Patmos

Patmos is a small, rocky, and largely barren island in the Aegean Sea, part of the Dodecanese group known in antiquity as the Sporades, located approximately 37 miles southwest of Miletus off the coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Its rugged terrain and relative isolation made it a location used by Roman authorities for the banishment of political prisoners and troublemakers.

Patmos holds singular significance in Christian history as the place where the apostle John received the visions recorded in the book of Revelation. John states in Revelation 1:9 that he was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ — indicating he had been exiled there on account of his Christian witness, most likely during the reign of the emperor Domitian (c. AD 95). On the island, on the Lord's day, he heard a voice like a trumpet and received the apocalyptic visions addressed to the seven churches of Asia and concerning the ultimate triumph of God. A cave on the island, traditionally called the Cave of the Apocalypse, is venerated as the site of John's vision.