Глава 18

About another Angel announcing the fall of Babylon, and about a heavenly voice commanding to flee from the city and put aside the pleasant things that they had before Rev.18:1. After this I saw another angel descending from heaven and having great power; the earth was illuminated by his glory. The lightness of the heavenly powers and their purity, which greatly exceeds the radiance of the stars and luminaries, is indicated. Rev.18:2. And he cried mightily, with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become a habitation of demons, and a haven for every unclean spirit, and a refuge for every unclean and loathsome bird; for she made all nations drink of the wrathful wine of her fornication, Isaiah also 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 (Is. 21:9), for beasts and unclean spirits, out of misanthropy, tend to strive into the desert by the power of Divine Providence, which frees people from their harm. This Babylon made the nations drunk with the wine of its fornication, because it was their leader in every crime of the law and sent enemies of righteousness and truth for gifts to the peoples subject to it in the person of leaders and rulers. Rev.18:3. and the kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth became rich from her great luxury. 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. Rev.18:4. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Come out from her, my people, so that you do not share in her sins and do not receive her plagues; Rev.18:5. for her sins have reached heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. “Come out of her, My people.” Just as Lot said in Sodom: “When you save, save your soul” (Gen. 19:17), and in Isaiah: “Get out from here and do not touch uncleanness, come out from among it” (Is. 52:11), so it is said here, because one must avoid cohabitation and being with those who offend God. Rev. 18:6. Repay her as she repaid you, and repay her twice according to her deeds; in the cup in which she prepared the wine for you, prepare double it for her. Rev.18:7. As much as she was famous and luxurious, give her so much torment and sorrow. “Reward her... purely according to her deeds.” This is said either to the innocent, who suffered a lot of evil from the rulers of that city, because they, by their patience with sorrows, serve as the reason for greater punishment of their tormentors, or these words indicate a transition to other persons, that is, from those being punished to the punishing holy powers, which, out of love for God and the insults inflicted on His servants, consider them to be their own. The cup is called “greater” either because sinners and lawbreakers will undergo terrible punishment in this life and the next, or that their soul and body, which have common deeds, will be tormented together, or because punishment for sins will be not only external, but also internal, in the form of remorse. For she says in her heart: “I sit as a queen, I am not a widow and will not see sorrow!” “And the imam cannot see weeping.” For just as it is common for those who are well-souled and live in glory, who have forgotten the fear of God, to say: “I will not move forever” (Ps. 29:7), so does this city speak about itself. Rev.18:8. Therefore in one day plagues will come upon her, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned with fire, because the Lord God is strong, who judges her. “One day” indicates either the suddenness and shortness of time when weeping, destruction and burning with fire will descend on this city from sword, famine and plague, or the course of the day on which this city will suffer as predicted. When enemies take possession of a city, one day is enough to inflict all kinds of oppression and various types of death on the vanquished. And God is omnipotent both to save those who have pleased Him and to punish unrepentant sinners. Rev.18:9. And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her, will weep and mourn for her, when they see the smoke from her fire, Rev. 18:10. standing from afar for fear of her torment and saying: Woe, woe to you, the great city Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour your judgment has come. We think that the rulers are called “kings of the earth,” just as the Psalmist said about Jerusalem: “Behold, her princes have gathered together” (Ps. 2:2). He says about them, who have departed from the Divine commandments, that they will cry when they see or hear about its devastation and burning and are horrified by what suddenly happened in such a short time. Rev.18:11. And the merchants of the earth will weep and wail for her, because no one buys their goods anymore, Rev. 18:12. goods of gold and silver, and precious stones and pearls, and fine linen and purple, and silk and scarlet, For it will be unnecessary to buy and abuse it, when those who live in power and abundance perish. and all kinds of fragrant wood, and all kinds of ivory, and all kinds of articles made of costly wood, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble, Rev. 18:13. cinnamon and incense, and myrrh and frankincense, and wine and oil, and flour and wheat, and cattle and sheep, After these words, you need to understand: no one buys. And we must judge and think about what kind of city trade in these items is common and what kind of people usually try to acquire excess for immoderate pleasure. and horses and chariots and bodies The use of horses, chariots and bodies, he says, is also unnecessary. “Chariots” are all kinds of carriages, because the Latin word redium means cart. From the genitive plural of this word came the abbreviated Greek word redan. Rev. 18:14. And the fruits pleasing to your soul were no more, and everything that was fat and brilliant was removed from you; you won't find it anymore. "And human souls." You will not, he says, turn the free into slavery, trade in human souls, and the enjoyment of your former splendor and contentment will not return to you. Rev. 18:15. Those who traded in all these things, who became rich from her, will stand far away from the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing Rev. 18:16. and saying: Woe, woe to you, that great city, clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, Rev. 18:17. for in one hour such wealth perished! "Woe, woe, great hail." The suffering of this Babylon is pointed out, by crying about which attention is drawn to the magnitude of misfortunes and misadventures with which it will be punished after its former pride in royal dignity. And all the pilots, and all those sailing on the ships, and all the sailors, and all those who traded on the sea, stood far away Rev. 18:18. and when they saw the smoke from its fire, they cried out, saying, “What a city is like a great city!” Rev. 18:19. And they sprinkled ashes on their heads, and cried out, weeping and sobbing: Woe, woe to you, the great city, in the treasures of which all who have ships on the sea were enriched, for it was deserted in one hour! "He who has ships at sea." In a figurative sense, the sea perhaps refers to real life, which is subject to constant unrest, and merchants are those who swim in everyday unrest like fish. But it is also possible that this damaged city, being not far from the ordinary sea, will cause grief with its destruction to those floating on it, from whom it previously bought everything. And the merchants of universal Babylon, that is, confusion, must also suffer at the end of the world and grieve inconsolably over the pleasures of life, which they will be deprived of, and from the reproaches of their conscience. Rev. 18:20 . Rejoice in this, heaven and holy apostles and prophets; for God has executed your judgment on him. "Heaven" means the Angels and saints who live in it. The apostles and prophets are commanded to rejoice with them, for revenge has been taken on the offenders and oppressors for the dishonor of preachers among the inhabitants of this city through their violation of the commandments of God or for the beating of the servants of the word of God by the rulers of the earth. Thus the prophets were beaten by the Jews, and the apostles by the pagans for preaching to them. They rejoice at the onset of punishments not out of malice, but out of their ardent desire for the cessation of sin, so that those who serve it through these punishments will be subjected to less torment in the future life. Rev. 18:21. And one strong angel took a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying: with such a desire Babylon, the great city, will be overthrown, and it will no longer exist. Rev. 18:22. And the voices of those playing the harp, and singing, and playing the flutes, and blowing trumpets will no longer be heard in you; there will no longer be any artist in you, no artistry, and the noise from the millstones will no longer be heard in you; Rev. 18:23. and the light of the lamp will no longer appear in you; and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride will no longer be heard in you: for your merchants were the nobles of the earth, and by your magic all nations were deceived. Rev. 18:24. And in it was found the blood of prophets and saints and all those killed on earth. As the “millstone” sinks into the sea, so quickly will the fall of Babylon occur; it will be so sudden that no sign will remain after it, this is indicated by the disappearance of those playing the pipes, harp, etc. The reason for this is that with its sweet singing and sorcery this city deceived all nations and was the host of the blood of prophets and saints. All this probably points to the wicked Persian Babylon, for at different times and to this day it shed the blood of many saints and amused itself by deceiving others with sorceries. Let us therefore wish and pray that this city may receive the said retribution for its pride against Christ and his servants. But, as we think, this is somewhat contradicted by the opinion of the ancient teachers of the Church, who attributed these predictions to Roman Babylon, because Rome, the fourth beast, had ten horns, of which the highest will eradicate three, and subjugate the others, and appear as a Roman king, supposedly in order to strengthen and restore their power, but in fact, to commit final devastation. Therefore, it will be plausible to think that he understands by it, as said earlier, a worldly kingdom, ruling, as it were, in one body from the beginning until now and shedding the blood of the apostles, prophets and martyrs. For they say: one army and one city, although the persons of whom they consist change; so the kingdom is called one, despite its divisions and distribution to many places in different years. You might be interested in: