Biblical Islands
Actually, there are very few. Biblical islands, that is. The
Bible likes mountains, rivers, and deserts, but
makes few references to islands. As it happens, the Hebrew word for “coastland”
appears to be the same as for “island,” which suggests that the ancient Israelites
were not sailors, or even beach-goers. Many biblical passages suggest that they were afraid of the ocean. Does the Bible say
anything about an Israelite navy? No wonder they had no interest in islands.
While I was attending
Oberlin College I attended a service at St. James Church in Cleveland where
there was to be a guest preacher from Southeast Asia. The preacher turned out
to be an English missionary whose broad shoulders and intense “five o’clock
shadow” of a beard gave him an appearance more like a stevedore than a priest.
This impression was offset, however, by the transparent lace surplice he wore
for the service, sort of like Popeye modeling a nightgown for a Victoria Secret
catalogue. The contrast became truly startling, however, when he began his
sermon by crying out (from Psalm 72:10) “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles
shall pay tribute, *and the kings of Arabia and Saba shall offer gifts” in such
a squeaky little high-pitched voice everyone present flinched in pain! For a
moment, we all thought he was doing it as a joke, something unexpected to get
our attention… but no, he preached the entire sermon in a voice that sounded
like Alvin and the chipmunks.
The point of that sermon was that he was a missionary on the
island of Saba, which is one of the few islands mentioned in the Bible, and of
no other consequence than that.
Other than a few more passing references in the Hebrew
Scriptures and in Acts, the most
significant biblical island is the Isle of Patmos, where the Book of Revelation was composed. A quick reference to Wikipedia confirms my recollection that Patmos, one of the
multitude of Aegean islands, was used as a penal colony by the Romans,
particularly for the confinement of political prisoners. The island itself does
not appear anywhere in the narrative, however, except to say, in Revelation 16:20, that “every island
fled away” when the seventh angel poured out his bowl of wrath.
There is a fine monastery on Patmos, established in 1088 by
a fellow named Christodoulos, known to the Orthodox Church as “The
Wonderworker.”
Patmos
John the Revelator did not choose his island as a location
for his epiphanies, he was (most likely) sent there, as a punishment for crimes
against the state. Christadoulos , on the other hand, did choose Patmos
voluntarily, presumably because he wanted to locate himself on the same
trajectory as where the Revelator had been revelated to, as it were.
It is in that same spirit that I will make my way to Holy Island.
So what if the Bible isn’t interested in islands? I will take Christadoulos as
my patron, and having located myself in a place with water on all four sides,
wait to see what happens.
Abba
Jonathan says: “An island you seek? To Coney Island
I once went. Or was that a hot
dog?
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