Monday, June 28, 2010

Turkey Day 8 Patmos

We spent hours on a boat on our way to Patmos. This is a small island about four and a half hours away from the city of Ephesus. Patmos is the island that St. John was exiled to in 95 A.D. when a new emperor took the throne in Rome who was very anti-Christian. It was on Patmos that John received the book we now call Revelation. We were able to go the cave where John received and dictated this book of the Bible. It is hard to describe the power of being a place where Jesus’ beloved disciple prayed regularly and also received from the Lord scripture. Pictures are not allowed in the cave, which makes total sense.

From there we went to a monastery started in the 11th century named after St. John. The monastery is still active with 15 Greek Orthodox brothers living and worshiping there. We toured the museum and the church before having lunch and then heading back for another 4.5-hour boat ride to Turkey.

Having studied taught and preached from Revelation it was a very special day for me. Most of the day was spent at sea but I am so thankful for this opportunity.

For some photos my Dad took of the monastery grounds and the city click here.

No comments: