Church of John the Theologian on Patmos Island

Patmos Island is a small rocky island on the Katun River in the village of Chemal, Chemalsky District, Altai Republic. It holds a wooden church of the John the Theologian skete, attached to the Znamensky Convent in Barnaul. A suspension footbridge across the Katun, hung about 15 meters above the water, leads onto the island.

History

According to legend, the island got its name from hermit monks who settled in its rock caves as early as the 17th century. In 1855 the island was consecrated by Parthenius, bishop of the Tomsk diocese. In 1915 a small wooden church was built on the island, but it burned down in the 1920s.

For a long time the island stood empty. Restoration of the skete began in the 1990s: at his own expense, Viktor Pavlov built a suspension bridge to the island and a new wooden church that repeats the look of the earlier one. The church was consecrated on Christmas 2001 in honor of the Apostle John the Theologian.

Legends and stories

Several traditions are tied to the island. According to one, the Apostle John the Theologian once had a vision of two churches at opposite ends of the world. According to another, a painter who had depicted the wooden church on canvas supposedly burned the church himself so that its image would survive only in the painting.

On the rock beside the church there is a bas-relief of the Mother of God with the infant Christ: by one account, an image of the Virgin appearing on the rock without human hand was seen here. There is also a tradition that the icon of the Mother of God on the island renews and brightens itself, and that the icon "Christ Pantocrator" myrrh-streamed during the restoration of another old icon.

What to see

The wooden church on the island is small, about 20 square meters. A candle shop operates next to it. Besides the bas-relief of the Mother of God, the rocks hold a small grotto depicting the Star of Bethlehem and the Magi. Nearby, on the bank of the Katun, stands the Chemal hydroelectric station, the first hydroelectric plant in the Altai Mountains, decommissioned in 2011.

Getting there

Patmos Island lies by the village of Chemal, reachable by car or bus along the Chuysky Trakt. From the village, a path along the Katun's bank leads about a kilometer to the suspension bridge onto the island. Entry to the island and the church is free.