Isle of Patmos

OK so now I'm in Greece and am going to try to post everything in the next few days. Our whole Europe group has been here eight days now, but we leave tomorrow. We went on a three day cruise with multiple stops to different Greek islands, one of them being the Isle of Patmos. This is a really small island famous for being the island that John was exiled on. Not only do we know that John was exiled on this island, but we know where he stayed. His pupil recorded that he and John stayed in a cave with a view of the harbor. As far as we know, only one cave has been found on the island that faces the harbor. The cave has two niches in the stone wall. One is supposedly the area where John laid his head and the other is a handle that he used to raise himself up when he woke up. Another unique part of the cave is a split in the rock that makes a triangle. The Greek Orthodox Church says this was created when Christ visited the cave and the crack represents the holy trinity. I don't know about this, I wish dad was here to investigate the rock. I think this is just like the 1,000,0o0 pieces of the holy cross that are still floating around every little chapel in Europe! However, what historians really are sure about is that this cave really is the cave where John received the vision for Revelations. He was quite an old man at this point in time and was probably spared from death by the Romans due to his age. Here's what Revelation 1:9-18 reads:

9 I, John, both^[e] your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,”^[f] and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia:^[g] to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; 15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; 16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His rig ht hand on me, saying to me,^[h] “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. 18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

View of the Patmos harbor.

The entrance to the cave. This was actually an important Christian college during the late Ottoman Empire and played an instrumental role in producing leaders for Greek independence.

We couldn't take pictures inside the cave, but this is a view from the outside looking in.