PAYING OUT OF YOUR OWN POCKET TO WORK FOR FREE IS A PRIVILEGE THAT ONLY A “SELECTED” FEW CAN AFFORD THEMSELVES

In his work Nature Tito Lucrezio Caro criticizes religion, indicating it as a source that generates fear, superstition and suffering, preventing man from reaching true happiness, or to that knowledge of the truth - as the Blessed Apostle John states - which will make us free. A concept that Karl Marx referred to with the famous aphorism "religion is the opium of the people". They were both right, Tito Lucrezio Caro and Karl Marx …

- Actuality -

.

.

.

It hurts to indulge in jeremiads, especially when you are aware that they are of no use, only to express understandable discomfort as an end in itself.

In October of 2024 this magazine of ours has accomplished 10 years of activity, during which it offered services that may be more or less shareable in terms of content and settings, but of undoubted quality, something recognized even by our adversaries and those who do not think like us.

In a Catholic world increasingly devastated by fideism, from forms of millenarianism with an esoteric flavour, polluted in the present by all the old returning heresies, the Fathers of the Island of Patmos have always offered a service based on the closest respect to the deposit of faith, to the doctrine and magisterium of the Church, fighting dangerous drifts when necessary and recovering over the years quite a few people who had lost their way in the wake of various charlatans who today abound disproportionately, especially thanks to social media.

A complex pontificate ended a few months ago complicated by a very delicate global geopolitical context, the judgment on which will be up to history, which will only be able to give it in the future, perhaps even in many years. A pontificate during which several people, already immature and fragile in their faith, they went totally astray by marching behind priests who were out of balance, ended up suspended peep, excommunicated or even dismissed from the clerical state, followed, in turn, by laymen without art or part who improvised as ecclesiologists, canonists and theologians in a tantalizing Dan Brown-style conspiracy sauce of noartri. Our over ten-year pastoral mission on the Island of Patmos has focused mainly on the call to unity with Peter and under Peter, regardless of the obvious defects of the man Jorge Mario Bergoglio, without forgetting that in various respects, that rough Galilean fisherman chosen by Christ himself, not elected by a conclave of cardinals, in his time he turned out to be much worse than many problematic pontiffs in history, both on a pastoral and doctrinal level, just think of when he denied Christ by swearing and cursing (cf.. Mt 26, 69-75) or when in Antioch he was reprimanded by Paul on issues related to the doctrine of the faith (cf.. Gal 2, 11-21)

Given that in life nothing is owed, that everything must be deserved and that everything is a grace, it must be said, however, that the lack of generosity on the part of people - starting from the many to whom we have done good -, leads us to take note that the pastoral work carried out by 2014 by a group of priests and theologians perhaps does not deserve to be supported. For this reason, the numerous people that the Fathers of The Island of Patmos have helped and supported over the years arouse particular bitterness in us - and it is difficult to deny our priestly discomfort in this sense., healing their sore wounds after they had been deceived by “holy men”, “santuzze” and “seers”, before whom they did not hesitate to open their wallets as if they were accordions, the same ones who instead remained hermetically sealed before our work to which they never paid a single euro.

There is little to be surprised about, we know how what was once called the common people usually acts, he already knew it Giovanni Boccaccio when in the distant 14th century he immortalized in Decameron the paradigmatic Novella 10 dedicated to Friar Cipolla. Just intoxicate him, the populace, with the guarantee of the true "secret" of Fatima finally revealed after having been kept hidden by the lying and lying Church; or get him drunk with the "ten secrets" that a talkative and repetitive Gospa, now suffering from evident senile dementia, would have given it to a group of clever Bosnian gypsies who, thanks to this great scam of the twentieth century, made their guts out of gold; or drug him with some Madonna who stamps her feet like a hysterical narcissist while sending word to some other starstruck visionary that she wants to be proclaimed co-redeemer at all costs and who also peddles "secrets" around the globe, waiting for the magical and definitive triumph of her immaculate heart. Well yes, we give these kinds of opiates to the populace and their wallets open as if by magic. This is what happened in Boccaccio's Certaldo in the 14th century and this is what happens today in the Third Millennium.

In his work Nature Tito Lucrezio Caro addresses a criticism of religion, indicating it as a source that generates fear, superstition and suffering, preventing man from reaching true happiness, or to that knowledge of the truth - as the Blessed Apostle John states - which will make us free (cf.. GV 8, 32). A concept to which he will refer again Karl Marx with the famous aphorism "religion is the opium of the people". They were both right, Tito Lucrezio Caro and Karl Marx, However, both the concept and the term were wrong, confusing faith with the fideism of the Boeotians following Brother Cipolla, which have nothing to do with the purity of faith, vilified by them and transformed into a grotesque parody of talking madonnas, weeping Madonnas, secrets revealed, catastrophic prophecies and so on to follow.

We have reached the conclusion, sad but realistic, that ultimately these people deserve the various Cipolla Friars capable of arousing morbid itches in them, making money come out of him like the charmers make the snake come out of the basket at the sound of the hypnotic sting.

The paradox is that The Island of Patmos is not a failure, quite the opposite: it is an extraordinary and at times incredible success. The volume of visits amounts to an average of over three million per month, the year 2024 it closed with almost forty million total visits. Soon said: I just know 0,1% of these visitors had donated one euro to us, management costs would be fully covered and we would even have some left over for some charity work.

Anyone who understands only a little about certain technical aspects, with a few glances you immediately grasp the quality of the site that hosts our magazine, starting from the graphics. Offer printable versions of articles, audio reading, often also the translation of the same into three languages, involves considerable editorial work, all carried out by the Fathers purely free of charge. Of course, It is surprising that in the course of a calendar year it is not possible to collect even half of what is necessary to pay the living expenses of management and that we must promptly take care of it out of our own pocket when the payment deadlines arrive. Why use your personal resources to have the rare privilege of working for free for people who take and don't give, or that after having given to the crafty snake charmers, once the sound of the pipe ends and with it the hypnotic effect they come to cry to us to be helped and supported, It's really a great satisfaction, rather: It's truly a privilege, work free the amor Dei for these people! But we are priests and how much would the desire be, put these people out the door, as they deserve, it is against our priestly ontological nature.

The Island of Patmos is concluding its eleventh year of activity without ever having experienced declines but only a continuous increase, this is proven by the high number of visits starting from 2016 forced us to move the site to a dedicated-server, which constitutes the largest annual expense item followed by other expenses for the various subscriptions such as the purchase of graphics programs, audio, video, security systems… In short, we are talking about something that works and works very well, but who does not have the means of subsistence. This is why we decided to give ourselves another year: if in September of 2026 we will not have collected everything necessary to support the expenses of the following year 2027, or if we cannot find a public or private body willing to finance us, we will conclude our happy and fruitful experience of apostolate by closing the magazine The Island of Patmos, always preserving the indelible memory of this beautiful experience lived in the Catholic union of intent in full communion between a group of priests who tried to bear witness to the living and true Christ. However, as the Blessed Apostle Paul teaches in his epistle to his disciple Timothy:

«The day will come, indeed, when they will not endure sound doctrine;, ma, having itching ears they, will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, refusing to listen to the truth to turn to fairy tales. But you shall carefully, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry " (II Tm 4, 1-4).

And that day has come today, Unfortunately, we believe we too have suffered a sad expense. But, also in this case, the Holy Gospel teaches us:

«If anyone does not welcome you and will not listen to your words, leave that house or town and shake the dust off your feet '.

From the island of Patmos 31 August 2025

.

______________________

Dear Readers, this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

Or if you prefer you can use our Bank account in the name of:

Editions The island of Patmos

n Agency. 59 From Rome – Vatican

Iban code: IT74R0503403259000000301118

For international bank transfers:

Codice SWIFT: BAPPIT21D21

If you make a bank transfer, send an email to the editorial staff,

the bank does not provide your email and we will not be able to send you a thank you message: isoladipatmos@gmail.com

We thank you for the support you wish to offer to our apostolic service.

The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.