This castle is on Patmos. It is the monastery that was built by the ascetic St.Christodoulos, to whom the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, by a golden bull, granted the island in 1088. The castle is interesting in many ways, and the visitors come to see it by the thousands.On the road that leads from Scala to Hora, somewhere in the middle, there is a cave where, according to tradition, John the Evangelist received of the Lord and wrote the contents of the last book of the New Testament. The island has plenty of Christian monuments and sacred relics, and its natural beauties are magnets that draw tourists for vacation. We, however, stop at what happened here more than nineteen centuries ago. That is, the Apostle John's exile and the Lord's glorious visit to him with the invaluable gift for all Christians, the Apocalypse!

This is one of the most beautiful and biggest artificial lakes of Greece. We will find it high up in the mountains, at an altitude of about 800 meters from sea level. It covers an area of 25,000 stremmata (1 stremma=1,000 square meters). The River Megdova (or Tavropos) flowed through a basin, and other streams and creeks joined as tributaries. In the deepest part of the plateau a small lake was formed by the passage of time. Nicholas Plastiras, one of Greece's twentieth century Prime Ministers, was from that part of the country, Karditsa in particular. One day he was up there and stood at a place called Kakavakia. Looking down toward the plain of Thessaly, he envisoned a big artificial lake there which would water and irrigate a great part of the plain. His dream took decades to materialize, due to many reasons, one being the breaking out of World War II in the meantime. So the Dam was constructed and the work completed, in 1959, under another government. The lake changed the scenery completely and contributed largely to the cultural and economical development of the area. Thousands visit it the year round and all leave with the dream of coming back soon. We gave this photo a place here to make it a live witness to the wisdom and greatness of God. Enjoy the beautiful sight of the Plastiras Lake, and give God the glory!

Paxi or Paxoi is a small but most beautiful island in the Ionian Sea south of Corfu. It is one of the group called Heptanese. People who live there or come from there or visit the island call it an «earthly paradise». We all have heard the expression. It is used to describe places characterized by exquisite natural beauty. No doubt our planet has numerous such paradises, and Greece has been especially favored by the Creator for that matter.

Adam and Eve were placed by God in the garden of Eden, called the Paradise. The story is a sad one. They disobeyed God in a particular command and fell. They were forced out of Paradise with all the ensuing consequences that passed on all their posterity. At the same time all mankind inherits an unspecified nostalgia for something never to be found on this earth. It is the nostalgia for the lost Paradise.

Jesus Christ, as the last Adam, died on the Cross and obtained salvation and eternal life in the heavenly Paradise for all those who accept Him by faith as their personal Savior and Lord. That Paradise no human imagination can conceive or tongue describe! God has a place there for every sinner, on condition that he repents of his sins and trusts Christ as his Savior. On the opposite side, according to the Bible, is the Lake of Fire. That will be the final abode of the devil and his angels, as well as those humans that reject Christ or neglect their salvation! What about you, reader?

The picture, besides being beautiful, is also instructive. The Bible has a lot to say about harvest. There's the real, natural, harvest, when men gather the fruit of the earth, so basic for man's physical life. There's the harvest as an opportunity for salvation: "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." Jer. 8:20. Though these words were not spoken in regard to the salvation of souls, yet metaphorically can certainly be applied to that matter. Then there is the harvest of souls which is: "Truly plenteous, but the labourers are few;" and we are asked to "Pray...the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." Mt.9:37,38. And there's the harvest known as Armageddon: "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and read: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." Re. 14:14,15,16. In view of that last harvest how faithful we should be to the Lord of the harvest and how earnestly praying Him to send forth labourers into His harvest! And how willing that we be included in those labourers! May He speak to us through His word and Spirit now, so that getting right with God, through faith in Jesus Christ the Saviour, we might be reapers of souls now and reapers with Him of an ungodly earth at the end of the world.