I photographed this mosaic on the end wall of a chapel that stands by the harbour of Skala, Patmos's main town, which illustrates a local legend concerning St John the Divine. The story goes that when he arrived on the island the saint found that there was a wicked wizard, a follower of the devil, already living there who challenged him to a trial of spiritual strength claiming that he (the wizard) under Satan's protection could dive into the sea, retrieve the bodies of drowned sailors and bring them back to life. St John asked him for a demonstration of his powers and the wizard duly threw himself into the water whereupon St John prayed for assistance and God intervened cutting off the Devil's powers causing the wizard to drown and turn into a rocky outcrop in the harbour.There is indeed a rocky outcrop in the harbour and is marked with a buoy as it constitutes a hazard to larger vessels.
The mosaic shows the wizard drowning (bottom left), St John twice (Bottom right and top centre, praying with another saint) while the Devil (Centre) waves his arms about ineffectually as the hand of God appears in the sky (Very small, just right of top centre). For those with very good eyesight and a knowledge of Greek, across the top there is the inscription 'The miracle of St John the Divine'.
Mosaic of St. John, Monastery of St. John, Patmos, Dodecanese, Greek Islands, Greece, Europe
Photographic Print
Beatty, David
18 in. x 24 in.
Buy at AllPosters.com
Framed Mounted
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