The historic Panagia Soumela Monastery in Turkey’s Black Sea region (Pontus) hosted a Greek Orthodox Divine Liturgy on Sunday, August 23, despite restrictions imposed by Turkish authorities.
Metropolitan Barnabas of Neapolis and Stavroupolis led the service with the blessing of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, continuing Orthodox worship at one of the most important religious and cultural sites for Pontic Greeks.
Greek orthodox liturgy at Soumela restricted to 80 people
Turkish authorities allowed only 80 people whose names appeared on an approved guest list to enter the monastery for the liturgy. They also barred media organizations from entering during the ceremony, sharply limiting independent coverage from inside the site. Tourists and other visitors could enter only after the service ended.
Pantelis Tsakiris, mayor of the Greek municipality of Oreokastro, attended as one of the approved guests. He later shared photographs and video on social media, offering a glimpse inside Panagia Soumela during the liturgy. The limited gathering contrasted with the larger pilgrimages that have taken place at the monastery since Orthodox worship resumed there in 2010.
Turkey denied August 15 service for third consecutive year
Sunday’s liturgy took place on August 23 rather than August 15, when Orthodox Christians celebrate the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, one of the most important feasts in the Orthodox calendar. For the third consecutive year, Turkish authorities did not give the Ecumenical Patriarchate permission to conduct the Divine Liturgy at Panagia Soumela on the feast day itself.
Authorities instead authorized the service for August 23, the Apodosis, or leave-taking, of the Feast of the Dormition. Known in Greek tradition as the Enniamera, the day marks the formal conclusion of the Dormition celebrations, with churches holding services and chanting hymns associated with the feast in honor of the Virgin Mary.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew did not travel to Pontus for Sunday’s liturgy. Instead, he presided over a service at the Monastery of Panagia Faneromeni in Artaki, in the historic region of Cyzicus.
The gathering also faced opposition from some local groups in Trabzon. Coşkun Dilber, a local representative of the Türkiye Kamu-Sen trade union confederation, had called on authorities to withdraw the authorization, citing Panagia Soumela’s official status as a museum.
Panagia Soumela, a symbol of Pontic Hellenism
Panagia Soumela stands on a steep cliff overlooking the Altındere Valley near Trabzon and remains one of the most significant monuments of the centuries-old Greek Orthodox presence in Pontus. Orthodox tradition traces the monastery’s foundation to around AD 386, when the Athenian monks Barnabas and Sophronios established it.
Over the centuries, Panagia Soumela developed into a major Greek Orthodox monastic center in the Black Sea region and became deeply intertwined with the religious and cultural identity of Pontic Hellenism.
The upheavals of the early 20th century and the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey brought the monastery’s life as an active Greek Orthodox community to an end.
Turkey placed Panagia Soumela on UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in 2000, recognizing its architectural, historical, and cultural significance.
Greek Orthodox liturgy returned to Soumela in 2010
A major turning point came in 2010, when Turkish authorities allowed Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at Panagia Soumela on August 15 for the first time in 88 years.
The historic occasion drew Orthodox pilgrims from Greece, Russia, and other countries and marked the return of the Dormition liturgy after an interruption of nearly nine decades.
In the years that followed, the monastery once again became an important pilgrimage destination for Pontic Greeks and members of the Greek diaspora seeking a direct connection with their ancestral heritage.
Although Sunday’s congregation was far smaller than those earlier gatherings, the liturgy underscored Panagia Soumela’s enduring religious and cultural significance for Orthodox Christians and Pontic Greeks worldwide.
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