Panagia Soumela
Field research 2015
| The Virgin Mary monastery of Soumela, Greek: Παναγια Σουμελα (Panagia Soumela), Turkish: Sümela Manastιrι, is one of the most important places of pilgrimage for the Greek Orthodox Church. It is situated in a rather remote region in northeastern Turkey, about 45 km south of the seaport Trabzon. It is rather difficult to reach this place. It was built on the rock wall of a narrow valley with steep sides. It is the ravine of the river Altιndere (in antiquity: Pyxites). The monastery is located about 1,200 meters above sea level. |
the monastery from afar |
| The monastery was built at the time of the Empire of Trebizond in the 14th century AD. But it is assumed that there existed a sanctuary long before. Due to Byzantine legends the monastery was founded in the 4th century AD. In the 19th century there have been added several annexes. As a result of the siege of the Greeks in the Greek-Turkish War in the 20th century the Greek had to abandon the monastery and since then the monastery, though it is an important tourist attraction, is decaying more and more. |
Panagia Soumela |
| It is supposed that the byname »Soumela« derives from the Greek word for black »melas«. The word shall refer to the mountain on which the monastery was erected. In fact, on the rock of the mountain you see many blackish spaces. Actually, this explanation seems rather superficial. It seems more probable that this byname refers to the Mother of God herself, in the meaning »Black Madonna«. Black Madonna images are very famous in Europe but also in South America. They are often pictures of high significance, so the Black Madonna of Czestochowa in Poland or the Black Madonna of Montserrat in North Spain. It is assumed that the origin of the Black Madonnas might be pre-Christian mother goddesses. These powerful fertility goddesses are passed on us in different names, so there are Magna Mater or Cybele in Asia Minor, or Kali, the Black Goddess in India. |
image of Panagia Soumela |
| The sanctum is in a deep cave. It is a natural recess which is about 12 m deep and approximately 15 m high. The church of the Virgin Mary was in the deepest part of the cave. There had been kept the most important religious items. These were an icon of the Virgin Mary, said to have been painted by the Apostle Luke, and a relic of the cross of Jesus Christ. |
holy cave |
| In the center of the complex there is a marble pool where the water which drips from the rock above is gathered. It is considered as holy water. Every first sunday of the month the water was sanctified by the relic. This procedure presumably reflects a pre-Christian water and fertility ritual. |
pool with holy water |
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There is another clue which hints at the origin of this holy place in pre-Christian times.
Above the cave you can see rock-cut architecture which due to its similitaries to prehistoric rock-cut architecture, e.g. the rock-cut buildings on the castle hill in Myrina on Lemnos, might be prehistorical.
Consequently, it might be possible that in prehistory this was the worship place of a mother goddess which in Christian time changed into an important place of pilgrimage of Virgin Mary. |
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