Patmos

Patmos, the "Jerusalem of the Aegean", lies 140 nautical miles from Piraeus, with which it is connected by steamship services. Patmos is a mountainous island with rocky soil and an abundance of small coves. The island was formerly covered with luxuriant palm groves, which won it the name of Palmosa; of these groves there remains but a clump in the valley called "The Saint's Garden". It was on this island that St. John the Theologian was exiled between 95 and 97 AD and was inspired to write the Book of Revelation. Since he and all of the twelve apostles were roughly the same age as Jesus, John would by that time have been well over 90 years old - making him very likely the only apostle to survive to old age. All the rest were martyred much earlier.

“I, John . . . was in the island, which is called Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus "(Apoc., 1, 9); there according to general belief the Beloved Disciple wrote the Apocalypse, the imagery of which was in part inspired by the scenery of the island. The spot where St. John was favored with his revelations is pointed out as a cave on the slope of the hill, half way between the shore and the modern town of Patmos, which lies in the middle part of the island.

Later the emperor Alexios Komninos ordered the monk Christodoulos Letrinos to found a monastery in honor of the Apostle. Thus the holy monastery of Patmos was built, the most important landmark on the island.

The island, a place of pilgrimage, is dominated by the massive and formidable Monastery of St John the Divine in Hora. Below the monastery is a cave, the Cave of St. Anne, where John is purported to have dictated the Book of Revelations to his disciple, Prochoros. It is reached by a flight of steep stairs, invariably crowded with tourists, at the end of which is a tiny room.

The church dedicated to “St. Jean the Theologue” is of a Byzantine art. It is decorated with fresco paints of an exceptional art belonging to various periods. It has also a wood curved temple of a marvelous carpentry art. It is an extraordinary sight: whitewashed houses arranged along maze-like alleys too narrow for cars, clustered around the base of the monastery.

The majestic monastery crowns the hill above the port, surrounded by dazzling white, cube like houses which spill down its flanks. Interspersed among them are miniscule churches and grand sea captains' mansions, separated from each other by narrow lanes, high walls and small squares opening onto breath - catching views over the Aegean.

The construction of the monastery began in the 11th century. It is circumscribed by massive grey stone walls with battlements that protected the main church and another five chapels. Its extraordinary treasury contains Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons, sacred vessels, 9th century embroideries and other priceless objects, while its library houses parchment documents, patriarchal seals, illuminated manuscripts and rare old books. In the chapel dedicated to Our Lady, frescoes can be seen which date to 1210 -1220.

It was erected by Hosios Christodoulos in the year of 1088 AD over the ruins of the ancient Temple of goddess Diane (Artemis). It is a building in the form of a mediaeval citadel with walls and battlements. This construction protected the Monastery from pirates' attacks. The Monastery is situated at the top of the hill, where nowadays is also built the capital town of the island called Hora (or Chora), which town from its height dominates over the whole island.

The Sacred Grotto of the Revelation is surrounded today by the large monastic block of the Monastery of the Revelation which stands out with its local whiteness. The few steps, hewn on the rock, lead us to the simple door of the entrance to the Monastery. The cells, the yards that are bedecked with flowers, the chapels that are built at different elevations, the curved, almost cylindrical, domes of the chapels, impart an impression of a pleasant, albeit mysterious building arrangement. The Sacred Grotto is located at the lowest level of this block of buildings. At a certain spot, in the grotto, and on the rock, you will see the Cross which was carved, according to Holy Tradition, by John the Evangelist. There is also a triple fissure from where the voice was heard which told him to write the "Revelation", and the spot where John was sleeping at the time of this revelation.

Populated today by some 2500 people who make their living from sponge diving and tourism, Patmos was largely deserted during the Middle Ages due in part to its vulnerability to Aegean pirates. In Roman times it may have served as a locale for exiled political dissidents, though, unlike on some neighboring islands, there is no remaining physical evidence of such use.

As far as anyone knows, Paul left no footprints on Patmos. The literary footprints are of the author of the Book of Revelation and what is to be seen today is largely the result of the island's identity with him. According to tradition, in 96 AD, the Evangelist was banished in Patmos by the emperor Domitian for preaching the Gospel at Ephesus. This is the reason that the island of Patmos became the center of the Orthodox Religion.