96AD: in a grotto on Patmos the beloved disciple of Jesus, St. John the Apostle had a vision, a vision of the world to come. His student, Prohoros, wrote down this vision by order of the Lord, and it is known as the 27th and final chapter of the Holly Bible.
The spot around the cavern was the one initially chosen for the monastery of St John. Upon his arrival Osios Christodoulos decided, to build it instead on a higher point (current position) making it less vulnerable to raids.
Wanting to fulfil his wishes, he built a hermitage, covering the cave at its core. He started off by closing off the cave with the building of a chapel, he named it St Anne after his mother, the Virgin Mary’s mother and the mother of emperor Alexios I. Komnenus, who was called Anne Dalassini and it was she who advised her son to cede the island of Patmos to Ossios Christodoulos.
Entering the cavern you realize its natural positioning and why the Lord picked this particular place in the world to reveal the Apocalypse. The rock formation is volcanic and rare, taking 100’s of years to cool off, it shines at some points from the water that was trapped in it without vaporizing.
To the right there is the sacred cave and church of Saint John the Divine. In the centre between the cave and the chapel the low rock ceiling reaches out in clear threefold split, the sign of the Holly Trinity, it is also the sign that the orthodox pilgrims shape their fingers into to make the sign of the cross starting from their foreheads.
Looking closely at the three – part rock you will notice that it is very odd that a rock should split in three like that, there is no logical explanation of the shape of the rock except that it was through there that God communicated with Saint John giving him the vision of the Apocalypse.
In the back of the cave there is a fenced off section were a niche in the rock shows were the saint laid his head to rest. To the left if you look closely you will see a relief of a Greek cross that locals believe was not done by human hands.
A little higher to the right there is another niche, where he held on to the rock to raise himself up from his resting place and to lean against while dictating the words of god to his pupil Prohoros who stood next to him, on a natural rock desk that can still be seen.
Continuing right and close to the entrance, a narrow channel in the rock that miraculously provided water to the both of them, from a spring that cannot be found to date.
There is a monk and/or spiritual leader that will guide you through the cave awaiting you at the entrance, although it is recommended to sit on one of the stools and sink in the energy of this miraculous cave that some believe is one of the great mysteries of the world. In the monastery complex there are also two more churches, one of St. Artemios (18th century) and St. Nickolaos, monk cells, and other facilities as would be expected in a monastery, most of which were built by Osios Christodoulos and his men in 1088
According to historians St. John and Prohoros stayed 18 months on Patmos, and then returned to Ephesus, the place they were exiled from for preaching in the Lord’s name. There, they wrote the 4th book of the New Testament.
sourse: MONASTERY OF THE REVELATION
