THE SACRED CAVEThe holy cave is halfway between the hill of Skala and Chora and it is a link between material and spirit. As you go down the forty-three steps, it is as if you pass from the past and you are heading towards the future. The past being that you feel the presence of St. John the Evangelist, who wrote the book of Revelations, and how he foresees the future, and his revelations about Patmos. The view of the rock, the mysticism in the atmosphere, fills you with awe. St. Christodoulos restored the grotto, when he came to Patmos. The pilgrims nowadays, are able to see the place where the book of the Revelation was written, the niche where the Evangelist used to lean his head, to relax his body. A smaller niche, in which he put his hand in so as to lift himself up and the crack, which was caused by the voice of God, when he dictated the book of the Revelation. For the needs of praying, the south part of the cave was turned into a church. THE PATMIADA SCHOOL The founding of the Patmiada School General School of the Nation was the most important event in the history of Patmos of the 18th century. With Constantinople as it`s center, the scholars of the nation, where educating teachers who were to be sent to different parts of the enslaved Greece, to open schools of the Greek studies, in order to awake the desire of liberation. One of those enthusiastic and full of faith teachers was the founder of the Patmiada School, the Patmian Makarios Kaloyeras.Makarios studied theology and philosophy in the Patriarchal school of Constantinople. He was also supported by eminent families such as the Mavrokordatos family, the Ipsilandis family and the archbishop of Nikomedia, who designated him, as his successor. However, since Makarios loved to teach, he returned to Patmos in 1713 and created the School near the cave of the Apocalypse.His advisors and supporters were the scholars of the nation and Emmanuel Ipsilandis who helped him with means too, to finish his work. He built a few cells for himself and for his few students. The school`s fame started spreading and very quickly, there were students coming from Peloponnese, Athens, Bucharest, Asia Minor, and Russia.The arrival of so many students, made Emmanuel Ipsilandis to build more cells. At the beginning, Makarios was teaching alone, but soon his advanced students were helping him out. A friend and fellow worker was his student Jerome the Byzantine, who continued the work in 1737, when Makarios passed away. The progress of the Patmiada School was very difficult in the following years. From 1902, it began to function as an ecclesiastical school and in 1907; it was transferred to Samos because of financial difficulties. The school in Samos was successful for only a few years and afterwards, it was closed down. Its activity continued after the liberation of the island in 1947 and it was rebuilt on our island a few meters above its old location. ΙΕΡΟ ΣΠΗΛΑΙΟ Το Ιερό Σπήλαιο ευρίσκεται στη μέση του λόφου μεταξύ Σκάλας και Χώρας και αποτελεί τη σύνδεση της ύλης με το πνεύμα. Κατεβαίνοντας σαράντα τρία σκαλοπάτια περνάς από το παρελθόν στο μέλλον. Στο παρελθόν νοιώθοντας την παρουσία του Αγίου Ιωάννη του Ευαγγελιστή που εκεί μέσα έγραψε την Αποκάλυψη και στο μέλλον γιατί το βιβλίο Αποκάλυψη φωτογραφίζει και προδιαγράφει το μέλλον. Η θέα του βράχου, ο μυστικισμός που διαχέεται στην ατμόσφαιρα, προκαλούν δέος . Το Σπήλαιο ανακαινίσθηκε από τον Όσιο Χριστόδουλο, όταν ήλθε στην Πάτμο. Σήμερα ο προσκυνητής μπορεί να δει το σημείο που γράφτηκε η Αποκάλυψη, τον τόπο κατακλίσεως του Ιωάννη, τον πελώριο βράχο, που σχίστηκε και από εκεί ο Θεός υπαγόρευσε την Αποκάλυψη στον Ιωάννη, το σημείο στο οποίο ο Ευαγγελιστής ακουμπούσε το κεφάλι του για να ξεκουραστεί και ένα κοίλωμα στον βράχο από όπου πιανόταν για να σηκωθεί. Για τις ανάγκες της λατρείας των πιστών το νότιο τμήμα του Σπηλαίου έχει μετατραπεί σε Ναό.