Tuesday, 5/10/11

Early this morning we sailed into the Straits of Messinna on the eastern side of the Aegean Sea. We docked in the harbor of Sklara, a little fishing village the size of Manhattan with a population of 3000 on the island of Patmos, Greece. Patmos is one of the many Dodecanese (12) islands that hug the coast of Asia Minor far away from Greece, but they are of Greek heritage. Patmos became part of Greece in 1948. This is a small, rocky volcanic island with only 1 other town, Hora. The white houses are perched on the cliffs. In the past all of the houses were built out of natural stone to keep the rats away. Now they are painted white to reflect the sun. The roofs are flat in order to collect the rain water.Today it is not sunny, but hot. According to Greek mythology Leto (a Titan lady) and Zeus had an affair. Their issue were Apollo and Artremis. Celine, the moon goddess, swayed Artremis to raise Patmos out of the sea; therefore Patmos is named after Artremis. The island to the north of Patmos is an all rock island called Ichyrus, after Greek mythology. the pine trees growing here are native, but the eucalyptus trees were brought by Australian soldiers during WWII.
At the top of this rocky island in the medieval capital town of Hora is a monastery to ST. John the Theologan founded 1000 years after ST John was here. It is a 1600 year old Byzantine structure with great frescoes where 6 monks reside. They are Greek-Orthodox and it is considered the Jerusalem of the Aegean. It was founded in the 11th century, but the courtyard was built in the 17th century. In their bakery they use a horse trough as a kneading table for their bread In the museum was a huge 1300 year old handwritten book of Job! This is the oldest painted manuscript in the Mediterranean. It consists of 400 pages and was written on codex, a parchment which took the skins of 30 goats to make. This is the most important possession of the monastery. The library was founded in the 11th century also. Books were actually printed in 1494 in Germany, so this was many years before. The man that built this monastery was granted this island by Constantine in 1088. This monastery of St John was built out of the stones from the Temple of Diana. Halfway between Hora and Sklara is the Cave of the Apopcalypse where ST. John wrote the book of Revelations. ST.John is referred to as the son of Zebedee, brother of James, John the Evangelist, John the Apostle. He was a fisherman born in Galilee and was a disciple of John the Baptist before he was an apostle of Jesus. He was with Mary at the cross when Jesus entrusted Mary into John's care After the Assumption John took Mary on foot through Asia to Ephaseus to live. The Apostles, Peter, James, John and Paul were traveling all over the world spreading Jesus' word. In 51AD they met at the first Apostalic Council to decide how to better spread God's word. John was declared a pillar of the church because of his work in Europe and Asia. Paul, being a rabble rouser, was denounced by Demetrius, a silversmith outside the Temple, and put into prison. The Emperor deported John to Rome to be boiled to death in oil, but instead he was banished to the island of Patmos for 18 months. While on Patmos John had a vision in a cave on Hora and dictated the book of Revelations to his pupil. St. John saw 7 golden candlesticks (which stood for the 7 churches), centered over Jesus were double edged swords (heaven and hell), and 7 stars for 7 angels. As soon as the vision was completed, the roof of the cave split into 3 pieces from the Voice of God, the Trinity! He wrote the 22 chapters of Revelations in Greek because that was the easiest way to spread the Word. There are mosaics just above the entrance to the cave. The cave is small, enough room for an altar, bed and stove; but they say he didn't live in the cave. He could see the coast of Asia Minor from inside the cave. There was a rock like a desk that he used as the altar. Then the cave was forgotten until it was found in the 11th century. It was reconstructed during the 18th century. During the 19th century people started living at the port of Sklara.
ST. John returned to Ephesus and lived 40 more years until 100 AD when he died a natural death. He was buried at the Basilica of St. john in Ephaseus , Turkey under plain stone slab with 4 columns.