The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-21

rbere are no sidewalks in the streets.
 which again, like the roadway, are
 mayed with slabs of stone. No horses
 or wagons. or traffic of any kind, with
 the exception of the trains of pack-don-
 keys ever pass through. Flights or
 stone steps in various places leao up, ward from one tier to another untii
 finally a second massive gateway IS | reached which marks the entrance 70 the main courtyard of the monastery The dwelling ouses are white and | clean; in most cases lace curtains hang | behind the small square windows. The pavements of the streets suggest that
 they have been washed and dried only l this morning. Th. inhabitants, attired | in their strange costumes, move here
 and there about their daily concerns | without either haste or confusion. The older people sit on the flights of stone steps in the warm sunshine.
 The exact date at which the earlier parts of the monastery were first con- structed Is still matter of conjecture, but according to the conditions of life which existed in those far off days 1t had ben built with the purpose of providing a refuge for the people in
 times of war as we'll as retreat for the pious in times of peace. Huge stone battlements completely sur round the courtyard and the little chapel, with battlements within battle ments and corridors and hidden pas- sage-ways leading up to the different points of vantage behind the parapets. The monastery stands. a massive forti- fcation, enclosing the church on the hilltop.
 The cave itself is situated a short
 distance down the northern slope of the hill from the city wall. In the present | day a small chapel stands above the en- trance. You are informed that the
 chapel is of recent construction. but this word recent" Is applied after the | manner in which periods of time are
 counted by the inhabitants of the
 island. The informant probably means | that 1t was built after the death of St John. In appearance the chapel looks | to be as old as the rock itself. | From a door in the interior of the chapel crooked. twisted stairway of | stone dips downward abruptly into the earth. This stairway is comparatively dark illuminated merely by a soft oi
 meagre light from the open door of the chapel above. At the end of the first | flight of steps you are given candle advised to move with caution over the
 slippery stones.
 The cave lies at the bottom of the
 second flight. It is divided into two compartments, the main body of the cave, where the shrine still stands, and
 a natural alcove in the rear in which
 1t is said. St. John spent most of his | time. working and praying during the 1 day and sleeping there at night. In the solid rock of the wall, close down | to the flooring of the alcove, Is a | smooth round hole which was used by St. John for pillow, and directly above this. seen when the light is raised, is d long Assure running diagonally across the ceiling. Through this fis.
 sure the spirit descended and inspired the Revelation"
 All this, however, belongs to the his. | tory of nearly two thousand years ago Since then. in better known parts oi
 the world. cathedrals have been built
 and dedicated in the name of the Saint who lived and worked in the cave oi Patmos, where still today, as ever be fore, a single candle burns perpetuallJ
 in front of the ancient shrine. Struc. | lures like tho church of St. John Lat
 eran in Rome or the far larger Pro.
 testant Cathedral of St. John the Divine rising stone by stone on Morningsidt Heights in this city are works fai beyond the resources of the simple fish. | ermen of Patmos, but to the English 1 Church and to the Epispocal Church
 of America, which is It's lineal descend ant, the island cave and the chapel | over 1t must always be objects of spe- cial Interest. It was by disciples of St John that the Southern province of what is now France was converted to Christianity and 1t was from these provinces that the missionaries came
 to spread tho Gospel In England. The
 great Cathedral of St. John in New
 York is bound to the little Patmos chapel by link nineteen centuries
 long.