Page 143 - DK Eyewitness Travel Guides - The World's Must-See Places

GREECE 141

Chapel of Christodoulos
This contains the tomb ~ Chapel of the Holy Cross SHIP OF STONE
and silver reliquary of the This is one of the monastery's
Blessed Christodoulos. Close to Patmos is a
ten chapels, built because
Church law forbade Mass to rock that resembles an
Inner be heard more than once overturned ship. Legend
courtyard a day in the sa me chapel. has it that Christodoulos,
on discovering that a pirate
~ Chrysobull ship was on its way to
Chapel of / This scroll of 1 088 in the Patmos, seized an icon
John the I treasury is the monastery's
Baptist of St. John the Divine and
foundation deed, sealed pointed it at the ship,
in gold by the Byzantine
Emperor Alexios I Comnenos. turning it to stone.

Treasury
This houses more than
200 icons, 3 00 pieces of
silverware, and a dazzling
collection of jewels.

~ Main Courtyard
Frescoes of St. John from
the 1 8th century adorn
the outer narthex of the
katholikon, whose arcades
form an integral part of
the courtyard.

Chapel of the
Holy Apostles
This chapel lies
just outside the
monastery's gate.

NIPTIR CEREMONY;.... __
The Orthodox Easter celebrations on
Patmos are some of the most important
in Greece. Hundreds of people visit Ch6ra
to watch the Niptir (washing) ceremony
on Maundy Thursday. The abbot of the
Monastery of St. John publicly washes
the feet of 12 monks, reenacting Christ's
washing of his disciples' feet before the
Last Supper. The rite was once performed
by the Byzantine emperors
as an act of humility.
Embroidery of
Christ washing his
~ Icon of St. Main Entrance disciples' feet
KEY DATES
This 17th-century gateway
1088 1999 leads up to the cobbled
main courtyard. Its walls
The Monastery of St. John is The Monastery of St. John have slits for pouring boiling
constructed, with a heavily and the Holy CEl/e of the oil over marauders.
fortified exterior. Apocalypse are inscribed as a
UNESCO \1\brld Heritage Site.