4 June 2015

Monastery of St. John the Theologian

In 1088 in Patmos, St. Christodoulos the Latrinos , a gifted and educated monk from Bithynia, was granted funds by Imperial Decree (Chrysovoula /Golden Seal) by the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, to establish a monastery in honor of St. John the Theologian. Thus, the fate and future course of the island was set.

Built on top of Chora, the monastery dominates the whole island and reminds Byzantine castle. Archaeological findings indicate that it was built on the site of an ancient temple of Godness Artemis and of an early Christian basilica. It is surrounded by an irregular rectangular defensive enclosure dating from the late 11th century until the 17th. Its Catholic, bank and cells have been preserved since the Byzantine period.

In the 11th century the Catholic was rebuilt and in the 12th century the chapels of the Virgin Mary and St. Christodoulos were added. In the chapel of Virgin Mary, on the south side of the Catholic, the paintings are dated back to the last decades of the 12th century, while at the same time the bank of the monastery, which is located on the northeast corner of the ledger, was painted.

The cells are lined up on the south side of the fortification. In the monastery there are also chapels of the post-Byzantine time: those of St. Vasilios, St. Nicholaos, Timios Stavros, the Baptist, of Sts Apostles (1603). Two smaller chapels are located outside the precincts of the monastery: St. George and St. Onoufrios (1611).

The Monastery Library and the rich collection of relics is considered really famous, the most important examples of which can be admired in the sacristy , which contains works of unparalleled worth, liturgical objects and precious utensils with artistic and educational value and importance as well as antiquities of the classic and the early Christian period.
For more information please visit the link: www.patmosmonastery.gr

For the digital representation of the monastery you can visit the site:
https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/u/0/collection/patmos-monastery?projectId=art-project