just by changing the name of Constantinople to Istanbul.  Before this five key characteristics of Babylon the Great were already met:

and now six

Watch for more pieces that fit.  Blessed is the one who looks.

you will not find in the bible but you will hear it often in Christian forums.  For the record it says ‘they will reign with Christ’.  It does not say Christ will reign with them.  Big difference.  Consequently many ignore a Christian empire that lasted a thousand years.  The Byzantine Empire.  A big piece of the puzzle called the Apocalypse.  Many pieces of the puzzle you will find in the history of the Byzantine Empire.

Watch for more pieces that fit.  Blessed is the one who looks.

with all the pieces of the puzzle.  The Byzantine Empire was a Christian empire the lasted a thousand years where they reigned with Christ.  Constantinople, its capital, is Babylon the Great. It was started by Constantine the rider of the white horse.  At its beginning the beast from the sea, paganism of the Roman Empire, was mortally wounded with seven heads, which were the seven dynasties.  It was ended by the tenth horn of the beast from the earth.  The ten horns were the dynasties of Islam.

in dating the Apocalypse if you know how to count kings.  I know how to count the seven dynasties of the Roman Empire.  Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come.  There is only one famous John who could have said that.  John Chrysostom was in Ephesus at the beginning of 401.  The third John of chapter one with John the Baptist and John the Apostle being the first two. Chapter 17 ties it altogether.  Babylon the Great, the two beasts, the seven heads, and the ten horns.

who reigned with Christ at the same time.  The thousand years had already started and the first beast had been mortally wounded.  Jerome gave us the bible.  Augustine gave us theology.  John gave us liturgy.  It was John Chrysostom who was exiled from Constantinople, Babylon the Great, the capital of a Christian empire that would last a thousand years.  It was ended by the tenth dynasty of Islam.

knows when the Apocalypse was written and who wrote it.  John Chrysostom in 395.  This John was in Ephesus in 401 replacing seven bishops when five of the seven dynasties of the Roman Empire had already fallen.  Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov is the astronomer.  Most of us know that the Apocalypse was written well before 395 but few understand that three Johns are  involved.  John the Baptist, John the Apostle, and John Chrysostom

based on what we know.  The bible was not really defined prior to the fifth century.  It could be said that Jerome defined the bible with the Vulgate at the end of the fourth century.  Augustine, later in the fifth century would finally comment on the Apocalypse in chapter 7 of Book XX  of his “City of God”.  Even though Augustine did not want another translation of the bible, he let Jerome know that, he did wait til Jerome validated the Apocalypse in the Vulgate before he commented on it.  To connect all the dots we need to look at John Chrysostom who was in Ephesus when Jerome was completing the Vulgate.

is what the German scholar Vischer called the Apocalypse.  It was changed into a Christian work simply by adding Jesus, the seven churches, and Antipas.  J. Massyngberde Ford argued that John the Baptist wrote the first one.  It was not accepted in the east.  Jerome was convinced it was written by the Apostle and included it in the Vulgate.  John Chrysostom who never quoted the Apocalypse was visiting Ephesus at the beginning of 401 and may have found copies of it.  I guess it is my job to connect all the dots.

does not contain the Apocalypse.  Codex Vaticanus is dated 325.  Codex Sinaiticus is dated 360 and the Apocalypse is “corrupted”.  What does that mean?  I don’t know.  Codex Alexandrinus is dated 440.  These bibles did not come with a date stamp.  The dates are estimates based on format and content.  The point being we do not know what the Apocalypse looked like prior to 440 but we do know that many didn’t believe it was written by John the Apostle and that would mean it didn’t belong in the bible.  So how did it get in the bible?

about the first coming, not the second, and we all know who prepared the way for the Lamb of God.  John bare record in the Gospel of John and, in the Apocalypse, the first John of the first chapter who bare record.  John the Baptist “bare record”.  John the Baptist knows the Lamb, a word used 27 times in the Apocalypse.