Cave of the Apocalypse

About halfway up to the Monastery of St. John on Patmos is the Cave of the Apocalypse. This sacred grotto is believed to mark the spot where St. John received his visions from Christ that he recorded in the Book of Revelation.

St. John the Theologian, commonly identified with the Apostle John, was exiled on Patmos around 95 AD and received revelations from God by means of a voice from a cleft in the rock.

It is thought by some scholars that John was from Ephesus, which is a short boat ride from Patmos and which received the first of the letters addressed to the Seven Churches of Revelation.

A sanctuary and the Monastery of the Apocalypse were later built around the cave that tradition identified as the site of John's visions.

The cave entrance is marked with a mosaic portraying the visions of John and inside the small grotto, you can see the nightly resting place of John's head, fenced off and outlined in beaten silver.

Available here is a brochure written by Archimandrite Koutsanellos, Superior of the Cave, which provides an excellent description of the religious significance of each niche in the rocks, as well as the many icons in the cave.