Patmos
View across Skala from St John’s Monastery. Patmos (Revelation 1:9)
Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea off the west coast of Turkey and is only about 60 miles / 100 km by sea from Ephesus where John had lived and pastored the churches in Asia Minor. As a prominent member of the church in Ephesus, John was exiled to the island of Patmos following persecution of Christians during the reign of Emperor Domitian in c.89AD.
Modern-day visitors to Patmos arriving at the small port of Skala can climb along the stone-paved pilgrim’s path leading up to the Monastery of St John, perched on the hilltop at Chora, high above the harbour. As walkers approach the summit of the hill, they pass near a small chapel built above the Holy Cave of the Apocalpse where it’s believed that John received his revelation from Jesus Christ.
Looking out from this hillside across the Aegean Sea towards the mainland at Ephesus, it’s easy to imagine John sitting here and writing to the churches from which he’d been separated.
On the summit of the hill, the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Saint Ioannis was founded in 1088 by a monk – Christodoulos – in memory of the author of the Book of Revelation.
Visitors can enter several Byzantine chapels to view the amazing collection of icons and 12thcentury frescoes, or can sit by the ancient well in the quiet of the inner courtyard, listening to the beautiful chants of visiting pilgrims from the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches.
Source: The Bible Journey