The 2 women in Revelation

[qentank]

So we were discussing the Book of Revelation, and something in it made me think: when an angel took John (the writer of Revelation) to see the prostitute, she was found in the desert [Rev 17:3].
Isn’t the desert also the place where the first woman (the good one, the one chased with the dragon) had been hiding? Is the prostitute the good woman that has “changed”? I know this is a crazy idea, and that it is very possible to have more than one desert, but the similarity is just so striking. I’ve heard an interpretation that says the first woman was the True Catholic Church, and the prostitute is the current Catholic Church? (which is already corrupted)

Also, it is said that the dragon, that obviously failed to capture the woman, went off to fight against the rest of her descendants, all those who obey God’s commandments and are faithful to the truth revealed by Jesus [Rev 12:17].
Are these descendants Catholics only, or the whole Christians? Because I know that there are those who interpret the woman as Mary and the baby as Jesus… but would it mean that “her descendants” are the Catholics, since we accept Mary as our mother?

 

[M0nkey]

I’ve heard an interpretation that says the first woman was the True Catholic Church, and the prostitute is the current Catholic Church? (which is already corrupted)

That’s nonsense. The whore of babylon has nothing to do with any christian catholic church, it’s an allegory to our current exile (read about the babylonian exile in the bible), how the world reponds to christianity and how she “drinks the blood of martyrs.”

Are these descendants Catholics only, or the whole Christians?

The church is mother of all who profess and belive in the faith Christ came to testify. In a very mystical way, when we follow Jesus, Mary is mother of us all.

Because I know that there are those who interpret the woman as Mary and the baby as Jesus…

I believe that’s the official teaching of the church (it’s the doctrine of the immaculate conception). Any other exegesis could lead to heresy and are therefore false.

 

[passus]

Because I know that there are those who interpret the woman as Mary and the baby as Jesus… but would it mean that “her descendants” are the Catholics, since we accept Mary as our mother?

I believe that’s the official teaching of the church (it’s the doctrine of the immaculate conception). Any other exegesis could lead to heresy and are therefore false.

The woman is Mary, our mother and the mother of Jesus, but there is also some polyvalent symbolism there; she stands for more than that in this passage from Revelation.

Check out this tract for some more on her.

catholic.com/thisrock/1997/9705chap.asp

 

[ryanoneil]

In the immediate historical context of the the Apocalypse the harlot is the alter-ego of the woman who fled into the wilderness to escape the dragon. The harlot represents earthly Jerusalem leading up to the destruction of the Temple, and the woman represents the Church. Christ joins the battle, of behalf of his Church, against Jerusalem who acts as the mouthpiece of the dragon.

Your own wickedness chastises you, your own infidelities punish you. Know then, and see, how evil and bitter is your forsaking the LORD, your God, And showing no fear of me, says the Lord, the GOD of hosts. Long ago you broke your yoke, you tore off your bonds. “I will not serve,” you said. On every high hill, under every green tree, you gave yourself to harlotry. (Jer 2:19-20)

Jeremiah 3

Ezekiel 16

Ezekiel 23