Patmos History

The history of Patmos is a deep and multi-layered history that dates back thousands of years. Much of its unique past is strongly intertwined with its rich religious heritage, which has made the island one of the most revered religious destinations in all of Greece.

Ancient times

According to ancient Greek mythology, the Patmos was first named Litois, in honor of the Goddess Artemis who was also called Litoida because she was the daughter of Lito. Legend says that Artemis saw the island sunken in the sea and with the help of Apollo, managed to persuade Zeus to bring it to the surface. As a sign of devotion, the islanders named it Litois. Patmos is also linked to another legend, the one of Orestes. He fled to the island after murdering his mother Clytemnestra, and was hunted by the Erynies.

Patmos has been inhabited since 3,000 BC. It is believed that its first inhabitants were the Carians, who migrated from Asia Minor. It was later occupied by the Dorians and then the Ionians. Excavations have unearthed various buildings, cemeteries, fortresses, and evidence of an ancient acropolis, attesting to the existence of a densely populated area in the past. During the Peloponnesian Wars, the Lacedemonians came to the island to escape from the Athenians. Ruins testify about the flourishing of the island during this period.

Roman and Byzantine times

Patmos declined when the Romans conquered it in approximately 200 BC. During that time most of its inhabitants fled and the island served as a place of exile for convicts. This is how Saint John the Apostle came to the Patmos, exiled by the Roman Emperor Titus Flavius Domitianus in 95 AD. Saint John conveyed Christianity to the inhabitants and is thought to have written the Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse. The cave in which the book was written, known as the Cave of the Apocalypse, was later turned into a place of worship and is still open to visitors today.

After the division of the Roman Empire in 284 AD, Christianity was officially recognized and the Byzantine Empire flourished. During the Byzantine times, the inhabitants of Patmos built a Grand Royal Basilica in honor of Saint John, where the monastery stands today. The island suffered from Arab raids from the 6th to the 9th century AD, during which the Grand Basilica of Saint John was destroyed. In 1085, the Reverend Father Christodoulos was forced by the Turks to abandon his church in Asia Minor and went to the island of Kos where he founded a monastery. There, he met the monk Arsenios Skinouris who asked for his help to build the Monastery of Saint John in Patmos.

The construction of the monastery started in 1101, after the permission of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who gave Christodoulos complete authority over the area. The monastery's fame grew and a settlement started to expand around it. During the end of the 12th century, Patmos was transformed into a large commercial center and the monastery acquired a second commercial vessel.

In 1207, the Venetians conquered Patmos, and the reign was given to the Duke of Naxos. Supported by the Duke, the island became a semi-autonomous monastic state and gained great wealth and influence. In 1340, the Knights of Saint John who had seized Rhodes conquered the island of Patmos. In 1522, the Turks came to the island and appointed a representative tasked with collecting taxes from the locals.

Ottoman occupation

When the Turkish-Venetian Wars ended, tranquillity returned and the island flourished, becoming once again an important commercial center. Massive fortifications were built around the monastery as a protection from the pirates. In 1655, Patmos was governed by the monks and prospered again. Its growth stopped in 1659, when Francesco Morosini, the leader of the Venetians, conquered and destroyed the island. With shipping, commerce, and the efforts of the inhabitants, Patmos regained its lost nobility, glamour, and prosperity.

During the early 18th century, the island's wealth was separated into secular and monastic entities. The Patmian Ecclesiastical School was founded by Makarios Kalogeras near the Cave of the Apocalypse in 1713. The Russians took over in 1770, after the Turkish-Venetian War. The Greek Revolution started in 1821 and managed to gain the independence of Greece in 1832. Nevertheless, the treaty signed in London did not include the islands of the Dodecanese as part of the newly built Greek State and therefore fell again under Turkish occupation. Emmanuel Xanthos and Dimitrios Themelis, two members of Filiki Eteria (or Society of Friends), a secret organization that fought for the liberation of the Greek state, originated from Patmos.

Recent years

The Italians occupied all the islands of the Dodecanese in 1912, which included Patmos, and remained there until 1943 when the Germans took over the island. In 1945, the Germans left and the island remained autonomous until 1948 when it joined the rest of independent Greece along with the other Dodecanese Islands. Patmos was declared a “Sacred Island” in 1981, and in 1999 UNESCO recognized Chora, the Monastery of Saint John, and the Cave of the Apocalypse as World Heritage Sites. Today, much of the economy of the island is based on tourism, with thousands of Christian pilgrims looking to experience its unique ecclesiastical legacy first-hand.