A small rocky island of the Dodecanese, off the coast of Asia Minor — some 60 km from Miletus. Rome used such islands for banishment, and John 'came to be' here 'because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus' (1:9) — exile for preaching, on the natural reading. Here, 'in the Spirit on the Lord's day,' he saw the vision; the island's Cave of the Apocalypse has been shown to pilgrims as the spot since Byzantine times.