PART 8: Rising Above, Trabzon travel

Behind Trabzon the mountains rise in a succession of ranges, each higher and wilder than the one before, culminating at the 3100 m (9600 ft) high peaks of the Zigana Chain which separate the lush Black Sea hinterland from the arid plateau of the interior. Along the way leading to the mountain pass and hidden in a fantastic landscape of deep forest, remote valleys and inaccessible cliffs, there once existed a large number of monasteries, some of them of very early origin. They grew in number, size and wealth during the heyday of Trabzon in the 13th and 14th centuries. They probably emerged from the enduring fascination of the Black Sea man with the mountains, combined with the Greek urge in both pagan and Christian times to worship deity in the most spectacular and awesome natural settings. During the Comnene Empire they also served the useful purpose of keeping the wild tribes of the mountains in check, while their pealing bells across the valleys functioned as an early-warning system against invading beys from the south.
The great Sumela Monastery was by far the most important of the lot, as it is now the best-known and the best-preserved. It derived its immense prestige from a black icon of the Virgin Mary that was held to have been painted by St. Luke himself-hence the name "of the Black Virgin", Panagia tou melas, or soumelas in Pontic Greek. The icon was the source of countless miracles throughout the ages and copies were prized throughout the Orthodox world.
The sacred picture was supposed to have been brought to these parts by two Athenian hermites in the year 385. The monastery itself was built under Emperors Anastasius (491 - 518) and Justinian (527-565) as a crucial link in the Byzantine drive to evangelize the Pontic natives. It took its current shape in the 13th century after the original edifices were destroyed during a Turkish raid. Its monks took an active part in the end¬less political fighting of the Trebizond Empire. Several emperors, including Alexios Ill (1349-1390), chose to stage their coronation in the mountain fastness of the monastery rather than in the city itself.
Sumela retained its prestige under Turkish rule as well. Mehmed the Conqueror paid a visit to the monks, and Selim I reputedly made valuable gifts to them when he took refuge in the monastery after a hunting accident. Additions were made to the buildings in 1710 and again in 1860. As late as in 1909 the monks took an active part in ecclesiastical wrangles, employing the time-honored Byzantine manoeuver of threatening to secede and join the Latin church.
In 1923 Jeremiah, the last abbot, was forced to leave along with the remaining monks. Six years later a fire reduced the monastery to a bare skeleton. In 1931 the monk Ambrosios came back in disguise, removed the miraculous icon of the Virgin from a hiding place and took it to Athens where it was put on display at the Benaki Museum. In 1952 a new Sumela Monastery was founded near Salonica to house the surviving monks.
 

ART 1: Imagined Empire
PART 2: The Main Square
PART 3: A Long Walk
PART 4: Atatürk House
PART 5: Bazaar District
PART 6: Hagia Sophia
PART 7: Boztepe
PART 8: Rising Above
PART 9: Lady of the Mountains
PART 10: Obscure Monasteries
PART 11: The Way to the Pass
PART 12: Gümüşhane