Cycle of John in the Monastery of John on Patmos

Images: Patmos Monastery; black and white images in Papatheophanous-Tsouri (2004); full cycle in color in Anthusi Monachēs (2000); select color images in Grillis (2015)

Clavis number: ECMA 111

Other descriptors: none

Location and accession numbers: the main church of the Monastery of John, Patmos

Category: frescoes

Related literature: Acts of John by Prochorus

Featured characters and locations: Domnus, Ephesus, Jerusalem, John (son of Zebedee), Kynops, Patmos, Peter (apostle), Prochorus (disciple of John), Romana.

1. DESCRIPTION

Material: paint on stone

Size: not provided

Images: the ten frescoes spread from the arch of the east and along the north and south walls. The first and second scenes take place in Jerusalem; the third, fourth and fifth in Ephesus; the sixth is the journey into exile on Patmos; the seventh, eighth and ninth take place on Patmos; and the tenth in Ephesus.

Provenance: likely a product of Emmanuel Skordilis who lived and worked on the island in the 17th century

Date: 17th cent.

Fig. 1: John and Peter meet a lame man at Solomon’s Portico (Acts 3:1–10). Source: Anthusi Monachēs.

Fig. 2: The apostles draw lots for their missionary journeys; Peter comforts John (Acts John Proch. 1–5). Source: Anthusi Monachēs.

Fig. 3: Prochorus reunites with John in Ephesus (Acts John Proch. 12–13). Inscription: Η ΜΕΤΑ ΤΟ ΝΑΥΑΓΙΟΝ ΕΞΕΛΕΥCιC EIC ΕΦΕCΟΝ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΟΥ. Source: Anthusi Monachēs.

Fig. 4: John and Prochorus meet Romana, ruler of the bathhouse (Acts John Proch. 14–15). Inscription: ΙΩΑΝΝΗC Ο EΓΚAYCTHC ΚΑΙ ΠΡΟΧΟΡΟC Ο ΠΕΡΙΧΥΤΗC ΟΜΟΛΟΓΟΥΝ ΟTI EICIN ΔΟΥΛΟΙ THC ΡΩΜΑΝΑC. Source: Anthusi Monachēs.

Fig. 5: John resurrects Domnus, the son of the bathhouse owner (Acts John Proch. 26–31). Source: Anthusi Monachēs.

Fig. 6: John and Prochorus rescue a soldier on their journey to Patmos (Acts John Proch. 69–72). Source: Grillis.

Fig. 7: (left) the magician Kynops sends two demons to John and Prochorus (Acts John Proch. 141–42); (right) the priests of Apollo beg the magician Kynops to kill John (Acts John Proch. 134–36). Source: Patmos Monastery.

Fig. 8: The magician Kynops raises a dead soldier from his watery grave (Acts John Proch. 146–47). Source: Daimonologia

Fig. 9: Kynops sinks into the sea; John and Prochorus (left) and the crowds (right) look on (Acts John Proch. 154–56). Source: Patmos Monastery.

Fig. 10: (top) the Metastasis of John attended by two angels; (bottom) John is buried alive by two disciples (Acts John Proch. 238–40). Source: Anthusi Monachēs.

2. RELATION TO APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE

Nine of the ten images are drawn from the Acts of John by Prochorus (see the descriptions above). The remaining image is from the canonical book of Acts. For the complete stories see the translation by Janet E. Spittler in New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, Vol. 3 (ed. Tony Burke; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), 262–361.

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anthusi Monachēs. Ὁ ἅγιος Ιωάννης ὁ Θεολόγος κατὰ τὴν ἀφήγηση τοῦ διακόνου Προχόρου. Athens: Eptalofos, 2000 (transcription of the Acts of John by Prochorus with color images of the cycle).

Grillis, Margarita, trans., Acts of John, According to Prochorus: An Apocryphal Account of His Journeys, Miracles and Death. Self-published, 2015 (English translation of Anthusi’s edition with select color images of the cycle).

Papatheophanous-Tsouri, Evangelia. “Οι τοιχογραφίες του εξωνάρθηκα του καθολικού της Μονής Αγίου Ιωάννου Θεολόγου Πάτμου.” Pages 435–47 in volume 2 of Χάρις Χαίρε, Μελέτες στη Μνήμη της Χάρης Κάτζια. Edited by A. Giannikoure, A. Zervoudke, Ho. Kollias, and E. Papachristodoulou. Athens: Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Institute of Aegean Studies, 2004 (study and description of the cycle, with black and white images).

4. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

“Monastery of Saint John the Theologian.” Wikipedia.

“Monastery of St. John the Theologian, Patmos, Greece.” Google Arts & Culture.

“When St. John the Theologian Faced the Magician Kynops on the Island of Patmos.” Daimonologia. Posted 27 Sept. 2016. Online: https://www.daimonologia.org/2016/09/when-st-john-theologian-faced-magician.html.

Entry created by Tony Burke, York University with the assistance of Ioannes Melianos (librarian of the Monastery of John, Patmos) and Janet E. Spittler, 19 August 2021.