Patmos villages

Grikos is a pleasant resort 4km from Skala with a curving sandy beach (canoe & wind-surf rental). Tragonissi islet rises at the far end of the curving bay. Half way along Kalikatsou rock is honeycombed with caves which were probably occupied by hermits before the monastery was founded. You can find hotels, cafes and taverns at Grikos.
Kampos is a large village overlooking a fertile valley to the west. The vast and sandy Kampos beach (sand and pebbles) is very popular in summer.
Around 2km to the north is the bay of Lampi which is famous for its colour pebbles. At Lampi you can find very nice traditional taverns with delicious food. Here are some Greek island pictures of Patmos villages

Skala Patmos

The boats land their passengers at Skala (the harbour), in a bay on the east side of the island. In the old days there was little more than a collection of vaulted warehouses (now converted into cafes and shops) around the port of Patmos as workers and merchants retreated to the safety of the upper town.
 Skala is a pleasant port with simple white houses and the principal town of the island always bustling with activity. Along the quay, the Venetian arcaded building with a corner tower houses the harbour master’s office, the customs, the police, an information office and the post office. Nearby are the taxi and bus stations and the local boats which offer excursions to the beaches on Patmos and neighbouring islets and to Leros, Kalymnos and Kos. Many cruise ships docking in Skala during the summer season.
The boats land their passengers at Skala (the harbour), in a bay on the east side of the island. In the old days there was little more than a collection of vaulted warehouses (now converted into cafes and shops) around the port of Patmos as workers and merchants retreated to the safety of the upper town.
Nowadays Skala is a pleasant port with simple white houses and the principal town of the island always bustling with activity. Along the quay, the Venetian arcaded building with a corner tower houses the harbour master’s office, the customs, the police, an information office and the post office. Nearby are the taxi and bus stations and the local boats which offer excursions to the beaches on Patmos and neighbouring islets and to Leros, Kalymnos and Kos. Most hotels in Patmos are in Skala, unlike the Leros hotels that are in many areas of the neighbouring island or the huge hotels in Kos. From Skala you can get the Greek Ferries that go to the Dodecanese islands, after Patmos they go to Leros, Kalymnos, kos and Rhodes.

Patmos Chora

Most of the traditional houses and rooms that offer accommodation in Patmos,  located in the village of Chora around the Monastery of Saint John, which dominates imposingly and spiritually the island. Built at the top of the hill for centuries know it clarificates the Greek Orthodox Belief and is one of the most important monuments in Greece. ” Old Lady”, as it is called, Chora has the privilege to be the capital of the island. The Byzantine architecture both the outside formation and the inside decoration of the houses is unique.
The own settlement of Chora, which started in the 15th century is an attraction itself. Many churches and houses were built in the beginning of the 18th century, where the Patmians, rich captains and traders decorated the houses with furniture supplied from the West or from local technicians.

Fascinating two and three floored mansions are decorated, with woodcut furniture and paintings from the most famous Greek woodcarvers and painters. Until today Chora sustains it’s old glamour. Arcs with paved alleys create unsuspected arcades with glades and give the visitor the feeling of a bygone epoch.

Picturesquely old houses with wide opened yards embraced in total with cobbled streets and many squares, with little restaurants and groceries drift the visitor to dreamlike walks.
The court yards and the wooden balconies are full of fragrant flowers blooming any time of the year. Scattered little churches on every step remind us of the holiness that governs the island. The view from Chora is magic. The azure of the sky and the sea magnetize your range of vision to the amazing view over Patmos and the islands around.

The Theological School of Patmos

his educative Institution was founded by deacon Makarios Kalogeras in the year of 1733. During Turk’s domination the School of Patmos developed a preponderant activity about revival of the Greek Nation. The great men of the contemporary history of the Greek Nation were the most students of the Patmos School. The Associates of the “Philiki Heteria” (patriotic association), the most important Emmanuel Xanthos, Demetrios Tsesmelis and the great Master of Greek educative development Adamantios Korais, the Oecumenique Patriarch and martyr of the Greek Nation Gregory V, the Patriarch Anthimos I and other eminent men, all of them have attended the School of Patmos.
Convent of Zoodochos Pigi (Source of Life)
It is for women and is located to the SE of the Monastery of St. John. It was founded in 1607 by the Patmian religious monk Parthenios Papakostas. It is a specimen of a pure insular sanctuary and the second largest cluster of buildings in the island. Inside the monastery are two churches. One is of Zoodochos Pigi and the other of St. John. Both are ornamented with icons of Byzantine style (17th century). There are also cells for the nuns and the guests that complete the group of buildings of the monastery which by its white color enhances the magic of the landscape that surrounds it. The monastery is surrounded by courts bright of flowers.

Patmos and Unesco

The Historic Centre (Chora) with the Monastery of Saint John “the Theologian” and the Cave of the Apocalypse on the Island of Patmos
The small island of Patmos in the Dodecanese is reputed to be where St John the Theologian wrote both his Gospel and the Apocalypse. A monastery dedicated to the ‘beloved disciple’ was founded there in the late 10th century and it has been a place of pilgrimage and Greek Orthodox learning ever since. The fine monastic complex dominates the island. The old settlement of Chora, associated with it, contains many religious and secular buildings.
Property
The Historic Centre (Chora) with the Monastery of Saint-John the Theologian and the Cave of the Apocalypse on the Island of Patmos The town of Chora on the Island of Patmos is one of the few settlements in Greece that have evolved uninterruptedly since the 12th century. There are few other places in the world where religious ceremonies that date back to the early Christian times are still being practised unchanged.
The Monastery of Hagios Ioannis Theologos (Saint John the Theologian) and the Cave of the Apocalypse on the Island of Patmos, together with the associated medieval settlement of Chora, constitute an exceptional example of a traditional Greek Orthodox pilgrimage centre of outstanding architectural interest.
The Monastery of Hagios Ioannis Theologos and the Cave of the Apocalypse commemorate the site where St John the Theologian (Divine), the “Beloved Disciple”, composed two of the most sacred Christian works, his Gospel and the Apocalypse.
The Delegate of Thailand raised the question of eligibility of criterion (vi). He thought that the criterion   should be applied. This recommendation was also endorsed by ICOMOS and the Committee. Delegates and observers commended the high values of the site and decided to keep the criterion

The book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation or The Apocalypse of John , is the last and only prophetical book of the New Testament in the Bible.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ. The book was addressed to seven churches, at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

It contains an account of the author, thought by many to be John or St John of Patmos in the text, who saw a vision describing future events at the end of the world—involving the final rebellion by Satan at Armageddon, God’s final defeat of Satan, and the restoration of peace to the world.

Revelation is considered one of the most controversial, (see Jonadabs) and hardest to understand books of the Bible, with many ranging interpretations of the meanings of the various names and events in the account. The identity of the author is not completely clear. A traditional view is that the author of this book was John the Apostle, but other scholars doubt that. The traditional Christian view is that this John was the same as the author of the Gospel of John and 1, 2 and 3 John. However, given the book’s futurist eschatology (e.g. chs. 21-22), this view is very difficult to maintain when compared to the realised eschatology of the Johannine corpus, especially the Gospel of John itself.

In the 4th century, St. John Chrysostom and other bishops argued against including this book in the New Testament canon, chiefly because of the difficulties of interpreting it and the danger for abuse. Christians in Syria also reject it because of the Montanists’ heavy reliance on it. In the 9th century it was included, with the Apocalypse of Peter among “disputed” books in the Stichometry of St. Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople. In the end, it was included in the accepted canon, although it remains the only book of the New Testament that is not read within the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Traditionally the date of the writing of this book has generally been fixed at the year 96 A.D., in the reign of Domitian. Others contend for an earlier date, 68 or 69 A.D., in the reign of Nero. Those who are in favour of the later date appeal to the testimony of the Christian father Irenaeus (died 185 A.D.), who received information relative to this book from those who had seen John face to face. He says that the Apocalypse “was seen a long time ago.” Other evidence for the later date is internal: the book alludes to significant persecution, affecting the Christians of Asia Minor. This is a better historical fit for Domitian’s reign than Nero’s, Nero’s persecution was mostly confined to the territories around Rome, while Domitian’s persecution was indeed vigorously carried out in Asia Minor.

The History of Patmos

Patmos Located in the Dodecanese islands, It is the most northern island of the Archipelago and is very near to Leros and Lipsi. The island of Patmos is seldom mentioned by the ancient authors into their books. It is to be supposed that its prehistoric inhabitants were the Carians. The name Patmos, as it is generally believed derives from the word Latmos, which is the name of a mountain of Caria, a country situated across the island in Asia Minor where the goddess Diane (Artemis), was particularly adored.
Patmos was at times colonized by the Dorians and thereafter followed the Ionians. It is said that the mythology hero Oreste pursued by the Furies, because he killed his mother Clytemnestra, took shelter in Patmos, coming with the Argiens.
The walls of the 6th and 4th centuries BC, of the ancient Acropole situated over the hill Castelli, are evidencing the location of the ancient town. From the well preserved until now relics, it is to be supposed that into the Acropolis ground existed at times the Apollon Temple, the Bacchus Temple and the Hippodrome. Old cemeteries, pottery fragments, carved works in bas-reliefs, inscriptions, sepulchral stones and other dispersed or framed into walls sculptures of the Christian orthodox churches, all said evidences are a proof of the flourishing and prosperous stand of the ancient Patmos.
At the former ancient age it was particularly adored in Patmos the goddess Diana, who was considered as the Patroness of the island. Under the domination of the Romans, the island failed to decline. It was abandoned and used as an exile place.