Patmos, the holy island

Today I will take you with me in a travel to a holy Greek island, to Patmos.

Visiting Patmos was at my plan from the beginning of this summer and we talked many times for this trip with my aunt Yiota. Patmos is an island very close to Samos and you don't need more than an hour travel with a hydrofoil boat to be there.

We found the right day and time to make the trip but unfortunately the weather was not so good and the sea was not so calm. Well... even with a shaken hydrofoil I enjoyed the trip and the touch with the choppy salt water brought me back memories from the past when as a young girl used to accompany my father at his ship with my accordion.

At this trip, Yiota and I were not alone. My brother with his family came with us and we carry with us the thoughts of our relatives and friends who asked from us to light a candle at the Saint John's the Theologian monastery. It is on our tradition to ask from friends who are going to visit holy places to light a candle for us to the Saint favor and send their thoughts and prayers for good health for them and their families.

The hydrofoil came with half an hour delay at the small harbor of Ormos Marathokampou in Samos and we embarked for Patmos.

Patmos is the northernmost island of the Dodecanesian complex. An elongated reef of modest dimensions, it measures little more than 39 km, boasting a coastline of 65 km and a N-S long axis of 12 km. From the upper monastery terraces, a bird's eye view may capture all this in one glance, as well as the contours of surrounding lands: Ikaria, Fournoi and perhaps distant Samos to the north; Leros and Kalymnos, the islands to the south; the islets of Leipsoi and Arkioi, including Agathonisi, and the coast of Asia Minor to the east. On a clear day, some of the Cyclades to the west may also be traced from afar. Patmos is further surrounded by a crowd of barren islands, particularly towards the east.

Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes gave rise to the geological formation of the Dodecanese, originally belonging with the solid land mass between Crete and the Asiatic coast. Patmos itself consists of ranges of low hillocks and modest recesses, of gentle undulations that bound the few plains splaying out in a multitude of bays and coves. But it also consists of a terrain of steep ruggedness, sparse vegetation and dryness. It is intriguing to experience how the wind-blown and foggy landscape may turn as easily into mild sweetness set in the clarity of an ever persisting lucidity.

In ancient times, Patmos was also referred to as Patnos or Letois, from Leto the mother of Artemis and Apollo. The etymological meaning of the word is, however, disputed. It is still questionable whether Patmos is related to the meaning of "path," or whether it is an Indo-European term at all, or whether it is derived from mount Latmos, rising on the coast of Asia Minor. In Medieval times, the Italians called the island Palmo and Palmosa. Others related it to the word "terebinthus," because of the vocalic similarity between Patmos and terebinthus among the Phoenicians, the Syrians, the Chaldaeans and the Arabs. In 5th century B.C., the great classical historian Thucidides refers to the island as "Patmos".

Patmos and Christianity are irresoluble linked in the late 1st century A.D. Emperor Dometian drives the Apostle St. John to the exile of Patmos (84-96 A.D.), whereby he is said to have experienced the terrible visions of the Apocalypse and perhaps to have composed the 4th Gospel.

A small cave, midway between the port of Skala and the capital of Chora, is allegedly the scene of God's revelations, now turned into a small monastic complex known as the Apocalypse. These early events are related by the historical writings of Clemens (ca 150-220), of Origenes (185-254), of Eusebius (4th c.) or writers of the medieval period, and also by a late Roman popular narrative (2nd/4th c.) attributed to St. John's disciple and follower, young Prochoros. Prochoros's version of St. John's mission and miracles were later re-enacted in the 17th century frescoes decorating the outer narthex of the katholikon (central church) of the monastery.

The lower east wing of the monastery of the Apocalypse is referred to as the place where the Holy Text was written, a monastery built in the 17th century with additions of the chapels of St. Artemios, St. Nicholas, a few cells and courtyards. Today the Holy Cave of the Apocalypse is a small, protected from the rain, roofed church, dedicated to St. John the Theologian. In the wooden carved iconostasis are represented the big Icon of the Apocalypse and above the place of the Saint's resting, the icon with the three different representation's of the blessed Christodoulos, the ascension of St. John the Theologian, the writing of the book of Revelation, and also the Virgin Riza Iessai, all painted by the Cretan Thomas Vathas, around 1596. The natural, carved by God threefold split confirms through the passing centuries the seeing and hearing of God.

As we walk into the Holly Cave to our right, on the flat angled surface the Holy Gospel show us the point where the book of Revelation was written, while right next to it the area where the Saint used to rest and handle. He used in order to stand up because of his advanced age. These create the feeling of the Saint's existence and blessing that the place and the whole island inspire.

"I am John, your brother, and as a follower of Jesus I am your partner in patiently enduring the sufferings that comes to those who belong to his Kingdom. I was put on the island of Patmos because I had proclaimed God's word and the truth that Jesus revealed.
On the Lord's day the spirit took control of me, and I heard a loud voice, that sounded like a trumpet, speaking behind me. It said, "Write down what you see, and send the book to the churches in those seven cities..." (Rev. 1, 9-11)

The impact of St John's legacy is evidenced shortly after his death around 100 A.D. in Ephesus. A number of Early Christian basilicas are erected on Patmos, including an apparently magnificent building dedicated to St. John himself (ca 300-350). Early Christian life on Patmos , however, barely survives subsequent to Arab raids (7th-9th c.), to the point that the island is turned into a desert wasteland. In the 10th century, a plain chapel modestly echoes the passage of centuries, when the emperor's envoy Nikolaos Tzanzes, in compliance with the decree of Alexios A' Komnenos (1081-1118), surveys the territory in order to cede it to an austere figure of the clergy bearing the name Christodoulos.

We visited the Cave of Apocalypse and the Monastery of Saint John which is very impressive and its museum holds a treasure.
The Great Treasury of the Monastery of St. John the Theologian in Patmos is the greatest Museum in the Aegean, with collections among the most important in the world. Some of the most precious artefacts of the Byzantine and post Byzantine period are exhibited in two wings. These include: documents, manuscripts and incunabula, icons and ecclesiastical objects and furniture, jewels and votives, classical and early-christian antiquites, as well as representative items from the vast Ottoman and Slavic collections of documents and artefacts.

We made also our tour around the island enjoying its beauty.

Of course, I and Yiota had the opportunity to visit the shopping center of the city and have some shopping therapy.

The small cafe was what most of all needed and we enjoyed our frappe coffee at the centre of the town.

I have delayed a little bit this blog because I wanted to collect all these information and read the Holy Book of the Apocalypse in order to have the capability to transfer some of my impressions from it.
The prophetic book of the Revelation includes 22 chapters initially trying to awaken the Seven Churches (in Efesso, Smyrne, Pergamo, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodikia) to which it is referred, to prepare the Christian world about the Last Judgment.

Many issues are touched, among which the pressing and of international interest matters of Economy, Ecology, War, Politics and Religion. As all the prophetic books, it is not so easy understood but I believe it is very interesting and a book that someone who likes to search must read it. Just open your heart and you will understand behind the lines and the words the concerns of every human being in our time too. The catastrophy that comes from the sky reminds me the biological and atomic weapons. The wars close and around Jerusalem makes sense to me as to all of you. The war in Iraq is also there.. maybe it is my imagination but that is what I have seen at this prophesy.

The time has come to take our hydrofoil boat with the name "Samos" for the return trip to Samos after a very interesting and beautiful day at the Island of Apocalepse, the Patmos island.

I want to finish this blog with the sermons by the Abbot and Patriarchal Exarch of Patmos Hieromonk Antipas.

"We encourage in a fatherly and brotherly way those who come as pilgrims to share our concern and to eagerly help towards the disassociation of people from economic dependence, towards the protection of the environment and the disarming of all the States of the world so as to turn weapons into harvesting machines for the feeding of the hungry and the heeling of the sick. To support honest Politics."

Hope you have enjoyed your tour at this Aegean island. Feel blessed from this visit to the Holy Island of Patmos.