Dervish, Arabic darwish, any member of a Sufi (Muslim mystic) fraternity, or tariqa. Within the Sufi fraternities, which were first organized in the 12th century
established leadership and a prescribed discipline obliged the dervish postulant to serve his sheikh, or master, and to establish a rapport with him.
Founded in 1088, by Ioannis Christodoulos, a leading figure in the Eastern church and monasticism at the time, the monastery has
been a dominant part of the life of Patmos for 900 years. The monastery played a role in administration of the island, the politics of the region.
The synagogue was a section of a large bath-gymnasium complex, that was in use for about 450 500 years. In the beginning, middle of the 2nd century AD, the rooms the synagogue is situated in were used as changing rooms or resting rooms. The complex was destroyed in 616 AD by the Sassanian-Persians.
