Patmos of the Apocalypse

There was once a troublesome man named John who was kicked out of the beautiful city of Ephesus.

The Ephesians kicked John out because he was so troublesome and he kept bothering them about worshipping Diana/Artemis.

John said he had a better god for them to worship.  He said his god was better.

He made the Ephesians feel bad.

When the Ephesians kicked him out, John went to live in a dark cave on the small island of Patmos in Greece.

John was Jesus’ disciple, and writer of the famous gospel.

Or he was another christian believer named John.

Or he was just another crazy man named John.

John was so p.o’d at the Ephesians for kicking him out of their city, he wrote a doomsday novel condemning them to hell for being so mean to him.

Or the voice of God spoke to John from three fissures in the cave, dictating the Book of Revelations to him.

Or John heard voices because he was a delusional schizophrenic.

No one knows the full story, but the Greeks are fully onboard with the holy version of events and have built a beautiful church on the summit of their hora, or old town — one of the most beautiful horas in Greece — to commemorate the event.

There hasn’t been much scholarship on the Book of the Apocalypse, because, I think, John used so much symbolism, no one can figure out what he was writing about.  No one even knows who this John really was.  What we do know is that here, in Patmos, John breathed life into the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Life nearly left me, just trying to get here. It’s all in the journey, right?

My journey to Patmos started at 5:00 am when I boarded a ferry from Fourni to the port city of Karlovassi on the island of Samos.  Once in Karlovassi, it took me two hours to figure out that I needed to take a bus from the port to the city center.  From the city center, I got on another bus to Vathy, the capital of Samos.  Once in Vathy, I boarded another bus to the port town of Pythagoreio. Then a four hour wait in Pythagoreio before boarding an ancient ferry boat to Patmos.  Somebody please shoot me if I ever pack so much again.

I only spent three nights in Patmos, the shortest amount of time I’ve ever spent on any island; mostly because I’m working on a personal photographic project while in Greece, and Patmos didn’t have much of what I most love to photograph:  Greeks on the beach or in the water, caught  in a moment.

I’d show you John’s cave, but they wouldn’t allow pictures.  I’ll never forget the sight of a hundred American passengers from a Princess Cruise ship filing past John’s holy place in under 5 minutes.

© 2010 – 2011, Ithaka Bound. All rights reserved.

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