ACC ~ Revelation 18 v3

MANY HAVE BECOME RICH FROM A SLOTHFUL WAY OF LIFE. OECUMENIUS: “For all the nations have drunk from the wrath of her fornication.” By fornication he means their insatiable greed and their love of money, for such is the manner of harlots. For those in the city of which we speak have clung close to all nations, since they have placed them in subjection and commanded that they pay tribute. “And the kings,” it says, namely, those who have become partners with it and companions in its love of money. “And the merchants” who have traded in it “have grown rich from her wantonness.” That is, they have become rich from its arrogance and from its unconstrained, prodigal and slothful way of life, since they put out for sale in it every kind of merchandise. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 18.1-3.

AVARICE, LICENTIOUSNESS AND GLUTTONY. PRIMASIUS: This passage refers to three kinds of sins, and it also mentions the same number of those persons who transgress by them. It refers to avarice, which according to the apostle is also called a “servitude of idols”; licentiousness by the word fornication; and gluttony in that which pleases. Against this the Lord forewarned, saying, “Do not allow your hearts to be weighed down in dissipation and drunkenness.” It says that the kings of the earth have committed fornication with it. For merchants are enriched, as it says, by avarice, although some [interpreters] prefer to interpret this to mean that they are rich in sins rather than in wealth. By nations it designates that promiscuous multitude of the lewd crowd; by kings it refers to those among them who appear for a time to succeed; and by merchants it refers to those who in their desire for earthly riches trade their souls by an unhappy barter for temporal abundance. Such persons act wholly contrary to the words of the Lord: “What shall a man give in return for his life?” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 17.3.

THE PROFLIGATE CORRUPT EACH OTHER. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: [The kings of the earth fornicated] with each other. For it would be impossible for all kings to commit fornication with a single harlot. Rather, since the evil and profligate, who are members of the harlot, corrupt each other, they are said to commit fornication with the harlot, that is, by a sinful manner of life. Then it says that “all the merchants of the earth were made rich by the wealth of her wantonness.” Here it speaks of those who were wealthy in their sins. For excess in luxury makes for poverty rather than for wealth. EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 18.3, HOMILY 16.

BABYLON WAS WANTON TOWARD THE NEEDY. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: And how did the present Babylon cause the nations to drink the wine of its fornication? By becoming in every way their leader in every transgression and by sending gifts to obedient cities making their rulers enemies of truth and righteousness. It says that because of the abundance of the riches of its injustice, it gave the merchants of the earth opportunities for profit because it consumed well beyond its needs and was wanton toward those in need. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 18.3.

Rev