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Hi, Troy —
Mike shared your question with me.
Regarding your question, I do cover
the meaning of Rome in my
book Pope Fiction, but to recap, I'd
explain it this way:
In the Early Church, including the
Apostolic Era, the term “Babylon” seems
to have been a reference to at least
three locations:
- Imperial
Rome
- Jerusalem,
and
- the actual
city of Babylon in modern-day
Iraq
When St. Peter mentions that he sends
his greetings from Babylon,
it seems to me that he meant Rome,
since the authorship of his epistles
date within the time-frame he is
known to have been in Rome. As I
mentioned in Pope Fiction, his use
of a code for
Rome is understandable, since
he'd have almost certainly
wanted to take some precautions to
prevent the Roman authorities from
rounding him up.
Babylon, could have been a
reference to either the actual city
of Babylon, or to Jerusalem, but
for the chronological reason I mentioned
above, I don't think either
of those possibilities are likely.
Here is a list of five common Pope fictions.
Best wishes in Christ,
Patrick
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