Revelation

THE BOOK OF REVELATION: M. M. NINAN
He does not claim his apostleship. This has led to the dispute that the John of Patmos is
probably not the Apostle John. Generally early church accepted John as the Apostle who was
the bishop of who resided in Ephesus with Mary the mother of Jesus. A discussion of this is
in my book “Introduction to Revelations”
PATMOS
St.John’s monastery in Patmos
Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea. One of the northernmost islands of the
Dodecanese complex, it has a population of 2,998 and an area of 34.05 km². The highest point
is Profitis Ilias, 269 metres above sea level. This is a small island in the Aegean Sea, near
Ephesus, where John pastored.
In Roman times Patmos was one of the many places to which Rome banished her exiles. In 95
A.D., according to a tradition preserved by Irenaeus, Eusebius, Jerome and others, John was exiled
here-in the 14th year of the reign of Domitian-whence he returned to Ephesus under Nerva (96
A.D.). Early writings described John's working as prisoner in the mines on this island. St.
John remained on the island for 18 months during which time he lived in a cave below the
hilltop temple of Diana. In this cave exists a fissure, or small hole in the rock wall. According
to tradition it is from this small hole issued a collection of oracular messages that St. John
transcribed as Revelations. During his time in the sacred cave, now known as the Holy Grotto of
the Revelation, St. John also composed the Fourth Gospel.
The cave in which he is said to have seen his visions is still pointed out to the traveler. Only a
small part of the once valuable library in the monastery of Christodulos is left. Just 100 years ago
(1814) Mr. E.D. Clark purchased here the manuscript of Plato which is now in the Bodleian
Library, the celebrated Clarkianus, a parchment written in the year 895, and admittedly the best of
all for the 1st of the 2 volumes into which the works of Plato were divided for convenience.
Patmos is mentioned by Thucydides (iii.33), by Pliny (NH, iv.23), and by Strabo (x.5).
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