At about the same time as the Russian Army was declaring victory over Georgia, a large committee whose members included Russian MPs, visited the Sumela Monastery, located on the Turkish side of the border with Georgia and which carries great importance for Orthodox Christians. 350 people, including Russian MP Ivan Savvidi and 9 ecclesiastics, visited the monastery on 15 August. A message was sent to Caucasia during the religious ceremony held at the entrance of Sumela Monastery where guests prayed for the souls of those killed in the Georgian conflict.
The struggle between the Russian Church and the Greek Patriarchate in Fener, Istanbul, who claim they are the head of all Orthodox Christians, has a much deeper history than the tensions between Russia and Georgia. This is because Russia has used Orthodox Christianity as a powerful vehicle to both sustain internal unity as well as increase its influence in its periphery.
Located in the vicinity of Trabzon in Turkey and neighbouring the Caucasus, the myths surrounding Sumela Monastery are full of irony that sheds light on present day events when considered from the perspective of the Russian committee's visit. According to the most well known myth, one of Jesus Christ's disciples, Lucas, drew an icon of the Virgin Mary on a piece of wood, which after some years found its way to Athens by itself. The dark colouring of the icon led to the picture becoming known by various names, some of which have included the Black Mary, Black Angel or Black Madonna. During Theodosius' rule in the 4th century, it is said that the icon wanted to leave Athens. It was taken by angels and placed between rocks on the hillside of the Macka Mountains, in the Eastern Black Sea region of Anatolia. Two monks, Barnabas and Sophranios, saw the Virgin Mary in their dreams and she told them to go to Trabzon and build a church in her name on the cavity where the icon was placed.
The monks travelled over sea to Trabzon and found the icon of the Virgin Mary in the cavity, located in the Macka Mountains' hillside. Locals, who had seen the icon before the monks' arrival, had tried to burn it, but it did not burn, had wanted to shatter it into pieces with an axe, but it did not shatter had wanted to get rid of it by throwing it into the river, but the waters did not drag the icon away. The two monks, appointed by the Virgin Mary, went on to build first a church and then a monastery on the very same cavity and where they lived out the rest of their lives, both dying on the same day.
Another myth tells the story of the sacred pool that is located in the centre of the monastery. Large water droplets, from 30-40 metres above fall into the sacred pool in the centre of the monastery at variant intervals. These droplets were believed to be sacred and gave hope to many hopeless and infertile couples for centuries. Throughout history, many people, both Muslim and Christian, have visited the monastery in the hope that the myth is true and have brought with them rich sacrificial offerings and undergone droplet treatment.
Sumela Monastery located at an altitude of 1150 metres above sea level and carved out of the rocks that look out over an unparalleled view, rose as an "ambassador monument" in a Muslim state in a period when religious wars had become the main issue of the time.
The Church is believed to have been built around 375 - 395 AD in the Cappadocian style of churches, which was very common in Anatolia at that time, in fact a similar cave church can be found in the Masatlik district of Trabzon. Unfortunately, there is not much information relating to the thousand year period in which the church had been transformed into a monastery. However, the Emperor of Trabzon, Alexios III (1349-1390), who was often pictured in frescos within the monastery and given special attention, is believed to be the real founder of the monastery.
The Monastery was used as a forward base in the defence of the city, when it was under repeated attacks by Turkmen during the 14th century. The subsequent Ottoman conquest did not lead to a change in the status of the monastery. Yavuz Sultan Selim, who brought the Caliphate to the Ottoman Empire, is known to have given two chandeliers to the monastery during his principality in Trabzon. Mehmet the Conqueror, who took Istanbul from the Byzantines, granted special rights to the monastery with an imperial edict.
Sumela Monastery, which was built over a wide area, consists of the main stone church, various chapels, a kitchen, student rooms, a guest house, a library and sacred springs.
The large aqueduct, which delivered water to the entrance of the monastery, now leans against the hillside. Today, the bulk of the multi-eyed aqueduct has collapsed.
Long, narrow steps reach to the entrance of the monastery where there are guardrooms on both sides of the entrance. From here, stairs descend to the inner courtyard. Various monastic buildings can be found on the left, in front of the main cave that was the church and which makes up the central part of the monastery. On the right hand side is the library and further on the right, covering the front face of the hillside was the section with big balconies which were once used as the monk's living quarters and guest rooms.
The rock church, which forms the main component of the monastery, along with the adjoining chapel, has inner and outer walls that are full of frescos. Located on the walls that are looking towards the courtyard of the rock church are frescos from the period of Alexios III. The frescos in the chapel are dated to the beginning of the 18th century where three levels from three different periods can be seen.
On the south wall of the apse of the main church are depictions of the birth of the Virgin Mary and the enshrinement, first communion, the birth of Jesus, his enshrinement and life and at the bottom, pictures from the Bible, with the south door showing the Virgin Mary's death and disciples.
In the western section of the church, on the second row, there are depictions of Genesis, the creation of Adam, the creation of Eve, God's warning, Rebellion (eating the forbidden fruit), and expulsion from Heaven. The third row shows the reincarnation, the doubting of Thomas, an angel in the tomb and the Council of Nikaia.
On the upper part of the outside of the apse, the archangels Michael and Gabriel have been depicted.
The monastery was seized during the Russian occupation of Trabzon between 1916 and 1918 and then evacuated after 1923.
The Sumela Monastery which sits on the Black Sea Mountains looking toward Caucasia has been silently standing for centuries and is truly a historical monument. The Monastery, which carries the memories of many wars and tragedies on its walls, now bears witness to the new tensions that are arising, once more, close by.