Page 142 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

Monastery of St. John, Patmos
140 EUROPE

The Monastery of St. John is one of the most important places
of worship for Orthodox and Western Christians alike. It was
founded in 1 088 by a monk, the Blessed Christodoulos,
GREEC E :O£G£AM in honor of St. John the Divine, author of the Bible's
SEA
TURKlV
Book of Revelation. One of the richest and
Pat~• ,.Athens
most influential monasteries in Greece, its
MONASTER Y OF ST.' JOHN~
PATMOS towers and buttresses make it look like a
fairy-tale castle, but were built to protect
MEDITERRANEAN
SEA its religious treasures, which are now
the star attraction for the thousands of A The Hos pitality of Abraham
This is one of the most important of
ST. JOHN AND THE HOLY CAVE pilgrims and tourists who visit every year. the 12th-century frescoes that were
Inside the church of Agia Anna, near the found in the chapel of the Panagia.
-< Holy cave of
Monastel)l of S tJohn, is the Holy Cave of the ~
the Apocalypse,
Apocalypse. I t was here that StJohn had the
where St John
vision of fire and brimstone that inspired the lived and worked
N ew T estament's Book of Revelatim. The cave
contains the rock where John dictated his vision
to his disciple, Pr6choros, and the indentation
where the saint is said to have rested his head
each nig"lt Also visible is the deft in the rock
from where the voice of God is said to have Kitchens
spoken to John. The cave also has 12th-century
wall pa1ntings and icons from 1596 of St. John
and the B lessed Christodoulos by the Cretan
painter Thorn as Vathas.

THE BLESSED CHRISTODOULOS
The Christian monk C hristodoulos (slave of
Christ) was born around 1020 in Asia M inor. H e
spent much of his life building monastenes on Monks' Refect ory
se~~eral Greek islands. He was given permiSSIOn This room contains two
marble tables taken from the
by the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I C omnenos
Temple of Arterris, which
(r. 1081-1118) to build a temple on Patmos, 1n originally occupied the site.
honor of the Apostles. Christodoulos laid the
foundation stone for the Monastery of St John,
A Chrysobull
but died in 1093 before i t was completed. His
remembrance celebrations are held each year
Y Main Courtyard
in P atmos on March 16 and October 21.
A Icon of St. John
THE TREASURY This 12th-century icon is the
Also known as the library, the treasury contains most reuered in the monastery
and is housed in the katholikon,
a vast and 1mportant collection of theological
the monastery's main church.
and Byzantine works. There is a central room,
decorated with plastered arches supported by
stone cdumns, off which lie other rooms
Y Monastery of St John above •
display1 ng religious artifacts. Priceless icons and
the village of Ch6ra '
sacred art, including vestments, chalices, and
Benediction crosses, can be viewed. Floor-to- Y Chapel of the Holy Cross
ceiling bookcases, built into the walls, store
rei igious manuscripts and biographical materials,
many written on parchment. Manuscripts of
note 1 nclude the Book of Job, sermons by St
George the Theologue, the Purple Code, and a
14th-century voh . .me containing 1m ages of the
Evangelists entitled Gospel of Foor. The
treasury also possesses 15th-to 18th-century
embrc.dered stools and mosaics, as well as
beautiful 17th-century furnishings. There are
also garments worn by past bishops, some
woven in gold thread.