Panagia Soumela monastery to reopen for church service

A church service will be conducted on the holiday of the Dormition (or the Assumption) of the Virgin Mary (August 15) at the Monastery of Panagia Soumela in Turkey, which has reopened after five years of renovations, the Ecumenical Patriarch announced on Wednesday.

Vartholomeos said in a press release he had spoken on the phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, during which the Patriarch thanked him for the "systematic renovation at the monastery," and expressed his best wishes over the Kurban Bayrami holiday.