The Abomination of Desolation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church

BABYLON THE GREAT WHORE
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of God disappear from the hearts of men. That is why she is called
“Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” (Rev 17:5)
Now, let us start from the beginning of Revelation 17, “And there
came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with
me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment
of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings
of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the
earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” (Rev
17:1-2)
One of the seven angels offers to show St. John the “great whore
that sitteth upon the many waters.” The seven angels are probably the
seven archangels, they are to carry the final set of seven plagues and
pour them on a world that has turned its back to God and has gone
after the Abomination of Desolation, the Beast, also known as
Antichrist.
The many waters are explained to us in Revelation 17:15 as,
“peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” This means that
this world power, this modern day Rome is made up of multitudes of
people from different ethnic origins and different mother tongues.
THE SCARLET BEAST:
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a
woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in
purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and
pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and
filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name
written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF
HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (Rev 17:3-5)
The scarlet beast that the woman is sitting upon with the seven heads
and ten horns is none other than the beast of Revelation 13, Antichrist.
The woman is sitting upon the beast that means, she is not part of his
kingdom but is just “riding on his bandwagon.” Being a world power in
her own right, the “New Rome”is not conquered by the beast, but
remains on the side lines cheering for him and agreeing with whatever
he does without actually being under his control.