Opened to worship for the first time in 88 years, Orthodox Christians from Russia, Greece, Georgia and the United States poured into the Black Sea province for a historic mass Sunday at the iconic Sümela Monastery.Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew led the mass, which was attended by approximately 500 worshippers, marking the Assumption of the Mother Mary, a sacred day for Orthodox Christians.
"We owe this day of worship to our government, which was kind enough to grant us the permission,” the patriarch said Saturday at Trabzon Airport. “We are most thankful as this day is sacred for not only believers in the Black Sea but for all Orthodox and the Christian world as it is the Assumption Day of Mother Mary. We are blessed to celebrate this day here in Sümela. First it is grace from God and then it is grace from the government.”
The monastery was opened to worship for a single day with special permission from the Turkish government.
Roughly 1,000 people watched the historic service live on large screens erected in the valley below Sümela because the monastery was not large enough to accommodate all the people who wanted to partake in the mass.
Standing at the foot of a steep cliff facing the Altındere Valley in Trabzon's Maçka town, Sümela Monastery sits at an altitude of approximately 1,200 meters. Founded in the year 386 A.D. during the reign of Emperor Theodosius I (375-395), legend has it that two priests undertook the founding of the monastery after having discovered a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary in a cave on the mountain.
Πηγή: Hurriyet