John on PatmosJohn on Patmos: And so it was that John, the "apostle that Jesus loved," (John 21:20), who was given the responsibility of caring for Mary the mother of Jesus Christ for the rest of her life after the Jesus' Crucifixion (John 19:26-27), and who wrote the Gospel of John (John 21:24), found himself exiled on Patmos. There, he had one more important job to do.
The Romans used Patmos, and numerous other legally remote (i.e. where the prisoners had no legal rights but were held indefinitely without charge or trial, subject solely to the whim of the Roman emperor) bases like it as a place for political or religious prisoners (similar in purpose to the modern-day "detainee" concentration camp run by the US in communist Cuba during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars). John on Patmos: According to Eusebius, John was sent to Patmos in the year 95 by the Roman emperor Domitian (see New Testament Roman Emperors), but was released less than 2 years later. Since he, and all of The Twelve Apostles were roughly the same age as Jesus, John would by that time have been well over 90 years old - making him very likely the only apostle to survive to old age. All the rest were martyred much earlier, but John may be the only apostle who escaped a violent death. John on Patmos: Whilst on the island the apostle John was given to write the Apocalypse. This is why Patmos is sometimes called "The Jerusalem of the Aegean". The Monastery of St. Johns towers above the capital, Chora, and the whole island bathes in a spirit of faith and devotion.
Apocalypse is derived from the Greek word apokalypsis. Although it's often used to describe a great devastation or cataclysm, the literal meaning of apocalypse is actually an unveiling, or revealing. Hence the word revelation, from which the Book Of Revelation (or, perhaps more accurately, revelations, since it reveals many things) gets its name. The island was practically deserted during Byzantine years and was given to a monk named Christodoulos in 1088, and he started planning the monastery dedicated to the name of St John of patmos.
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"I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day [see The Lord's Day], and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos [see Pergamum], and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." (Revelation 1:9-11 KJV)
