John of Patmos | |
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 Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos byHieronymus Bosch, 1505 | |
| Venerated in | |
| Major works | Book of Revelation |
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| John in the Bible |
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| Johannine literature |
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John of Patmos (also calledJohn the Revelator,John the Divine,John the Theologian;Ancient Greek:Ἰωάννης ὁ Θεολόγος,romanized: Iōannēs ho Theologos) is the name traditionally given to the author of theBook of Revelation.Revelation 1:9 states that John was onPatmos,[1] an Aegean island off the coast ofRoman Asia, where according to some biblical historians, he wasexiled as a result ofanti-Christian persecution under the Roman emperorDomitian.[2][3]
Christian tradition has considered the Book of Revelation's writer to be the same person asJohn the Apostle, though some Christian scholars since medieval times have separated the disciple from the writer of Revelation.[4][5] A minority of ancient clerics and scholars, such asEusebius (d. 339/340), recognize at least one further John as a companion ofJesus,John the Presbyter.
John is considered to have been exiled toPatmos during a time of persecution under the Roman rule ofDomitian in the late 1st century.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 atYale 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 offenses. Among such offenses 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 theSporades were places where political offenders were banished. (Pliny,Natural History 4.69–70; Tacitus,Annals 4.30)[6]
According toTertullian (inThe Prescription of Heretics) John was banished after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it.[7]
The author of theBook of Revelation identifies himself only as "John".[8] Traditionally, this was often believed to be the same person as John the Apostle (John, son of Zebedee), one of the apostles of Jesus, to whom the Gospel of John was also attributed.[8] The early-2nd-century writerJustin Martyr was the first to equate the author of Revelation withJohn the Evangelist.[9][citation needed]
Other early Christian writers, such asDionysius of Alexandria andEusebius of Caesarea, noting the differences in language and theological outlook between this work and the Gospel,[10] discounted this possibility, and argued for the exclusion of the Book of Revelation from the canon as a result.[11] The early Christian writerPapias appeared in his writings to distinguish between John the Evangelist andJohn the Elder,[12] and many biblical scholars now contend that the latter was the author of Revelation.[13][14][15] The majority view of modern scholarship is that the author of the Book of Revelation is not the same person as John the Apostle or John the Evangelist.[16][17][18]
Quotations related toJohn of Patmos at Wikiquote