Turkish officials have not granted authority for religious services to be held in the Holy Monastery of Panagia Soumela on August 15 to mark the Dormition of the Theotokos.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate announced a service will take place eight days later on August 23. The service will be celebrated by Metropolitan Stefanos of Kalliopolis and Madytos.
“Following a decision by the Turkish authorities, this year permission was granted to perform a Divine Liturgy in the Holy Monastery of Panagia Soumela on Friday, August 23,” the Ecumenical Patriarchate said, with no explanation as to why the August 15 liturgy will not go ahead.
Last year, 13 years after the first patriarchal ceremony at the historic monastery, was the first time there had been a disturbance as Turkish authorities initially prohibited a liturgy for the Dormition of the Theotokos but eventually allowed it.
In 2015, the Soumela monastery, built into a sheer cliff above the Black Sea forest in eastern Turkey, was shut for restoration and reopened to tourists in 2019.
Turkey’s policy towards Greek monuments, both ancient and medieval, has gone through several “waves” since ethnic Greeks were expelled in 1923 as part of a population exchange between Greece and Turkey.
Source: Kathimerini.
