Some time ago I purchased a small religious icon at a Greek festival in Irvine, California, which now hangs on my office wall. It is an icon of Christos Pantocrator—a picture of “Christ the Ruler of Everything.” Being Protestant, I did not purchase it as an aid to my worship of God, which is how icons are used in the Eastern Orthodox churches. Rather, I purchased it for its beauty, for its serene depiction of Christ’s authority, and for the location at which it was painted: Patmos.

 

Patmos is a small, rocky island in the Aegean Sea, ten miles long and six wide, located thirty-seven miles southwest of the port city of Miletus, itself not far from Ephesus. It was there, according to Revelation 1:9, that John received his apocalyptic vision. He also may have written Revelation there, although the text does not say. What it says is this: “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”

 

Some commentators think that John had sailed to Patmos for the purpose of evangelism. That seems to be how he uses the phrase “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” in 1:2, as something to bear witness to. Most, however, following church tradition, insist that John had been exiled to Patmos on account of his evangelistic activity elsewhere. In 6:9 and 20:4, when John refers to “word” and “testimony,” the context is one of persecution. Christians had been martyred for their faithfulness to God’s Word. Such persecution, it seems, had touched John himself. Why else would he have mentioned the fraternity of tribulation, kingdom, and endurance to which he belonged?

 

So, the provenance of John’s vision is Patmos. Its destination, however, is Roman Asia (modern-day western Turkey), specifically, seven churches there: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (1:11). Concerning this region, G.R. Beasley comments: “It is imperative to bear in mind that the churches for which Revelation was written were situated in the province of Roman Asia and that the emperor cult (i.e., the worship of the emperor) was enthusiastically adopted in that area, possibly more than elsewhere in the Roman Empire.”[i] Because she confessed Jesus Christ as Lord (Rom. 10:9, 1 Cor. 12:3, Phil. 2:11), the church refused to worship the genius of Caesar, as the emperor cult demanded. Persecution resulted, such as the martyrdom of Antipas in Pergamum (2:13).

 

From Patmos, John foresaw that many would follow in Antipas’s steps in the days to come.

 

And that explains why I purchased an icon painted on Patmos. In the midst of difficult times, when our faith is being tried—and for some Christians in the world, it is being tried to the point of death[ii]—we must keep in mind Christos Pantocrator, “Christ the Ruler of Everything.” John saw persecution from Patmos. He also saw glory. Appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, he teaches us, Caesar does not rule the world. Christ does, along with all who, putting their faith in him, bear witness to “the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”

 

 

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