Holy Monastery of Saint John the Theologian
Holy Cave of the Apocalypse
patmos
ELIAS KOUTOUMANOS
LOUKAS HAPSIS, ELIAS KOUTOUMANOS
ARETI BRESKA
APHRODITI MAVROGONATOU
MYRTO TZANOPOULOU
VICKY BORA
ISBN: 978-618-87223-2-3
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patmos
Holy Monastery of Saint John the Theologian
Holy Cave of the Apocalypse
INTRODUCTION
atmos, the preserver of Byzantine tradition and Orthodoxy, is designated by state law as a Holy Island for its significant religious centres, closely linked to Christian tradition.
The Holy Cave of the Apocalypse, a powerful worship centre with the mystifying sacred ambience of the Book of Revelation and the Holy Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, with its unique history and architecture, are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This photo album invites you on a journey of spiritual exaltation, taking you on a tour of two of the most emblematic Christian monuments and the holiness that surrounds them.
Ancient times
Regarding the religious aspect, the island has always been perceived as a sacred place. This has been expressed since ancient times, mainly through the worship of the goddess Artemis.
The worship of the goddess on the island is attested by an inscription from the 4th century AD, which is today kept in the Monastery's Sacristy. This inscription refers to Patmos as "the most sacred island of Letoida" (i.e. Artemis, daughter of Leto). It also mentions Orestes, son of Agamemnon, who, after the murder of his mother Clytemnestra and being pursued by the Furies (Erinyes), passed by the island and erected the statue of the Scythian Artemis for redemption.
This historical evidence confirms that the worship of the goddess, which was already established in the time of Orestes, survived in the early Christian era until Christianity prevailed.
It is a natural cave of dark trachyte, semi-cylindrical in shape, stretching from NW to SE, where it ends. The Sacred Cave is located at the lowest level of the complex and has a two-naved worship space: on the northern side, which used to be open, is the single-naved barrel-vaulted church of St Anne, while on the southern side, at the back of the cave, is the church of St John the Theologian. The first phase of the churches' construction is attributed to St Christodoulos in the 11th century.
Natural rock forms the roof and flanks of the Church of St John the Theologian and the east side of the chancel (holy altar).
/ The mosaic depiction of John welcomes the worshipers
/ View of the building complex of the Cave of the Apocalypse
The Prothesis and Diakonikon conchs are rock-cut, and the chancel’s walls and conchs are decorated with frescoes dating from the end of the 12th century. The main iconographic theme is the Evangelist dictating the Apocalypse to his disciple Prochorus.
According to local tradition, the Evangelist heard God’s voice through the triple crevice of the rock's roof, which symbolizes God's transcendence (Holy Trinity). According to the same tradition, the hole at the floor level, near the iconostasis, was where the Evangelist put his head, and the hole a little higher up was where he stood when he knelt to pray.
The chancel is separated from the rest of the space by a plain wooden iconostasis decorated with remarkable post-Byzantine icons. The impressive icon of the Vision of the Apocalypse is the work of the renowned Cretan painter Thomas Bathas (or Vathas) and dates from around 1596.
The present gilded wood-carved iconostasis of the Church of St Anne dates from around 1600 and has a stylistic resemblance with the iconostases of oth-
