I hadn’t been to Patmos in more than a decade, so my excitement when House and Garden invited me to review a new guesthouse there was tinged with trepidation. Would the Dodecanese island now be overrun with fashionistas, its empty coves lined with designer sunbeds? Would the sacred island’s peaceful atmosphere be ruined by cruise ships? I needn’t have worried. Off season, Patmos remains as meditatively, austerely beautiful as ever. And Pagostas, a 16th century abbot’s house immaculately restored to its monastic glory, encapsulates the best of Patmos. In October, the summer crowds have vanished, leaving this far-flung island to the locals and the cognoscenti who appreciate Patmos for what it really is: a place of year-round pilgrimage for quiet reflection.