Identity of the BEAST: Why John was AMAZED

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, 

and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: 

and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 

And the angel said unto me, 

Q: Wherefore didst thou marvel? 

Revelation 17:6,7

A: "The secret of his wonder was just this:

----all the persecution he had witnessed had been from pagan Rome, the open enemy of Christ. It was not strange that pagans should persecute Christ's followers;
----but when he looked forward, and saw a church professedly Christian persecuting the followers of the Lamb, and drunken with their blood, he could but wonder with great amazement."
Uriah Smith