An Icon Carried by Angels
At the heart of Sümela Monastery's founding story is a legend as old as the site itself: an icon of the Virgin Mary (Panagia), said to have been painted by the Apostle Luke, was believed to have been carried by angels from a distant land to a remote cave on the cliffs of Karadağ, high above the Altındere valley. This kind of miraculous-icon legend was common across the Byzantine and Orthodox world, echoing traditions attached to other revered sites of Byzantine Christianity, including Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, where sacred images and relics were similarly bound up with imperial and spiritual authority.
Barnabas and Sophronius Follow the Vision
According to tradition, two Athenian monks, Barnabas and Sophronius, experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary that led them across the sea and into the mountains above Trabzon in search of the icon. Guided by this vision, they climbed to the cave on the cliff face of Karadağ and found the icon waiting inside, exactly as they had seen in their dream. Interpreting this as a divine sign, the two monks resolved to build a monastery around the cave, and in 386 AD — during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I — Sümela Monastery was born. You can read the full historical record of this period on our history page.
The Name "Sümela"
The name of the monastery itself is entwined with its founding legend and its physical setting. "Sümela" is generally understood to derive from the Greek word Melas, meaning "black," a direct reference to Karadağ — the "Black Mountain" into which the monastery is built. Over the centuries, the Greek "Panagia Soumela" (Virgin Mary of the Black Mountain) and the Turkish "Sümela" became the two names by which the site is known, both anchored in the same rock face where the legend says the icon was found.
The Icon's Role Through the Centuries
The icon was not merely a founding relic — it remained the spiritual centerpiece of the monastery for over 1,500 years, drawing pilgrims from across the Byzantine world and later the Ottoman Empire. It was believed to have miraculous powers, and its presence is one of the reasons Sümela grew from a single cave shrine into one of the wealthiest and most visited monastic complexes on the Black Sea coast, particularly during its golden age under the Empire of Trebizond.
Where the Icon Is Today
When the Greek Orthodox community left the region during the 1923 population exchange, they carried the sacred icon — along with other relics — to Greece rather than leave it behind. It now resides at the new Panagia Soumela monastery, built near Veria in the Macedonia region of northern Greece, which continues to serve as an active pilgrimage site and hosts an annual celebration each August that draws Pontic Greek communities from around the world.
Why the Legend Still Matters
Even though the icon itself has long since left the cliffs of Karadağ, the legend of Barnabas and Sophronius remains central to how Sümela is understood and experienced today. It explains the monastery's remote, cave-based location, its dedication to the Virgin Mary, and the deep reverence still shown to the site by Orthodox Christian visitors. For those wanting to see where this story physically unfolded, the cave that once held the icon is preserved as part of the Rock Church, still covered in the Byzantine frescoes painted by generations of monks who came after Barnabas and Sophronius.
Legend and History Side by Side
Historians generally treat the miraculous elements of the founding story — the flying icon, the guiding vision — as pious tradition rather than verifiable fact, while accepting the broader historical framework: that a monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary was indeed established on this cliff in 386 AD, plausibly by monks arriving from the Greek mainland. This blending of legend and documented history is typical of early Byzantine monastic foundations, where miraculous origin stories often layered onto genuine historical events to reinforce a site's spiritual authority. For the full documented timeline separate from the legend itself, see our history page.
Why Pilgrims Still Travel to Sümela
Even with the original icon long removed to Greece, Sümela continues to draw Orthodox pilgrims and heritage tourists who come specifically because of this founding legend. The site is sometimes visited alongside other landmarks tied to Byzantine and Orthodox heritage in the wider region, much as travelers exploring Hagia Sophia in Istanbul often extend their trip to take in other former Byzantine centers. For Sümela specifically, many visitors combine the pilgrimage aspect of the legend with a broader day trip from Trabzon that also covers the monastery's architecture and frescoes.
Local Folklore Around the Monastery
Beyond the core founding legend, local folklore in the Maçka region has long attached additional stories to Sümela — tales of protective apparitions of the Virgin Mary appearing to travelers lost on the mountain, and of the sacred spring (ayazma) inside the Rock Church possessing healing properties. While these additional stories are harder to trace to any single historical source, they reflect how deeply the monastery's founding legend became woven into the everyday religious life of the surrounding communities over the centuries the monastery remained active.