Revelations of John the Babylonian theologian. Revelation of St.

Structure

• The Great Harlot (1-6)
• The mystery of the wife of the harlot and the beast (7-10)
• Victory of the Lamb, death of the beast and all his followers (11-18)

One of the seven avenging angels, who poured out the bowls of God’s wrath in the previous chapter, tells John that he will show him what punishment awaits the Great Harlot, “who sits by many rivers,” with whom the kings of the earth committed debauchery. He leads John into the desert, where he sees a woman riding a red beast, covered with blasphemous names, with 7 heads and 10 horns. The woman is dressed in purple and scarlet, wearing a lot of jewelry, and in her hands she holds a cup of the wine of her fornication. On her forehead is the name “mystery, Babylon the great, mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” The woman is drunk with the blood of those who believe in Jesus.

The angel then explains to John the mystery of the woman and the beast on which she sits. There is no beast yet, but he will appear from the abyss. The seven heads of the beast are the seven hills on which the woman sits; they are 7 kings, of whom “five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he will not be long.” The 10 horns are ten kings who do not yet exist, but they will receive royal power along with the beast for one hour. They will fight with the Lamb, and he will defeat them. The rivers by which the harlot sits are the nations. The 10 horns and the beast will devastate the Harlot, devour her flesh and burn her with fire. The angel says that according to God's plan, royal power will be given to the beast until God's words are fulfilled. The wife is the great city that reigns over the kings of the earth.

Mentioned

• The crimson beast
• Kings of the Apocalypse

Interpretation

This chapter deals with the fate of the Roman Empire, which is illustrated by the image of the Harlot sitting on the seven hills. Rome is called "Babylon" because it is an Old Testament image of a violent power uniting a multi-ethnic kingdom. This chapter is considered by commentators to be one of the most difficult to interpret.

Whore of Babylon

The waters on which the harlot sits is an image taken from ancient prophecies denouncing Babylon (Jeremiah 51:13), in the following lines it is a designation of peoples speaking many languages ​​(Isaiah 8:7.8, Jeremiah 47:2). The fact that the kings of the earth committed fornication with her - that is, they indulged in paganism. It is located in the desert because it is the habitat of demons, a symbol of an out-of-grace place. The woman, dressed in royal vestments - purple and scarlet, and with a golden cup in her hands (analogous to the Eucharistic chalice), is, as it were, a false church, and opposes the Woman, clothed in the sun. The name written on the forehead is an allusion to the custom of Roman prostitutes writing names on headbands. The “mystery” mentioned is that “Babylon” means “Rome” and this is unknown to outsiders, but well known to the Christian reader. The fact that it means Rome is believed by most commentators, including modern B. Bauer; The same point of view was adhered to by Soviet historians of religion Y. Lenzman, I. Kryvelev, I. Sventsitskaya). There is also an opinion that this city is Jerusalem. The version about Jerusalem, as based on events contemporary to John, was first put forward by Fermen Abozi. He saw in the seven mountains mentioned in Rev. , the seven hills on which Jerusalem stands, and considered the fall of Babylon to be a description of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman emperor Titus in the year 70. Professor Alexander Kolesnikov notes that the Church Fathers understand Babylon as Jerusalem, which, according to predictions, will become the capital of the Antichrist. Kolesnikov also sees confirmation of this version in the fact that the author of Revelation calls the Kingdom of God’s glory that replaced the old world “new Jerusalem,” thereby contrasting it with “earthly Jerusalem.”

The woman is drunk with the blood of the martyrs destroyed by the Roman Empire, that is, Rome is fed up with this massacre and revels in it like a drunkard on wine. Porphyry, scarlet and jewelry are also a symbol of luxury and debauchery of Rome. The image of the cup of debauchery, which appeared in the previous chapters, is also taken from the Old Testament; Rome has lured its temptations throughout the world.

Beast

The meaning of the beast is more difficult to establish, it is not unambiguous, but all the meanings are obviously connected with the Roman Empire; and the woman then is the city of Rome itself. The crimson color of the beast is purple, a symbol of wealth, kingdom and power. His entire body is covered with “blasphemous names” - the titles of the Caesars. Previously, they were only on the head - but now blasphemy has spread to the entire empire, to all nations. The abundance of names is an indication of the many gods in the Roman pantheon; they are also an insult to God.

“The beast which you saw was, and is not, and will come out of the abyss” is a grotesque parallel with the Messiah, who was, is and is to come. He is the Antichrist, the antithesis of Christ, who has survived the turmoil and is returning. Perhaps the historical background is the situation with the False Nero, who was considered a miraculously escaped emperor. The interpretation of the appearance of the beast that the angel gives to John is also associated with Rome: “the seven heads are the seven mountains on which the woman sits” (see the seven hills of Rome), and interpreters try to link the seven kings with the succession of Roman emperors from Augustus and thus, in particular, to date the "Apocalypse". The beast who will become the eighth king belongs to the same family, he is identified with the Antichrist.

Ten Kings

10 kings who have not yet received the kingdom - perhaps we are talking about ten Parthian satrapies, or there is a version that these are the provinces of Rome that rebelled against him. The main thing is that it is a symbol of a powerful enemy, internal or external, which is attacking the empire. When the kings receive the kingdom and power, this will entail two consequences: they will transfer their power to the beast and, together with him, will rebel against the harlot, and they will also fight with the Lamb, in which they will be defeated. The fact that the harlot will be ruined, killed by 10 kings, her lovers, is a prediction of the destruction of Rome by the rebel peoples.

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.

The difficulty in interpreting these words is that in Revelation 17 the word beast contains two meanings. On the one hand the word beast means eighth king(Antichrist), who was one of the seven kings and must return to power again: “And the beast that was and is not, is the eighth, and from among the seven, and will go to destruction.”(line 11). On the other hand, the word beast means an ungodly state in which the harlot sits which is also represented as iron kingdom in the 7th chapter of the Book of Daniel. This kingdom must be destroyed at ten kings however, later it will be restored as part of three (four) states: “I looked at these horns, and behold, another little horn came out between them, and three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots before it” (Dan. 7: 8).

Hippolytus of Rome:

When applied to the history of the USSR, these words mean that seventh king Mikhail Gorbachev should return to power again when the destroyed USSR is restored as part of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and, perhaps, Kazakhstan. This is also stated in Revelation 13: “And I saw that one of the heads of the beast was, as it were, mortally wounded, but this mortal wound was healed.”(Rev. 13:3).

"Moscow News" N 4, 1993:

“In an interview with Spiegel magazine, Mikhail Gorbachev said that he is ready to return to politics again... What new place does Gorbachev see for himself? Judging by the interview in Spiegel, the ex-president has not yet found the political party that could play the role of a locomotive for him to make a breakthrough into modern political life. Gorbachev only criticizes the current government. But only. But let us remember: at one time this was enough for his party comrade Boris Yeltsin to return to politics. There is too much coherence in their destinies to neglect this parallel. Who knows, maybe Mikhail Gorbachev still has a chance to return to big politics as long as Boris Yeltsin does it?”

Mikhail Gorbachev made his first attempt to return to power in the Russian presidential elections in 1996.

“Soviet Russia”, 01/14/1995:

“Recently, a number of publications have appeared, from which it is clear that Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev is seriously preparing to take part in the presidential elections. It is possible to understand him as a human being: he has not yet developed his political resources, his energy is still bubbling, and he is in good health. One might say that a politician is in the prime of his life and suddenly out of work. He can be understood even if he simply intends to use the election platform to speak out and explain to the people, which he was not allowed to do, having been suddenly deprived of the post of President of the USSR. In my opinion, he is tormented by one question: that the people consider Yeltsin’s reforms to be a direct continuation and consequence of Gorbachev’s perestroika, but he would not like this, he is now proving everywhere that he had nothing of the kind in his thoughts or plans. The very fact that Gorbachev considers it possible for himself to again claim leadership speaks of the inadequacy of his ideas about himself, about his role in Russian history and about the people’s attitude towards themselves. It’s hard to say what exactly he’s counting on—perhaps that after Yeltsin, Gorbachev’s sins will seem less monstrous to voters, and that comparisons between the two longtime rivals will be in his favor. Don't know. I know something else: there are few people in Russia (if any) who will want to believe him again. At best, they may feel sorry for him, as they always feel sorry for those rejected in Rus'. But to be elected president, in my opinion, is out of the question. It’s strange that he doesn’t understand this.”

Gorbachev's participation in the 1996 presidential elections indeed confirmed his low popularity in Russia. Only people voted for him 0,51 percent. But, despite his defeat, M.S. Gorbachev registered his new United Social Democratic Party (ROSDP) in 2000.

“Gorbachev’s party received a registration certificate... The founding congress of the party was held on March 11, 2000 in the Moscow region. 220 people from 70 regions of the country took part in the founding congress. The main task of the party, the congress determined, is the struggle for power, and therefore the party will nominate its candidates in future parliamentary elections.”

Despite the fact that Gorbachev’s party could not even field candidates in the parliamentary elections of 2004 and 2007, Mikhail Gorbachev intends to participate in the 2011 parliamentary elections.

Gorbachev founded a new political movement: Russian Social Democrats, led by Mikhail Gorbachev, hold the founding congress of their organization. So they began to prepare for parliamentary elections, but not in 2007, but in 2011, NTV reports. Adherents of social democratic views do not exclude the possibility that they will become a party by the next election campaign. The former head of the USSR Gorbachev clarified what this still public union will fight against.

Mikhail Gorbachev:“The country is carrying out reforms within the framework of a capitalist orientation, and we do not need to fight these reforms. We need to speak out against violations of the principles of social justice. We must act within the framework of the state."

Journalists were interested in the question: is Gorbachev going to participate in the presidential elections in March 2008. To this, the former Soviet leader answered briefly: “No.”

“Former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev and former State Duma deputy Alexander Lebedev intend to create a party and participate in the 2011 parliamentary elections. As Lebedev stated in an interview with The New York Times, the working name of the party is the Independent Democratic Party of Russia. The Union of Social Democrats, headed by Mikhail Gorbachev, confirmed the existence of such plans.”

Predicting the results of voting for Gorbachev's party in 2011 is also not very difficult. This party will not get into the State. The Duma is thanks to Gorbachev, whose activities as President of the USSR have long been well known to everyone. The question naturally arises: why does Mikhail Gorbachev spend his personal time, health and, by the way, a lot of money on a cause that is obviously hopeless? To answer this question, we need to take into account Gorbachev's activities on the international stage. So few people know that the American branch of the Gorbachev Foundation, located in San Francisco on the West Coast of the United States, which received the name World Forum in 1995, is currently the main Masonic springboard for the creation of a World Government.

“Izvestia”, 05/09/1992:

“Speaking at Westminster College in Fulton, where Winston Churchill made his famous Iron Curtain speech 46 years ago, Mikhail Gorbachev called for the creation of a “world government” by strengthening the UN and changing the structure of this organization. According to him, in the new era this will allow influencing events and ensuring long-lasting and sustainable peace.”

“Gorbachev puts forward the idea of ​​consensus between the future world government and national states, inviting the latter to renounce their sovereignty in favor of international laws that will dictate to all inhabitants of the Earth “common beliefs, values, standards, way of life” formulated by a group of world leaders...

According to the plans of the members of the World Forum, the personal composition of the world government will be determined not by the peoples of our planet, but at secret meetings of such globalist structures as the Bilderberg Club, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission.”

Another "achievement" of Gorbachev is the creation in 1995 of the Organization of United Religions, which is designed to take control of all religions of the world. It was the Gorbachev Foundation (USA) that in 1993 raised the question of the need to create an international organization, which, in fact, is the prototype of the future Church of the Antichrist, and in 1995, the Gorbachev Foundation held a meeting in San Francisco on the topic: “World Religions and the Emerging Global Civilization.” The main idea of ​​the meeting: “control over world religions means control over humanity.”

“The development and working discussions of the project of the United Religions were carried out at the American residence of the Gorbachev Foundation, located in San Francisco, on the territory of the former US military base Presidio. It was here that the first Gorbachev Foundation World Forum met in September 1995, where it stated that its main purpose was to begin a five-year process of articulating “the fundamental priorities, values ​​and actions necessary to guide humanity towards the development of the first global civilization.” The destroyer of a great country, Gorbachev, came up with the idea of ​​a “global brain trust” - elite leadership - to provide leadership to humanity.”

Despite the fact that M.S. Gorbachev intends to unite almost all religions under his wing, the religious views of Gorbachev himself seem very strange. He, on the one hand, constantly compares himself with the Lord Jesus Christ, and, on the other hand, declares that he is an atheist.

“Soviet Russia”, 06/18/1992:

“The ISRAELI press greeted Mikhail Gorbachev with these words: “The greatest man in the world visited the land of Israel besides Moses. But he turned out to be the most unnoticed, because history left him behind.” Gorbachev, dressed in a safari suit, began his journey through Israel, as noted by the BBC, with a very symbolic visit to the church on Lake Kinneret, the same church where Jesus fed five thousand suffering people with bread. “I followed the path that our great predecessor chose,” Gorbachev told a radio correspondent, “I am the last communist who paid tribute to the first communist Jesus Christ.”

The creation of a World Government is impossible to imagine without Russia's participation in it. But Russia’s voluntary renunciation of state sovereignty or, more simply, freedom is possible only under the guise of the restoration of the USSR. Therefore, M.S. Gorbachev directed the vector of his efforts to recreate the USSR as part of four states:

M.S.Gorbachev, 07/5/1994:

“My position and assessment are as follows. Union is both necessary and possible. Strategic, economic, and cultural factors speak in favor of this. The country is alive, despite the fact that it has been torn to pieces for two and a half years. Yes, it started even earlier, during the time when I was the President of the country. I have already said this more than once - my responsibility is enormous. Moreover, this is my greatest pain, and no one can free me from responsibility for everything that happened. This is my cross for the rest of my life. And I mean not only the Union, but also all reforms. I personally believe that the formulation and promotion of the idea of ​​a tight union of four states: three Slavic and Kazakhstan is now realistic. Let the CIS live by its own rules and laws. But we must immediately declare decisively: “This is a tight, real union. This is the form of cooperation between these states. Here is the core." The political scientists I meet monthly have been conducting surveys in four republics for ten months in a row; Slavic and in Kazakhstan and 72-75 percent of respondents are in favor of the revival of the Union.” (From the speech of M.S. Gorbachev at parliamentary hearings on July 5, 1994)

A.I. Solzhenitsyn said the same thing:

“As I wrote in Settlement; the best solution to the issue is a state union of the three Slavic republics and Kazakhstan. And in the Belovezhskaya Agreement, judging by the press, Kravchuk promised his colleagues a real inextricable Union, “transparent” borders, a single army and currency. But all this turned out to be just a short-term deception.”

And since it remains possible for Gorbachev to return to power on the wave of the restoration of the USSR, he simply needs to remain in Russian public politics until the circumstances themselves give him such a chance. Therefore, speaking on St. Petersburg television (04/26/1994) criticizing the policies pursued by the executive branch in Russia, Mikhail Gorbachev invited them to resign. According to Gorbachev, “the time allotted for solving the socio-economic problems facing the country within the framework of the democratic process has already passed.” In conclusion, Gorbachev said: “We cannot accept the collapse of the country,” and we should talk about the restoration (“reintegration”) of the new Union. Gorbachev literally said the following about his role in this process:

Mikhail Gorbachev:

“About my role? I am ready to add to what I do in favor of establishing cooperation, because such mines will begin to explode that they will shake the entire CIS and Europe and the world! This is all very serious! And I am ready to participate in this process. I didn't wait and I don't plan to wait. I will act. As I acted, so will I. Because I do not abdicate my moral responsibility for everything that happens in our country and around it. And, moreover, I care about the European process and everything else.”

Today it is already obvious to us that those same mine explosions, which, according to Gorbachev, “will shake the entire space of the CIS and Europe and the world”, this is a global economic crisis that has long been planned by the “world behind the scenes”, which will ultimately force the governments of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan to gather again in the Union, but not on a voluntary basis, but in order to be forced into the World Government. It is this scenario of the restoration of the USSR consisting of three (four) states that was predicted to us in the Book of the Prophet Daniel: “I looked at these horns, and behold, another small horn came out between them, and three of the former horns were uprooted from before it, and behold , in this horn were eyes like the eyes of men, and a mouth that spoke arrogantly” (Dan. 7: 8).

Hippolytus of Rome:

“Daniel says: He looked at the beast and had ten horns, and out of them would come another little horn, and he would pluck out the three horns that were before it. This shows none other than the Antichrist... For this is the fourth beast, whose head is smitten and again healed: because this empire is about to be destroyed, or even though it comes into humiliation and is divided into ten kingdoms, then this Antichrist, being cunning in everything , as if he would heal her and restore her.”

“Soviet Russia” - 12/31/1992:

“Speaking on the New Year’s program “Itogi” in December 1992, Mikhail Gorbachev said: “We all live in the era of Gorbachev, for which it is not even noon. “Everything is still ahead!” Mikhail Gorbachev exclaimed without a shadow of embarrassment and with pathos.”

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 come 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

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 were 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.

The primary source for the image of the Babylonian harlot is the Revelation of John the Theologian, chapter 17 (second half of the 1st century). The angel who appeared to John the Theologian invites him to see (Rev.). An angel leads him into the desert, where he:

In the above passage the wife on the beast is called “ Babylon the great, mother of harlots and abominations of the earth"(ancient Greek. Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς ), and below simply “harlot” (ἡ πόρνη), which is where her nickname came from “ Whore of Babylon"(although there is no such phrase literally in the text of the Apocalypse). In the following story, the angel explains the symbolic meaning of this image:

In the 18th chapter of the Apocalypse, John the Theologian describes the fall of the harlot: "Babylon the Great has fallen, fallen"(Open). The punishment that befell the Whore of Babylon is called fire (Rev.).

In this story of John, the image of the harlot is completely personified in Babylon (in Greek the city is πόλις - feminine), and sometimes the following phrases are found: (Rev.)

According to researchers, the historical prototype of the harlot from John’s vision can be:

Every Babylonian woman must once in her life sit in the sanctuary of Aphrodite (Mylitta) and give herself to a stranger for money... In the sacred site of Aphrodite sit many women with bandages made of rope plaits on their heads. The woman sitting here cannot return home until some stranger throws money into her lap and connects with her outside the sacred area... After intercourse, having fulfilled her sacred duty to the goddess, she goes home and then you can’t take possession of her for any money secondary.

The Revelation of John the Theologian depicts events from the First to the Second Coming of Christ. The destinies of humanity and the Church are depicted in Revelation using metaphors that are difficult to understand and susceptible to various interpretations. Of all the images in Revelation, the harlot wife is one of the most mysterious. The image is not associated with any specific woman - the harlot is perceived as a symbol of a country, city, people who have turned away from God.

Theologians associate various cities and empires with the image of the harlot. The most common interpretation is that the image of the harlot corresponds to Rome or the Roman Empire (as B. Bauer believed; the same point of view was held by Soviet historians of religion J. Lenzman, I. Kryvelev, I. Sventsitskaya). There is also an opinion that this city is Jerusalem or Moscow (among the Old Believers).

The Whore of Babylon rides a seven-headed beast (engraving by Albrecht Durer)

The image of a harlot first appears in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, where, condemning the vices of Jerusalem, the prophet exclaims:

Since the time of writing of the Apocalypse coincides with the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Temple, which were of great importance for early Christianity, this suggests that this work reflects events contemporary to the author. The first researcher to put forward such a hypothesis was Fermen Abozi. He saw in the seven mountains mentioned in Rev. , the seven hills on which Jerusalem stands, and considered the fall of Babylon to be a description of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman emperor Titus in the year 70. Similar conclusions were reached by the French theologian Jean Hardouin. Professor Alexander Kolesnikov notes that the Church Fathers understand Babylon as Jerusalem, which, according to predictions, will become the capital of the Antichrist. Kolesnikov also sees confirmation of this version in the fact that the author of Revelation calls the Kingdom of God’s glory that replaced the old world “new Jerusalem,” thereby contrasting it with “earthly Jerusalem.”

But a much more common opinion is different. When commenting on the book of Revelation, Christian theologians generally believe that the Whore of Babylon represents "". This opinion is based on the words of John the Theologian: (Rev.).

The view that the harlot represents Rome or the Roman Empire was held by:

A detailed justification for the correspondence of the image of the harlot to ancient Rome is contained in William Barclay's commentary on the New Testament. He writes that the secret written on her forehead (Rev.) is that "" . In his interpretation, the seven heads of the beast are understood as the seven hills on which Rome stands or as its seven emperors (from Augustus to Domitian, excluding the short-lived Galba, Otho and Vitellius).

Irina Sventsitskaya notes that Revelation was written after the first persecution of Christians initiated by Nero and the suppression of the Jewish uprising, and Rome, which aroused special hatred at that time, is represented in the image of a harlot.

The original interpretation of the city from which the harlot comes is contained in John of Kronstadt: "" . His followers point out as arguments that London is the birthplace of Freemasonry, the source of revolutions and the capital of a world empire. Orthodox writer and conspiracy theorist Sergei Nilus had similar views and insisted that the Whore of Babylon is Freemasonry without a specific geographical reference.

The famous interpreter of Revelation, Archbishop Andrew of Caesarea (VI-VII centuries), especially notes that although some see the city of Rome in the harlot. Seven kingdoms that claimed world domination, according to Andrei: Assyrian, Median, Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian and Roman (republic and empire). However, he believes that the harlot:

At the same time, he especially emphasizes that the angel told John that the harlot is the image of the city, and therefore “ a detailed study about this is completely unnecessary", however, during the Reformation period, Protestant interpretations of the image of the harlot as a fallen Roman Catholic Church appeared.

Later theologians, living in the Byzantine Empire or already in modern times, do not emphasize in their writings the connection between the harlot and any specific city:

A modern theologian, Bishop Alexander (Mileant), believes that John, describing the luxury of a harlot, speaks of Rome, and the same applies to the symbols associated with the harlot (seven heads of the beast, ten of its horns). However, in his opinion, "". The bishop 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 - from one day to another, from one hour to another, she will be thrown into poverty, nakedness and loneliness, like the beast that (Rev.). At the same time, the ten horns of the beast (sometimes understood as ten kings of the kingdoms subordinate to Babylon) by the will of God will take up arms against the harlot, “They will devastate her, and strip her naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.”(Open). Barclay notes that this reveals the self-destructive nature of evil.

According to Kolesnikov, the harlot wife symbolizes the kingdom of the Antichrist; he explains her image in Revelation as follows: the “scarlet beast” represents Satan; “many waters” - subject peoples and tribes; “porphyra” - royal power; “purple” - bloodshed; “golden cup” - false teachings propagated by the kingdom of the Antichrist.

After the trial of the harlot, there will be rejoicing, about which John writes: (Rev.). 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.

Later branches of Christianity and new religious movements based on Christianity began to view the Whore of Babylon as an image of the Church that had fallen away from the faith. At various times, the Whore of Babylon was called the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant churches.

After the church schism, Russian Old Believers began to look for signs of the end of the world in contemporary events. They began to associate the image of the Whore of Babylon with Moscow (as built on seven hills), Patriarch Nikon and the Russian Church