Which St John? – John the Divine, of Patmos
This Sunday (9th June 2019), Pentecost, we will have a poll to see which St John feels like the inspiration for us, St John’s, for the coming years. Which saint’s story resonates with us, calls to us, inspires us, guides us as a community into the future God is calling us into? Each day this week we will revisit one of the five Saints John we have learned about this Easter season.
Option 4
John the Divine, of Patmos, is the writer of the book of Revelation, the final book in the New Testament. John was exiled to the island of Patmos during a time of persecution by Roman emperor Domitian. Revelation 1:9 states: “I, John, both your brother and companion in tribulation … was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Adela Yarbro Collins, a biblical scholar at Yale Divinity School, writes:
Early tradition says that John was banished to Patmos by the Roman authorities. This tradition is credible because banishment was a common punishment used during the Imperial period for a number of offences. Among such offences were the practices of magic and astrology. Prophecy was viewed by the Romans as belonging to the same category, whether Pagan, Jewish, or Christian. Prophecy with political implications, like that expressed by John in the book of Revelation, would have been perceived as a threat to Roman political power and order. Three of the islands in the Sporades were places where political offenders were banished. (Pliny, Natural History 4.69–70; Tacitus, Annals 4.30)
The book of Revelation is full of images that are difficult to understand today, but at the time would have been recognisable to many as describing the political situation of the day, insisting that the one true God, made known in Jesus Christ and still seen in his church, was superior to the Roman Empire, and indeed would overpower the Empire. Revelation calls for our allegiance to be unswerving to God’s kingdom, and not to any human or earthly empire. This sort of prophecy was very threatening to the rulers of the day, so it is not surprising that John would have been banished for preaching in this way.
According to Tertullian, John was banished only after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it. It is said that all in the audience of Colosseum were converted to Christianity upon witnessing this miracle. While living on Patmos, John wrote the book we now know as Revelation, for it revealed to those who had eyes to see and ears to hear how the Empire would fall before God’s power and grace.
