John of Patmos
:''For John the apostle of Jesus, see
John the Apostle.:''For the author of the
Gospel, see
John the Evangelist.
John of Patmos is the name given to the author of the
Book of Revelation (or Book of the
Apocalypse) in the
New Testament. According to the text of Revelation, the author, who gives his name as "John", is living in exile on the Greek island of
Patmos. In Revelation, he writes to the
seven Christian churches in Asia to relate two apocalytic visions he has had. John of Patmos is often referred to as
John the Divine, in reference to the
divination he received which constitutes Revelation. Indeed, the full title of the Book of Revelation is
The apocalypse of Saint John the Divine, with
apocalypse simply being a Greek word for
revelation, and
Divine an old usage meaning
one who has had a revelation. He is also known as the
Eagle of Patmos and
John the Seer. Several
Christian denominations regard him as a
prophet and a
saint.
Traditionally, it has been believed that John of Patmos, the author of Revelation, was the same person as both
John, the apostle of Jesus and
John the Evangelist, author of the
Gospel of John.
Justin Martyr, writing in the early 2nd century was the first to equate the author of Revelation with John the apostle.
[Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 81.4] Others contend that they were separate individuals.
John the Presbyter, teacher of
Papias, bishop of Hieropolis in the early 2nd century, is often conflated with John of Patmos or with the Apostle. The church historian
Eusebius of Caesaria and
Dionysius of Alexandria both identified the John in Revelation as John the Presbyter. However, since John was a common name among early Christians it cannot be ruled out that John of Patmos was a John distinct from John the evangelist, John the apostle and John the author of the Johannine epistles.
*
Authorship of the Johannine works*
Revelation - Authorship*
John the Revelator 
