Vazelon Monastery

Beautiful views of the mountains. A bit difficult to access. Essentially just ruins, but with a little imagination one can feel the prayers offered from there for over 1,700 years.

Well, this is an amazing place. Lost in the rain forest and seems forgotten. I would be really courious what happend with the priests living there yet in the beginning of 19th cent. However, not easy accessible and not easy to find. Follow the gravel road and be ready to spot the small path leaving the road to the left after about 3 km.

Vazelon Monastery is located in Maçka district, Trabzon Province, Turkey. It was built in 270 AD and is located 40 kilometers south of Trabzon. After Emperor Justinian I ordered it to be repaired in 565 AD, it has since been renovated many times up to the present day. The current buildings date from the rebuilding in 1410.nVazelon Monastery was of vital importance in the region of Maçka, especially in regards to its religious, cultural and economic life. It is said that Sümela Monastery was built from the income of the Vazelon Monastery, which was the wealthiest in the region. The frescoes on the north outer walls of the church of Heaven, Hell and the Last Judgement still bear their original beauty.nThe monastery was attacked and ruined on numerous occasions by invading forces, mainly Persians and Turks. In 490 it was attacked and ruined by the Sassanid Persians, who also killed the 400 living at the monastery.During the Ottoman Turkish rule (1453–1922) the monastery was razed many times. In 1821 Chrysanthos, the Prior of the monastery, was able to avoid a general massacre of the 40 surrounding Christian villages via diplomatic means and the use of the monastery's enormous wealth. in 1922 it was totally destroyed, leaving it in its current state of ruins.nOnly one item remains from the monastery's archive, and it is now located at the Leningrad Museum. Following its final destruction in 1922, the monastery's last monk, Dionysios Amarantidis, saved the icon of Saint John the Forerunner, which he subsequently transported and guarded at the monastery of Agia Triada, located in Serres, Greece.nThe monastery was abandoned in 1922 following the expulsion of the Greek population from Turkey as a result of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

I went there in my car and the road is rogh and unpaved . A lot of pit holes and slippery mud spots . A big tree fall down and cut the road . Dangerous no lighting. No enough directional signs . No worrning signs. One shared Lane road so a dangerous situation when two cars meet face to face .. I couldn't reach there

Very poor need to restoration