the harlot are not eternal - she will be thrown into poverty, nakedness and loneliness, like a beast that “will go to destruction.”

Trial of the harlot

After the trial of the harlot there will be rejoicing(Rev. 19:1-2). The trial of the harlot, according to theologians, will be a foreshadowing of the end of the world and the onset of God's judgment.

Armageddon

Armageddon - the site of the final battle between good and evil at the end of time, which will affect everyone living on Earth. “The kings of all the inhabited earth” will participate in this battle (Rev. 16:14-16). The kings of the Earth with their armies will be gathered to fight against Him who sits on the horse and his army - Jesus Christ (Rev. 19:19). Armageddon is a war between God and the devil. The devil will gather great hordes of enemy states, and the Lord will destroy them all, and then the time will come for the last, “seventh plague.”

Theologians believe that the words of Revelation: “These are demonic spirits performing signs; they go out to the kings of the earth of the whole universe to gather them for battle on that great day of God Almighty... ... to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon"(Rev. 16:14-16) mean the war of all nations against Israel. The word "Armageddon" means "Mount Megiddo", which is located 10 km from the city of Afula in northern Israel. According to Islam, the site of Armageddon is Damascus.

Second coming

Chapter 20 summarizes spiritual warfare and world history. She's talking about double defeat of the devil and about the reign of martyrs. Having suffered physically, they won spiritually and are already blissful in Heaven. It covers the entire period of the existence of the Church, starting from apostolic times.

Gog and Magog personify the totality of all the atheistic forces, earthly and underworld, which throughout Christian history fought against the Church (Jerusalem). They are destroyed by the second coming of Christ. Finally, the devil, this ancient serpent who laid the foundation for all lawlessness, untruths and suffering in the Universe, is also subject to eternal punishment.

According to the Church Fathers, the sign of the Second Coming will be the sign of the Cross. The sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and people will see Christ walking through the clouds of heaven in great power and glory. People who will still live on earth at that time will instantly change (1 Cor. 15:51-52), the whole world will change (2 Pet. 3:13), and at the same time there will be a general resurrection of the dead, and they will rise again transformed form and will be special, such that, according to the ap. Pavel, we cannot even imagine now.

The bodies of the righteous will be spiritual, incorruptible and immortal. They will be free from all the infirmities to which our bodies are prone. They will not have earthly bodily needs and will to some extent become like spirits (Matthew 22:30).

The bodies of sinners will also rise in the same transformed form. But, having acquired incorruption, sinners will simultaneously carry within themselves their terrible spiritual state.

Last Judgment

The end of the 20th chapter tells about the general resurrection of the dead, about the Last Judgment and the punishment of the wicked. This brief description summarizes the Last Judgment of mankind and the fallen angels and sums up the drama of the universal war between good and evil.

It's hard to imagine what is being said. All this is beyond our usual understanding. But one thing is clear - with the Second Coming the last and Last Judgment , which will restore the justice trampled by humanity and restore the whole world.

This will be a general trial - a trial of all people, without exception. This will be a solemn and open judgment, strict and terrible, carried out according to all the truth of God, the last and final judgment, aimed at eternity.

This will be the court of eternal justice, which people have forgotten and which they have despised for thousands of years. There is and cannot be any other way to restore this violated justice.

New Jerusalem

The final two chapters (21-22) describe a new Heaven, a new Earth and a blessed life for the saved . These are the brightest and most joyful chapters in the Bible.

Joyful and eternal life awaits the righteous after judgment (Matthew 13:43), and eternal torment is prepared for the wicked (Matthew 25:41-42). But there is no need to understand this primitively.

Thus, Saint John Chrysostom sees the torment of sinners in the fact that they will be deprived of the glory of the Kingdom of God. Deprivation of the blessings of the Kingdom of God is abandonment of God, which is stronger than the torment of hell. Spiritual regret for what is lost will be the worst of all.

And we know well from our own experience how much more severe the mental and spiritual wounds of physical diseases are, and how destructively they act on our body.

With the end of this world and its transformation into a new and better world, the eternal Kingdom of God will open - the Kingdom of glory. Then the Kingdom of grace, by which we call the existence of the Church on earth, will end. The earthly Church will enter this Kingdom of glory and merge with it forever.

The Apocalypse points to the devil as the culprit of all temptations and disasters of mankind. The tools with which he tries to destroy people are always the same: unbelief, disobedience to God, pride, sinful desires, lies, fear, doubts, etc.The Apocalypse clearly shows that in the end the devil and his servants will be defeated and punished, the truth of Christ will triumph, and a blessed life will begin in the renewed world, which will have no end.

Material prepared by Sergey Shulyak

for the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity on Sparrow Hills

This chapter extremely vividly and figuratively depicts the death of Babylon - the great harlot, which was accompanied, on the one hand, by the crying of the kings of the earth who committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth who sold her all sorts of precious goods, and on the other hand, joy in heaven over what was just. judgment of God. Some modern interpreters believe that this Babylon will really be some kind of huge city, a world center, the capital of the kingdom of the Antichrist, which will be distinguished by its wealth and at the same time extreme depravity of morals, which has always distinguished large and rich cities. And to this day we have seen(after that I saw) another angel descending from heaven, having a great domain(great power) and the earth will be enlightened(lit up) from his glory. It would seem that God's Judgments are approaching and the darkness of despair should envelop the earth. But we see a great light. This great light that illuminates the world before the destruction of the kingdom of Babylon,— this is the last call of the Gospel preaching that will sound before the destruction of world Babylon. The Holy Scripture says that before the end of the world there will be the last great testimony of Christ, that is, the preaching of the Gospel will fill our entire planet for the last time. Therefore, the great light must be understood as the light of enlightenment. Usually, before the clouds thicken, the sky becomes bright, and then the contrast— everything begins to suddenly darken and darkness sets in. The phrase “another angel” appears very often in the Book of Revelation. According to theologians, Angels come with one specific assignment. And then they are replaced by other Angels, each of whom has his own assignment from God. And cry out in the fortress(strongly), with a great voice(loud) verb: padé, padé(fell) Babylon the great, and came to be(done) home of demons and guardian(shelter) every unclean spirit, and the repository of all unclean and hated birds(disgusting) as if from the wine of the rage of his fornication all tongues were drunk. The phrase “fallen, fallen” indicates the fall of certain shrines of Babylon.Any prophecy of God is very relevant in its own way, that is, it is relevant to the current events of modern history that we are experiencing. It also has significance for past events, that is, in every generation Christians saw their destruction of Babylon. And in this global sense, each prophecy has a special relationship to the final accomplishment of what it testifies to.The interpretation of Saint Andrew of Caesarea says: “Isaiah prophesied a similar thing about Babylon, the capital of the Chaldeans, taken by Cyrus and the Persians, that it would be desolate and filled with beasts and unclean spirits, for beasts and unclean spirits tend to long for the desert.” The beginning of chapter 18 of the Book of Revelation is a kind of funeral service for Babylon, but a funeral service in such a sarcastic sense.Scripture contains a description of the destruction of those kingdoms that actually perished,— kingdom of Edom, kingdom of Babylon, kingdom of Nineveh,— but all these characteristics at the same time refer to the destruction of the last kingdom. That last bastion of the forces of evil that will resist God, but will be destroyed in the fire of Armageddon. Christ paid attention to this or that modern event and always tried to give a spiritual interpretation to certain events.

"Rage of Fornication"— This phrase testifies to the frenzy of perversion in recent times. As Barsanuphius and John write, the surge in Sodomite perversions in recent times will be especially violent. But, on the other hand, the “rage of fornication” in the spiritual sense— this is the fury of religious error. Fornication— This is the wife’s infidelity to her groom, this is the Church’s infidelity to her Heavenly Bridegroom. Harlot in the Book of Revelation— this is an incorrect religious system that deviates from the truths of Orthodoxy and is identified with universal Babylon. We are moving away from the main, systemic line of classical theology, which was formulated in the 19th century. Therefore, if you have a question about which books to study theology from, give preference to pre-revolutionary books, they are republished, especially in monasteries. These pre-revolutionary authors were purer, more chaste in matters of faith, and besides, the censorship was very attentive and jealous of some private opinions and emasculated them from the works of these authors. So "wrathful wine of fornication"— These are not only those sexual revolutions that shook the Western world, and are now shaking Russia, but these are also all kinds of theological philosophies. And the kings of the land deal with her in every way, and the merchants of the land deal with the power of her food(from her great luxury) getting rich. All these "kings of the earth" who borrowed from this trading Babylon, and all the "merchants of the earth"— that is, some kind of international economic center, this fallen Babylon,— they are all sad. St. Andrew of Caesarea writes: “This city, due to the excess of its unrighteous wealth, being in luxury, pride and disdain for excess, itself was the reason for the enrichment of earthly merchants.” Unjust wealth— These are, first of all, the funds that people receive from usury. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying: come out of here, my people, so that you may not receive communion(not to participate) by her sin and by her wounds, let not you be harmed, for you are clinging to(arrived) sin her even to heaven, and remember the God of her iniquity. The call to leave Babylon is the dominant theme of the entire 18th chapter. “Get out from her,” that is, from the Babylonian harlot. First, there is a call to come out of Babylon, not to identify yourself in any way with this evil system of things, to separate from them, so as not to receive retribution with them, so as not to drink the cup of wrath with them. And when the call to exodus was sounded, it says: Reward her as she has repaid you, and make her even worse(double) according to her business: with the cup from which you draw [wine], draw from it purely. Become very famous and become fierce(lived luxuriously) just give her pain and sobs: as in your hearts you say, as if you were a queen, and the widow is not, and the sobs cannot be seen by the imam. St. Andrew of Caesarea explains the phrase “reward her twice according to her deeds” this way: “This is said either to the innocent who have suffered much evil from the rulers of that city, because by their patience with sorrows they serve as the reason for greater punishment of their tormentors.” This call to “reward” is addressed to those who have already suffered a lot from this universal Babylon. The Babylonian harlot sits and says: “I am not a widow,” that is, she seems to imitate religiosity and says: “I am not a widow, I have a Heavenly Bridegroom.” But she is a widow because God has “died” in the Western world. They, more precisely, died to God. If we analyze Western theology, we will end up in a dead theology. There the concept of God is expelled from life. First they refuse to believe in miracles, then they refuse to confess moral principles in dogmas. And all this ends with the fact that religiosity dies. For this sake(for that, that is, for this self-confidence) in one day the plagues will come(executions) Hey, death and weeping and famine, and will be burned with fire, for the mighty Lord God judges her(judging her). They already feel that this is coming to them, they are afraid of nuclear terrorism. Let us remember again the prophet Isaiah (see: Is. 50: 11). And then we read about how different people weep when they see the death of the shopping center, this universal Babylon: And her kings of the earth will weep and mourn, everyone who dealt with her and became enraged(luxurious) when you see smoke from the fire(from fire) her, standing from afar for the fear of her torment(from fear of her torment), verb: woe, woe, the great city Babylon, the strong city, as if at one hour you will come. In one hour, fallen, fallen, everything perishes, everything is crushed, everything is destroyed. St. Andrew of Caesarea explains: “We think that rulers are called kings of the earth.” Bosses, that is, people who are bosses in their countries, who are tied to the trading systems of the world Babylon. And the merchants of the land will weep and mourn for him, like a burden(products) no one will buy them, the shopping center no longer resells goods, no one buys anything: a burden of gold and silver, and precious stones and beads, and tarsus and porphyry, and silk and wormwood(trading process has stopped all over the world), and every tree of Hinn(fragrant ), and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel of the honorable tree, and copper, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and thyme, and myrrh, and Lebanon, and wine, and oil, and hew, and wheat. cattle, and cattle, and sheep, and horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men. Some kind of commodity exchange, they resell everything, resell everything, and suddenly it all collapses. Those people who are used to making capital for themselves on these exchanges suddenly realize that they are left with nothing. All these speculators who profit from the exploitation of people will be a complete fiasco. Further it is said what else this Babylon sells: “horses and chariots, and human bodies and souls.” It turns out that not only chariots, the machines on which people move, will become a commodity, but also human bodies, human souls. Andrew of Caesarea, who lived in very ancient times, writes about these chariots and horses: “The use of horses, chariots and bodies, too, he says, is unnecessary. Chariots— these are all kinds of carriages, because the Latin word redium means cart.” All kinds of crews. Andrew of Caesarea also seemed to be in a prophetic spirit, he saw these cars of all kinds and even refers to the Latin word “redium” to show that there would be something unexpected, that is, unusual chariots of some kind. And the sale of human bodies and souls. There is now an international bank of human organs. And vegetables of lust(fruits acceptable to) your soul has departed(deleted) from you, and all that is fat and bright(brilliant) I left you, and no one can find them. The merchants, having become rich from her, will stand from afar for fear of her torment, sobbing and crying, and saying: woe, woe, the great city, clothed with visor and purple and scarlet and gilded with gold and stone, with precious stones and beads, as if in one hour only wealth perished. And everyone who steers, and everyone who sails in ships, and everyone who does business in the sea(trading at sea), from afar stasha. You see, those who, like vampires, enriched themselves at the expense of the suffering of others will be crushed by the wrath of God. We see that this capital of Babylon is located on the seashore, and all the ships stand in the distance, observing what is happening there. And I cried out, seeing the smoke of rage(from fire) him, verb: kíy(what city) like a great city? What is the greatest city now? NY. Large city. The richest city in the world. But this does not mean that the world's Babylon is necessarily New York. At one time it was Rome, at one time it was the same Babylon, which was called Babylon. Nineveh was the world's Babylon, Edom was the world's Babylon. Egypt was the world's Babylon. If our times are not the last,— God forbid that Moscow becomes the world's Babylon, that would be very sad. And put down the dust(sprinkled with ashes) on their heads, and cried out, weeping and sobbing, saying: woe, woe, the great city, in which all who have ships in the sea have become rich, from honor(wealth) him: as one desolate. "Empty in one hour." And then joyful words are spoken, these are words addressed to believers: Rejoice in this, O heavens, and holy apostles and prophets, for God has judged you from him (for God has executed your judgment on him; Rev. 18:20). That is, for believers it will be spiritual fun. Spiritual fun— This is not schadenfreude. This is, first of all, joy for myself that I was able to survive in crafty, difficult times, but it is also joy that justice still triumphed. Those people who traded in bodies, human organs, human purity, chastity, who robbed everyone, will receive a cruel but well-deserved punishment. That is, it will be the triumph of the justice of God's courts, God's laws, God's statutes and decrees. The prophets will rejoice, because what they said has been fulfilled, the apostles will rejoice, because everything they spoke over Babylon has been fulfilled, and everyone will see how accurate the Revelation of the Bible is, which we have chosen for ourselves as the standard against which we evaluate everything that happens on earth . The last verses of this chapter (21-23) indicate the suddenness of God’s punishment that will befall this city: And one angel took a great stone, strong as a millstone, and firmly in the sea, saying: thus will Babylon, the great city, be overthrown, and not have to gain xia who. Its death will happen as quickly as a millstone sinks into the sea, and this death will be so amazing that not the slightest trace will remain of the city, as figuratively indicated in the words: and the voice of buzzing and music, and squeaks and trumpets shall not be heard by anyone in you: and every cunning man of all cunning will not be found by anyone(and the voices of those playing the harp and singing and playing the flutes and blowing trumpets will no longer be heard) in you, and the noise of the millstone will not be heard in you, and the light of the lamp will not shine in you, and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride will not be heard who is in you. The most terrible words— “the voice of the bride and groom will no longer be heard in you,” that is, the dialogue of the Church with its Bridegroom— Christ will no longer be heard in the world of Babylon. Society will become absolutely graceless. There will be temples, but there will be no grace in them. The priests will serve, but no one will hear the voices of the Bride and Groom. These will be dead churches, dead religious systems, this will be a world dead to God. This is the worst thing— when the voices of the Bride and Groom will not be heard. And the fact that all their pipes and music programs will stop playing and sounding— so thank God that this whole circus will end!.. They want holy Russia to turn into a kind of Limpopo, a banana republic. There will be people walking here who are completely degraded, following the Western model. Here music will sound, drowning out conscience, it will completely drown out the remnants of morality in the souls of people. And we will have a terrible world if Russia follows this path. But Russia must rise. Russia will be small, as the Holy Fathers predicted, but it will be spiritually rich. Spiritually rich. That is, you and I are unlikely to rise financially, but we will have spiritual wealth. When the last great light shines, it will shine thanks to Russia. Each Orthodox people will play its role. It’s just that Russia must play its role in this Eurasian region, and we must, each one, starting with ourselves, fulfill the mission that the Lord entrusts to us, without any pride of nationality or national exaltation. Yako(for) your merchants are the nobles of the land. This was written in the 1st century. Merchants were the most despicable people in Rome. “The nobles of the earth”, the rulers of the earth were emperors, aristocrats. When did merchants become rulers of the earth? Well, let’s say in the Western world: the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century, and in Russia, that means somewhere around the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century. And here this is predicted by John the Theologian: traders, merchants will become nobles of the land, a new aristocracy, a new economic nobility will arise. Nobles are not by birth, but nobles by wallet; whoever has more money is more noble, more noble, but how did he earn this money?— no one cares anymore. Like all the nations were deceived by your sorcerers. That is, occultism. This will be the religion, the coming religion of the Antichrist. Antichrist will be the occult messiah. Therefore, try not to participate in any occult movements, distance yourself from them resolutely, oppose the occult, because occult— This is the religion of the last times, a demonic religion. In the last, 24th verse, it is also indicated as the reason for the death of Babylon that in it the blood of the prophet and the saints was found (found) and all the beaten(killed) to the ground. Babylon will be personally responsible for the murder of saints, prophets— preachers, apostles of Christ, apostles of the last times,— and all peoples. Here, “all those killed on earth”— in all those wars that world Babylon will wage not only against saints and prophets, but also against all nations. For the sake of their economic interests, oil interests, they will attack, they are already attacking entire countries. And they will destroy many people. Why will they be killed? Because these people, living in Babylon, will spiritually come out of it. "Getting out of Babylon" doesn't mean leaving New York, "getting out of Babylon"— This is not leaving Moscow. Quit Babylon— this means, living in the world, to be completely alien to the sinful world. While among wolves, remain a sheep of Christ, as the Lord said: I send you like sheep among wolves(Matthew 10:16). Exit from Babylon— this is the only favorable alternative in the matter of our salvation. And we have no other choice. That is, we must distance ourselves from the culture of world Babylon— their music, their literature, poetry, prose, from their scientific hypotheses, from the religion of Babylon, from this occult religion,— We must distance ourselves from all this. We must try to protect our children from the corrupting influence of Babylon. And to achieve this, we need to rely on the people of God. Aged people— keepers of the faith. Young people simply flock to all sorts of heresies like flies, this is quite obvious. Older people are now the guardians of the faith in Russia. It must be said frankly that we have not preserved the faith in the purity in which we would like. Ignatius Brianchaninov predicted this; he said that in recent times there will be practically no clergy. "Save yourself by books"— that is, read the books of the holy fathers and be saved by them. You carry the knowledge of faith as a sacred banner. Your old age, your gray hairs— this is the true adornment of the Church.

March 7th, 2014 , 07:38 pm

When the Soviet Union collapsed, my grandmother told me that this event was written in the Bible and that the Soviet Union would still be restored, but not for long.
Many years have passed, but I have never forgotten these words throughout all 23 years.

So, the text of the Revelation of St. John the Theologian: “The Whore of Babylon on the Scarlet Beast” in the original, with the official interpretations taken, and with my comments:

Revelation chapter 17
1. And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.”
2. The kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and those who dwell on the earth became drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Interpretation
All interpreters agree that we are talking about the great city of the empire. At the same time, all Russian interpreters insist that the Whore of Babylon is the Roman Empire.

My opinion
Some emperors of the Roman Empire were very bloodthirsty and inhumane, but everything else (except the fact that Rome stands on 7 hills) is dissonant with the theory. I'm not even talking about the fact that the "Eternal City" is the capital of Christianity.
I am inclined to believe that the “Whore of Babylon” is the Moscow Empire. Not Russian, but precisely the Moscow bloody empire. What did the Bolsheviks do after the revolution? The first thing they did was move the capital from Petrograd to Moscow. Thus, they changed not only the political system in the country, but changed the country. The Russian Empire with its capital in St. Petersburg ceased to exist. In its place a new empire arose - the Moscow Empire. This is another question, that the name of this empire was the USSR, and then the Russian Federation. The essence has not changed from this. During the entire existence of the Moscow Empire, it was its capital that became the center of the empire, the city where everything was concentrated (power, money, levers of control). That is, Moscow was and still remains a city-empire.

Why exactly "Babylonian"? - I think that we are talking about multiculturalism and multilingualism. The Moscow Empire was an artificially created empire, which included and includes many different peoples and cultures that have nothing in common with each other.
Why exactly "harlot". Moscow is she, a feminine gender, unlike Rome, St. Petersburg and other cities that have masculine names.
“The great harlot who sits on many waters” - unnecessary explanations:

3. And he led me in the spirit into the wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.

Interpretation
All interpreters agree that the desert is a spiritual emptiness. Seven heads are seven rulers, and 10 horns are 10 nations. But what is the beast and why is it purple? There is no clear explanation. Perhaps there is no explanation because all interpreters talk about the Roman Empire...

My opinion
“The scarlet beast” is communism, the communist empire, as the basis and ideology of the political system on which the harlot sits. This is the flag of communism, the essence of bloody ideology. That is, the beast is the very mechanism (ideology) of the state system, the basis of the state.
Let us once again remain silent about communist blasphemous names...
Heads - Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, Gorbachev. What does the Russian Federation and Putin have to do with this - I’ll write further. Revelation says it all.
10 Nations - An angel showed John the trial of the great harlot. At the time of the trial she had 10 horns. That is, 10 nations were part of the Empire. The kings of these nations handed over their power to a harlot.
We consider: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Transnistria, North Ossetia, Abkhazia - these are 7 horns that Moscow controls in all respects. + 3 countries Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, which Moscow FULLY controls, which are part of the EurAsEC, but Moscow itself is in no hurry to legally unite with them (within the CU) in order to reduce the flow of migrants.

4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, precious stones and pearls, and had a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominations and the uncleanness of her fornication.
5. And on her forehead was written a name: mystery, Babylon the great, mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
6. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus, and seeing her, I was amazed with great surprise.

no special comments here

7. And the Angel said to me: Why are you marveling? I will tell you the secret of this woman and of the beast that bears her, which has seven heads and ten horns.
8. The beast that you saw was and is not, and will come out of the abyss and go to destruction; and those who dwell on the earth, whose names were not written in the book of life from the beginning of the world, will be surprised, seeing that the beast was, and is not, and will appear.

Interpretation
There is no clear interpretation for this verse. General words and nothing specific
My opinion:
This is a very important verse and everything is written in it. Exactly what my grandmother was talking about. There was a beast - the Moscow Empire (called the USSR), there is no beast - Russia appeared, and the beast (Putin's Russia) will appear. The ideology of Putin’s Russia is no different from the ideology of the USSR. All bans (on rallies, freedom of speech, etc.) have returned. Repression, personality cults, etc.

9. Here is a mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are the seven mountains on which the woman sits,
Interpretation
Interpreters speak unanimously about Rome
And I say that this is Moscow. Because Moscow stands on 7 hills.

10. And seven kings, of whom five have fallen, one is, but the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he will not be long.
11. And the beast that was and is not, is the eighth, and from among the seven, and will go to destruction.

Interpretation
All interpreters who say that the harlot is Rome are unable to adequately explain this verse.

While in the case of the Moscow Empire everything is perfectly explained.
Here are the seven kings:

Here is the 8th king.


Why is there no Yeltsin? Because Yeltsin is not “one of the seven.” Yeltsin destroyed the Moscow Empire and created Russia. KGBist Putin made the Moscow Empire out of Russia.

12. And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received the kingdom, but will receive power with the beast as kings for one hour.
13. They have the same thoughts and will transfer their strength and power to the beast.
14. They will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them; for He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and the chosen and the faithful.
15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are men, and nations, and nations, and tongues.

Interpretation
There is also no unambiguous interpretation of 10 countries
My opinion
As I said, the 10 nations can be those following countries - Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Transnistria, North Ossetia, Abkhazia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
But we can also talk about 10 countries that are formed on the ruins of the Moscow Empire. It is already absolutely obvious that as a result of the weakening of the Moscow Empire, independent ones will arise: Tatarstan, Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, Tuva. These are only the changes that are obvious at the moment.

And the ten horns that you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, and will devastate her, and make her naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire;

I'll leave it without comment..

1. “And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters...”

15. “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are men, and nations, and nations, and tongues.”

18. “The woman whom you saw is a great city, reigning over the kings of the earth.”

Paraphrasing these words, we get that the Angel said to John: “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great city that reigns over the kings of the earth, as well as many peoples, tribes and languages.” Thus, it is obvious that revelation chapter 17 is talking about the capital of a great empire and multinational state.

In a figurative (spiritual) sense, the word harlot in the Bible is used in the book of the prophet Isaiah, who exclaims in surprise: “How the faithful capital, full of justice, has become a harlot! Truth dwelt in it, and now murderers... Your princes are lawbreakers and accomplices of thieves, all they pursue bribes and love gifts" (Isa. 1: 12-23). Also in the book of judges: . From the context of the Bible it is clear that the words of the prophet Isaiah refer to ancient Jerusalem. This means that the history of the New Testament “harlot of Babylon” should be similar to the history of Jerusalem: she, too, once lived according to the laws of God, but later became corrupted, departing from the gospel teaching.

Church fathers who lived in the 3rd century. AD they believed that the scarlet beast was the Roman Empire, and the harlot sitting on the beast was Rome. However, over time, this point of view became irrelevant, because the Roman Empire was crushed by barbarians and Rome lost its former power.

Nevertheless, in the 16th century. Martin Luther again turns his gaze towards Rome. This opinion is not without common sense, because in Art. 9. It is written: “The seven heads are the seven mountains on which the woman sits.” That. it turns out that Rome, having lost its superiority and strength, is being reborn again, but only now not in the form of a strong secular empire, but in the form of a religion dominating this world.

Verse 6: “I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus...”- prophecy about the Inquisition. She is called "Wife". This word refers to the church. In the Epistle to the Ephesians of the Holy Apostle Paul, chapter 5, 31-32 v. the decoding of the word “wife” is given: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great; I speak in relation to Christ and to the Church.” That. that by wife is meant the church, but Revelation shows a wife who is not faithful to her husband, that is, Christ. "... walked prodigal after other gods and worshiped them..." (Judg. 2, 17). One Russian publicist Lev Tikhomirov wrote very interestingly on this topic in 1907: “... in the history of the church there are always two elements:

1. The pure and bright bride of Christ, who loves no one except her Heavenly Bridegroom and is always faithful to Him.

2. Another element is the fornicator, who has become worldly, betrays Christ for the world, commits fornication with the kings of the earth..." - according to this interpretation, we are talking not only about the Catholic Church, but also about many other churches. Because if you look at what the spiritual state is many denominations - then we can come to the conclusion that they all fit the image of the "harlot of Babylon."

The description of the Babylonian harlot is striking in its contrast. On the one hand it says: “The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls.”, - which indicates material well-being and visible wealth. On the other hand it is said that the woman held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominations and the uncleanness of her fornication, - apparently, what is happening in the church of a harlot is disgusting before the Lord, and therefore He cannot have fellowship with her.

The words “Babylon the Great” reveal another feature of the apostate church - it is in many ways similar to ancient Babylon. In chapter 11 of the book of Genesis it is said that after the flood people began to build a high tower in order to make a name for themselves; Babylon was the center of pagan beliefs and superstitions, as well as the place of the captivity of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar for 70 years (Jer. 25). Perhaps Babylon symbolizes modern anti-Christian culture and civilization, as well as many secret societies preparing the coming of the Antichrist.

Verse 6: “I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus, and when I saw her, I was amazed with great astonishment.” From Stephen to the present day, there have been many Christians who gave their lives for Christ. They had to endure persecution both from the Pharisees and from the Emperors of the Roman Empire, and then from the Inquisition of the Roman Papacy, from Muslims, from the atheistic government of the USSR. And today in some countries persecution of Christians continues.

Verse 8: “The beast which you saw was and is not, and will come out of the abyss and go to destruction; and those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names were not written in the book of life from the beginning of the world, seeing that the beast was , and he is not, and he will appear." This beast is similar to the beast described in Revelation 13, as well as the beasts described in Daniel 7. In all these Scriptures we are faced with three images: a lion, a bear and a leopard, and then another beast comes out. According to ancient interpretations, these are ancient empires, replacing one another: Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. Rome is the last and most terrible empire. It is clear that the ancient Jews, as well as the church fathers, could only rely on those historical events that had already occurred. And we cannot reject this, because Daniel’s description of the beasts agrees with these empires, but it is obvious that the Apostle John on the island of Patmos saw a beast that was yet to come. The key to the solution lies in the words: "The beast that you saw was, and is not... and will appear." Apparently, kingdoms similar to Babylon, Persia, Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire should rise up in recent times. And it is possible that they already exist. Russia, the European Union and America are perhaps the strongest states of recent times, which obviously will be these beasts.

Verse 9: "Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are the seven mountains on which the woman sits... It is known that Rome was built on seven hills. Gennady Makeev wrote that Constantinople became the second Rome, and the Russians called Moscow the third Rome. That. the search for a “great city” is greatly narrowed. All these cities were or are centers of world religions: Rome - the Catholic Church, Moscow - the Orthodox Church, Constantinople used to be the center of the Orthodox religion, Jerusalem - a city of three religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. However, from the above we can conclude that Rome, or rather the Vatican, is most suitable. Today, the ecuminist movement - the unification of all religions into one - is gaining more and more strength. And apparently the Pope will lead this united religion.