Day 14

Bob’s Sabbatical

Day 14, September 13, 2009

 

Today is Patmos day.  Wake-up at 4:4 am, and boat is pulling away
from the dock at 6:30 am.  A four-hour
ride ahead of us, supposedly.  It took 5
hours.  There was rain early, but also a
rainbow.  We had our Sunday celebration
of the Eucharist while at sea (I figure it was at about 8:00 pm Central Time,
Saturday night for you!)  Clear and nice
by the time we get to Patmos.  How very
different from Turkey. Typical Greek (I assume, since this is the first time I
have ever set foot in Greece) island. 
White houses, beautiful ocean color, etc.  There are only 3,000 residents, most of whom
depend on tourism.  The port town, Skala
is the largest.  The island is divided by
an isthmus at the port.  Most of the
northern part of Patmos is uninhabited.

Patmos is the island where St.
John was exiled to for about 18 months when he was about 65 years old.  While there he had little to do but pray and
think, since he was too old to work. 
Tradition has it that he prayed in a cave, one time for 10 days straight
and that is where he had his vision/experience which led to his writing what is
now the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation.   It is “apocalyptic” writing, meaning that it
seeks to “pull away a veil” or open a door to deeper understanding of the end
times.  It is highly symbolic
writing.  As Steve said to us today, it
has been one of the, “most used and abused books of the Bible.”  People continue to try to use the signs,
symbols and numbers in it to predict all kinds of things.

 
We go to two very different monasteries, both built about the same time
(late 11^th Century) by two different orders of Greek Orthodox
monks.  The first and smaller is the
Monastery of the Apocolypse, built as part of the entrance to a cave, said to
be the one John prayed in.  The second,
at the top of the hill, is the Sanctuary of St. John the Divine.  It was built as a fortified Monastery, and a
town grew up around it, which is now the capital of Patmos, Chora.  Both are very ornate, typical Orthodox
structures with icons, candles, etc.

Due to our late arrival, we had
a quick lunch and got back on the boat. 
There was a problem with one of the engines, and we ended up being towed
for almost an hour by a sister-ship to our boat.  They apparently had called for help on the
way over.  The link between the two boats
were ropes tied to a used tire.  Our
engineer got the engine going again, and after another 5 ½ hours, we returned
at dusk to Kusadasi.

It was quite a day.  We had rain, rainbows, sun, choppy seas,
Eucharist at sea, the beautiful island of Patmos, two beautiful monasteries,
good lunch, no shopping breaks J, and a one-hour tow. 
We left before sun-up, and returned after sun-down.   If I am ever exiled, please send me to Patmos.