Revelation 18:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Since we intended to speak about the harlot, come, blessed Isaiah, and let us hear what you say about Babylon.

"Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground, daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind meal. Uncover your veil, uncover your gray hairs, bare the legs, cross the rivers.

Your shame shall be uncovered, your reproaches shall be seen. I will take righteous vengeance from you, and I will no longer hand you over to men, says the Lord of hosts, your Redeemer. The Holy One of Israel is His name. Sit in compunction and enter into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans.

You shall no longer be called the strength of kingdoms" (Isa 47:1-5).

Isaiah prophesied similarly about Babylon, the capital of the Chaldeans, taken by Cyrus and the Persians. He said that it would be desolate and filled with beasts and unclean spirits (Is 13:19-22; 21:9). Because of their hatred for mankind, beasts and unclean spirits characteristically seek the wilderness, according to the divine Providence that frees men from their harm. This Babylon made the nations drink the wine of her fornication, because she was their guide in every transgression of the law. For gifts, she sent rulers and governors to the cities subject to her, enemies of righteousness and truth.

Can the fall of one city contain all unclean spirits or every unclean bird? Or when that city itself has fallen, can the whole world be freed from unclean spirits and birds, so that they now dwell in the ruins of one city?

There is no city capable of containing all unclean souls, except the city of the devil. In it every impurity dwells in wicked people throughout the whole world.

The kings who persecute Jerusalem, of whom John spoke, are wicked people who persecute the Church of God.

Whenever you hear the name Babylon, beloved brethren, do not think of a city made of stones. Babylon means confusion, as has often been said.

God's judgment upon Babylon is proclaimed. He decreed that the following should happen to it: "and it became a dwelling place of demons."

For impious and bloodthirsty demons, haters of mankind, seek only places where human blood is shed, whether in wars or by some other form of killing. They rejoice over what has happened and make their settlement there.

Since, as was said before, many will receive death in the city, Babylon will finally become a dwelling place of demons. It will be a refuge for every unclean spirit and unclean beast.

Such creatures hasten away from human dwellings, occupy desolate places, and defend themselves against those who attack them and hunt wild beasts.

The prophet Isaiah also said something of this kind about Babylon: "Sirens will rest there, and demons will dance; satyrs will dwell there, and hedgehogs will nest in their houses" (Isa 13:21-22).

If the city has fallen, in what sense is it said to have become a dwelling and refuge for demons, unclean spirits, and birds? In this sense: having fallen into decay through the extraordinary vileness of its sins, it showed itself worthy to be a refuge of demons.

Moreover, this city often rose against faith in God amid the sea of this world with terrible and powerful waves of persecution. Now it groans, confined within far narrower bounds, and roars as though sealed in a wineskin.

For this reason we sing in the psalm: "He gathered the waters of the sea as in a wineskin; He laid up the abysses in storehouses" (Ps 32:7).

That an unclean spirit can be represented under the image of a bird is clear from the place in Genesis where it is said that Abraham drove away the birds that attacked the divided carcasses (cf. Gen 15:11).

Jerusalem, the powers of the earthly city spiritually destroy themselves by the very thing with which they exalt themselves over you: the hatred of their impious citizens. Isaiah also wrote that filthy monsters would live in Babylon. Only the city of the devil becomes a habitation of every unclean spirit (Is 13:21-22), where every impurity is preserved in the midst of the world.

Unrestrained and luxurious life bore the fruits that became the cause of Babylon's fall.