Third year without Liturgy on August 15th at Panagia Sumela in Pontus - Turkey's "solution" to nationalist voicestranslated

The "green light" given by the Turkish authorities by granting the relevant permits for Divine Liturgies in Kyziko and Panagia Sumela on August 23 proves for the third year in a row that on the fifteenth of August the historic monastery will remain inactive.   In recent years, nationalist voices in the neighboring country have changed the plans of the authorities, while in order to avoid further escalation and international reactions, they grant the relative permission to perform the Divine Liturgy for nine days after the great feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the day - August 23 - on which the Church honors the rendering of the feast.

However, this decision may not have come as a surprise as it is not the first time in recent years that the Turkish authorities have not granted a permit for August 15, but in fact it shows that they are stopping the opening they had made in 2010 when, after 80 years, a Divine Liturgy had been celebrated - by the Ecumenical Patriarch in fact - at the monastery of Pontos on the fifteenth of August.

In fact, as happened last year, the Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Bartholomew will officiate at Panagia Soumela as on the same day of the Performance...