Hermitages or “kathismata”, as they are called in Patmos, are found throughout the island: Some of the earliest are situated around the Apocalypse, next to the Holy Monastery (Agioi Asomatoi), in the Gardens of Saint Christodoulos (Agioi Anargyroi – Holy Unmercenaries), in Evagelistria, in Petra, in Loukakia, on Profitis Elias, on Chiliomodi islet, in Pigi Geranou. Some of the most recent ones are gathered on the northern part of the island (Panagia Koumana, Apollou in Thermia etc).
They were founded by monks in caves, next to which they built later a cell or a small chapel, and most of the time they were dependent on the Holy Monastery. The earliest one is located in Petra, on the rock called Kallikatsou. At the “kathisma” of Apollou or Apollo (Apollo was a person from the New Testament, fiery preacher of the Gospel), the irregularity is that outside the wall there was a windmill and a threshing floor, while in the inner bailey, where today there is also a well, one of the hot springs of the area came out. Today several of them are restored and the auxiliary buildings next to them have been expanded.
Most of the kathismata are locked. Ask for information at the secretariat of the Holy Monastery on the tel. number: 22470 20800)