The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I, will come to Trabzon on October 14, 2018 and will examine the restoration works in Sumela Monastery which endures for 3 years.
This will be the second visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch to the Sumela Monastery except the liturgical celebrations.
After a break of 88 years, on August 15, 2010, the Ecumenical Patriarch I. Bartholomew was allowed to celebrate mass in Sumela Monastery for just one day in the year. Since then, the Patriarch visited the Monastery for 6 years for the liturgical celebration but the facility was closed on September 22, 2015 due to the risk of fall of the stones.
The Orthodox Church celebrates the Ascension of the Virgin Mary on August 15, however in 2015 the mass could not be organized in Sumela monastery due to the closure of the church. Last year this liturgy hosted guests from Orthodox countries such as Greece, Cyprus, Russia, Georgia and Ukraine.
The restoration work is supposed to end in August 2019.
