Companies - Organisations

According to the legend, Patmos was sunk in the sea and only emerged when the Moon goddess enlightened it. So Patmos was the place of the Moon's meeting with her beloved shepherd, Endimionas, son of Zeus, who had the privilege of not getting old while sleeping. As the moon enlightened the submerged Patmos (island of Patmos), Artemis watched it, shining under the water, and wanted to make the island hers. Not having the power to drag it up on the surface, she asked the help of her brother Apollo, Apollo of his father Zeus and Zeus of his brother Poseidon. So Poseidon elevated the island to the surface of the sea, he was also the first to step on it; Apollo with the sun's rays dried it and handed it to his sister, Artemis. The first inhabitants of the island came from Mount Latmos of Asia Minor, at the invitation of Artemis.

The island of Patmos was known in ancient times with the names

Letoes, because of the worship of Artemis the daughter of Letos,

Patnos, from the push of Poseidon,

Palmoza, from the many palm trees,

Latmos, from the name of the mountain Latmos of Karia in Asia Minor the well-known place of worship of the goddess Artemis.

From the myth of Atrides we draw the information, that Orestes arrived at the island of Patmos and dedicated a statue to the Temple of Artemis as a thanksgiving for his release from the persecution of the Erinyes. The location of that temple was in the site chosen by Saint Christodoulos for the erection of the Monastery.

By classic writers there are no references to Patmos. Small references are made by Thucydides, Strabo and Efstathios.

The identity of the first inhabitants of the island remains a mystery, and despite the studies and researches of many historians and archaeologists, opinions diverge. The majority, however, believes that the island was already inhabited in 3000 BC from the Kares and later from the Dorians and the Ionians, Greek genders that colonized the Dodecanese islands.

The German archaeologist Ludwig Ross (1806-1859), professor at the University of Athens in 1837, wrote in his “island tours” that the original inhabitants of the island were the Dorians and later became an Ionian colony. It was part of a federation of the Ionian coastal cities of Asia Minor, known as “Panionion”, of a religious and defensive character. Patmos was under the protection of the nearest city, Miletus, an important center, both in the flowering of arts and letters, as well as in the trade and export sector.

Remnants of ancient buildings, cemeteries, fortresses in the area of ​​Kampos and Itia, show the presence of a dense population in various periods of antiquity. Some findings on the hill of Kastelli, provide evidence of the existence of an ancient acropolis, dated to the 4th century BC as well as a rather extensive city in the region, during the 6th and 4th centuries BC.

During the Roman period, Patmos was devastated and used by the Romans as a place of exile for the convicts.

In 95 AD the youngest disciple of Christ, John, was in Ephesus, where he preached the message of the Gospel. In the same year the Roman Emperor Dometianos put the Christians under great persecution and exiled the Apostle John to Patmos.

John's stay on the island is confirmed by his testimony in the Introduction of the Book of Revelation. Apart from the reference to the text of the Revelation, reference is made also to the false-signed text “Acts of John”, allegedly the work of his disciple, Diakonos Prohoros. Most of the biblical scholars agree that this text was written in the 4th or 5th century AD. In this text are recorded stories from the stay of Apostle John in Patmos, which, regardless of whether they withstand scientific research and verification or not, are preserved in the oral, iconographic and generally popular tradition of the island.

St. John remained in Patmos for about two years. In September 96 AD, Emperor Dometianos was murdered, and his successor, Nervas, withdrew the decrees of his predecessor, resulting in John's return to Ephesus. During his stay on the island, Saint John the Theologian was not idle. He turned to Christianity and baptized many of the inhabitants of the island. Even fragments of an Early Christian baptistery, by the sea, reveal the place where Apostle did the baptisms. His most important moment at Patmos was the Divine Message revealed by God's Word to Saint John in a small cave, the cave of the Apocalypse, as it has been established since then. This prophetic text has been cataloged by the Church in the New Testament Canon and is the most eschatological text of the New Testament.

After the passing of Apostle John, there is little information about the island of Patmos. We find sporadic references in the historical sources of the surrounding areas. In the 4th century, the temple of the goddess Artemis, on the island, was demolished, and an Early Christian royal church was built in its place. In the middle of the 7th century, Patmos, like most of the other small and defenseless Aegean islands, was deserted, as the Arabs advanced to the territories of the Byzantine Empire. According to the testimony of the historian Orlandos, between the 8th and 10th century, the basilica of the Theologian was destroyed and because its reconstruction was impractical for that time, a smaller temple, dedicated to Theologos, was built. In the 11th century AD, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, donated the island of Patmos to Saint Christodoulos, who, persecuted from Mount Latros, due to the Arab raids, and after unfortunate attempts to settle in the surrounding islands, had ended up in the wilderness then Patmos, a place ideal for ascetism.

In 1522 the Ottomans finally re-conquered Rhodes, and in 1537, the Monastery officially recognized the Ottoman domination. Ironically, they were under the unfaithful Turks when the Monastery and the island rebounded, knowing very much material prosperity and exerting religious and political influence.

The 16th century was marked by wars between the Venetians and the Ottomans. After 1540 the Ottomans controlled the eastern Mediterranean and settled in the area. Saint John's Monastery brought again workers, who rose to the middle classes, developing a strong and successful urban life on the island. At that time, the settlement of Chora (center of the island), began to acquire its present character and the monastery also followed the building trend and was embellished. At that time, the Monastery system is probably changing from a cenobitic to an eccentric, which means that the monks are allowed to live individually and deal with their own concerns and interests.

In the 17th century the port of Patmos is one of the most important in the Mediterranean, and a great commercial activity is being developed. Cotton embroidery, ceramics and wooden paintings are being exported. At the same time the monastery takes its present form. Patmos has about 3,000 inhabitants. The administration is exerted by the Monastery while the Turks do not live on the island. In 1607 AD, the monastery of Zoodochos Pigis was founded, while in 1619 AD, immigrant families are settled around Saint Levia’s Square, in Chora.

In 1645 a war between the Ottomans and the Venetians resumed, which lasted 21 years. This fact for Patmos was devastating, as, in 1659, the Venetian Admiral. Morozini, and his troops, attacked the island causing great disasters in the settlement of Chora, leaving the Monastery almost intact. It took more than 50 years for the island, to overcome that damage, and its population during that time was very poor. The catastrophic and violent passage of the Venetian Admiral from Patmos recorded, by carving it on a wall in the chapel of Saint Basil within the Monastery, a monk (note that this chapel is next to the monastery's belfry, from which the view to the harbor is panoramic).

The end of this century finds Patmos with fifty more families, migrating in 1669 AD due to the fall of Chandakas of Crete by the Turks. Since 1700 trade has rebounded and the standard of living is being improved.

In the 18th century Patmos was under Venetian occupation. In 1713, Saint Makarios Kalogeras, descended from Patmos, refused a brilliant career in the Constantinople when, as a young monk, he was sent to Constantinople to return to his ancestral place, where he founded the School of Patmiada. This school was considered one of the most important educational institutions of its time, displaying a series of scholars and professors who spread to the Greek communities of Europe, thus boosting Greek culture and Orthodox faith. In 1715, the Ecumenical Patriarchate devolves the Administration of the Local Church to the Abbot of the Monastery, giving him the high privilege of the Patriarchal Exarhos, to govern the Local Church as the Reverend Bishop, in the Name of the Ecumenical Patriarch.                                              

In the 19th century, Patmos contributed critically to the struggle for Greek independence. Emmanuel Xanthos, a merchant from Patmos, was together with Skoufas and Tsakalof, the founding members of the Friendly Company (Filiki Eteria). Outstanding personalities of the Greek Revolution were people of Patmos, such as chief Demetrios Themelis, also Nation-martyr of the Exodus of Mesolongi, and Theophilos Pagostas, Patriarch of Alexandria, who did not hesitate to raise the revolutionary banner in Patmos.

Although Patmos was the second island after Spetses, that joined forces in the battle for liberation by investing morally and materially in the struggle, the Treaty of Constantinople of 1832, with which the war was officially ended, conceded all the Dodecanese to the Ottomans.

In the 19th century there is a remarkable decline of the island. The industrial revolution replaced sailing ships with more modern steam engines, which the people of Patmos could not obtain, as they were still under Ottoman administration. The rich families of Patmos emigrated and poverty prevailed. The School of Patmiada was abandoned until the late 19th century, and the monastery was trying to recover.

In 1912 the Italians took advantage of the Ottoman Empire's weakness and invaded the Dodecanese. Initially, the Greek residents saw the Italians as liberators. This belief was soon disproved when a resolution was passed to the Italian General Amelio, asking him to contribute to the union of the Dodecanese with the Greek State. This act enraged the Italian leader, with the result that the Italian occupation had extremely negative consequences for the islands and especially for Patmos, which remained very poor. In addition, the teaching of the Greek language was forbidden. In 1937 the nunnery of the Annunciation of the Mother of God was founded by the former Abbot of the Great Monastery, Amfilochios Makris, serving as a secret school for the young people of Patmos. The old Amfilochios Makris will stigmatize Patmos at that time (but also until the end of his life) with his great spiritual, national and ecological offer. The Italian occupation ended in 1943 with the assumption of administration by the German Occupation Forces, which lasted for two years, during which Patmos lived in complete economic misery. After the war, the British took over the administration of the Dodecanese and under the Treaty of Paris on 7 March 1947 all the islands were incorporated into the Greek State.

In 1947 the School of Patmiada reopened in the Sacred Cave and, in 1951 the present buildings were built, by the Monastery, with the courageous contribution of the people of Patmos from abroad. In 1981 Patmos was officially recognized by the Greek Parliament as a Holy Isle, while in 1988 the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian celebrates the completion of nine centuries of continuous operation and in 1995, the 1900 years since the writing of the Book of Revelation.

In 1999, the Holy Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, together with the Holy Cave of Apocalypse and the medieval settlement of Chora in Patmos, were officially included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, while the European Union included Patmos among the five most important pilgrimage destinations in Europe.

The 21st Century is a time of cogitation and recognition for Patmos. The Monastery of Theologos returns to the cenobitic system, the museum and the library are reorganized and enriched, the research is encouraged and new editions are being made, the scientific workshops for the preservation of icons and manuscripts are being equipped, cultural events such as the Festival of Religious Music, the Welfare Center Family and the Center for Orthodox Culture and Information are institutionalized.

Catholic

The outer narthex of the main church (Catholic) of the Holy Monastery is full of wall paintings dating back to the 17th century with various miracle representations of Saint John the Theologian. The marble columns as well as the railings come from the older basilica (7th century).

The inner narthex, housed in a semicircular dome, extends from north to south. To the right of the main entrance of the main temple, dominates the icon of Saint John the Theologian, the Adoration (prostration), the Palladium of the Monastery.

It is traditionally a donation to Saint Christodoulos by Emperor Alexios I Komninos. Saint John, the Theologian, is depicted half-bodied, turned to the right and holding with his two arms a sloping open gospel. The halo and the gospel are enameled. Silver embossed and gilded sheet metals are placed in the 11th -12th centuries, with representations of the twelve Apostles in medals covering the perimeter of the Icon, dating back to the 12th century, but painted in the 15th century, with dimensions: 114.5 cm high, 81 cm wide and 3.5 cm thick, and is mentioned in a code of the Monastery in 1200 AD.

The frescoes of inner narthex are of very good Cretan art, and came to light after the conservation and restoration works in 2009, where they represent the final crisis. Some of the performances that stand out are: the Zechariah murder, the Adoration of the Magi, the Slaughter of the Nipples, the Fugue in Egypt, the Embrace of Virgin Mary and Elizabeth, Jesus among the Apostles.

In the northern part there is the Parable of the 10 Virgins, while in the south and east there are scenes from the second Presence of the Lord.

The main church (catholic), unseen from the outside, is one of the first buildings built by Saint Christodoulos on the ruins of small temple, built on the ruins of an earlier basilica to the name of the Theologian (7th century), which was also built on the temple of the goddess of hunting, Artemis of Patmos (4th century BC). In its interior layout, it is of byzantine rhythm, which is supported by four unadorned pillars, connected by wooden-carved, gilded tractors. The floors are paved with marble tiles that come from the old Basilica or from the Temple of Artemis. Below the Temple there is a cistern for the accumulation of rainwater. The marvelous and of excellent art woodcarving, all over gilded and painted temple with carved representations from the Bible is a bit disproportionate to the other dimensions of the temple.

The first iconostasis of Saint’s Christodoulos era, was marble with handrails and parapets. In the late 15th century, it was replaced with a newer wooden iconostasis, decorated by the icons of exceptional Cretan art of painter Andreas Ritzos (1494).

Today's masterpiece iconostasis is a donation of Metropolitan of Sardis, Nektarios of Patmos. For its construction, 170,000 Turkish pounds were spent and 1,200 for its gilding. Twelve craftsmen, from the island of Chios, worked for almost a year, in 1820. The icons of the iconostasis are of Russian art. Christ (right) and Panagia (Virgin Mary) (left) date back to 1702 and are donated by the Emperor Catherine of Russia, while Saint John the Theologian is of 1697. The interior surfaces of the katholikon (catholic) are covered with elaborate frescoes of Cretan art by a remarkable hagiographer (assumptions about angel) dating back to 1600. In the lower zone it is adorned by full body saints (15th century), in the upper zone by scenes with the life of Christ, and then the dome rises with the imposing Pantocrator.

On the northern side of the Katholikon and behind the icon of the Revelation, which is a copy of the original icon of 1626, there is an outside sacristy, in which are kept sacred heirlooms and vestments for use.

In the southwest corner of the katholikon that borders on the north with the inner narthex, is located the Holy Chapel of Saint Christodoulos. It was built in his honor immediately after his relic was taken from Euboea in October 1094. In the south wall of the chapel, in a blind arch, in the gold-silver-plated ossuary from a workshop in Smyrna, 1796, was placed his indestructible relic that gives off unutterable fragrance. The iconostasis is a construction of 1607, and is decorated with icons dating back to 1500, works of the Cretan painter Andreas Ritzos. The frescoes, which were preserved in the conservation and restoration work in 2005, are of Cretan art of 1600, that was revealed under the 18th century with the representations of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, etc.

Altar

The Altar of the Sacred Monastery is considered from the earliest buildings and dates back to the 11th to the 12th centuries, extends from north to south and occupies an important area of ​​the eastern part of the Monastery. A small section of the North Wall borders with the Sanctuary of the Catholic.

The roof, initially, according to clues, was a pitched wooden roof that was replaced. It is a semicircular domed and dates back to the late 12th century. The dome is octagonal (8.5 m high). The whole Altar resembles a one-aisled basilica with a dome, first encountered in monastic architecture.

On the length of its large axis there are two, oblong, built tables covered with marble. The most luxurious table is that which is located to the north niche, and is perpendicular to the other; it is the table of the Abbot.

The narrow curved heads of the tables are embellished by embossed isosceles crosses, carved in rectangular frames.

On the eastern wall, inside an arched notch, is the step; the stone lectern of the selected reader  monk, who reads Patristic readings.

The door of the southern wall leads to the galley of the Monastery, while the eastern one to the food storage area (non-visitable areas).

The frescoes that are hung in the frames are of 1745 and are the ones that were taken from the chapel of the Virgin Mary, which covered the earliest of the 12th century. Almost the entire area of ​​the Altar, walls and dome, were illustrated. But the frescoes were unfortunately destroyed in their largest part.

With the consistency and accuracy required by the rite of the Church, and the long-standing Coenobitic Tradition, which is controlled by an ascetic spirit, the fraternity enters into both the Church and the Altar.