Orthodox Mass held in monastery as Turkey relaxes rules on worship

Orthodox Christians held the first Mass in almost 90 years at an ancient monastery on the side of a Turkish mountain yesterday, after the government allowed worship there in a gesture toward religious minorities.

At least 1,500 pilgrims, including from Greece and Russia, travelled to the Byzantine-era monastery of Sumela for the service led by Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians.

The Islamic-based government, which is aiming to expand freedoms as part of its bid to join the European Union, has said worship can take place at the monastery once a year. Services were previously banned.

The symbolic event was also likely to boost reconciliation efforts between Turkey and Greece, Nato allies that came to the brink of war three times between 1974 and 1996 over the ethnically divided island of Cyprus and territorial rights in the Aegean Sea.

Sumela, a spectacular structure cut into the side of a mountain, was abandoned around the time of Turkey's foundation in 1923.

The patriarch, who is based in Istanbul, wore a white robe with golden lace, and carried a staff. Priests sang hymns and spread incense amid faded frescoes.

Ketevan Nadareishvili, 24, said: "It is a very exciting moment for us Greeks because it's the first time we get to have such a Mass. We can pray on the land of my great-great-grandfathers."

After the service, Bartholew said: "The culture of living together is a heritage our civilisation left for us. Let's make that heritage live on, and let us teach all, so that we do not suffer any more, and families do not perish. The Sumela monastery has lived like a legend for decades among us, patiently waiting for this day to come."

The story of Orthodox Christians and religious expression in general in Turkey is a troubled one - Turkey's government says it will increase freedoms, but critics believe change is too slow in a country with a staunchly secular system.

Most of Turkey's 72 million people are Muslim, but even many of those feel that their rights are curtailed by law. Female employees of the state are not allowed to wear Muslim headscarves at work, and in 2008, the Constitutional Court struck down a government-backed amendment lifting a ban on the wearing of headscarves in universities.

The Greek Orthodox community in Turkey has dwindled to about 2,000. One of their key demands is the reopening of the Halki Theological School, a Greek Orthodox seminary on Heybeliada Island near Istanbul. The school was closed to new students in 1971 after a law put religious and military training under state control.Turkey has traditionally viewed the Istanbul-based patriarchate as a threat to state unity partly because of its ties with Greece.