Patmos
A voice speaks in the silence of John's soul, which is mightier than the voice of any cruel overseer driving men to work in the quarries. Here, in about the year 96, came a Roman galley with a boatload of prisoners. Roman guards herded them ashore and turned them over as slave labor to the quarry foreman on Patmos. Many of these people were Christians from Asia minor who had refused to worship the Emperor Domitian as a god and had therefore been condemned to exile on Patmos. Rather than compromise with Emperor worship, the faithful, including John, had preferred banishment in the quarries of Patmos. John lived in a cave, where he was supposed to have had his visions. Certainly there must have been many visitors.
The isle of Patmos was the location of Saint John's exile. It is in the Aegean Sea, about 60 miles SW of Ephesus and about 150 miles east of Athens and due west of Miletus. It is 10 miles long, 6 miles wide, treeless and rocky. It was used as a rock quarry and an ideal place of confinement of political prisoners. It is possible that John labored in the rock quarries alongside of the rogues and slaves of the empire. Or it may be that he was given a certain degree of respect in his old age and reputation and not confined to hard labor.
[338, 353, 359, 343, 377]
