Vazelon Monastery (Greek: Μονή Βαζελώνος, romanized: Moni Vazelonos[4]) is a ruin located in the Black Sea region of Turkey.

Justinian I, a ruler of the Byzantine Empire, ordered the monastery to be repaired in 565, and it was renovated multiple times until the 20th century.

[2] Vazelon Monastery was a center of Greek Orthodox life in the Matzouka/Maçka area,[a] retaining some control over surrounding villages until its disestablishment.

Frescoes on the north outer walls of the church that depict Heaven, Hell and the Last Judgement have remained for centuries.

[19] After the population exchange, one monk, Dionysios Amarantidis, took an icon of John the Baptist from Vazelon Monastery.

[11] The Leningrad Museum and Turkish Historical Society (TTK) keep what is left of the monastery's archives.

It lies ruined in the Pontic Mountains near the Black Sea, surrounded by mixed forest.

Many rivers snake through valleys in this region, and the area receives 100 cm (39 in) of precipitation per year.

The body of the monastery is made from lime mortar and local stone, possibly granite.

Vazelon Monastery once housed a dining hall, a kitchen, and a cistern for collecting water.

[22] The monastery was once accessed by a hanging wooden ladder, which was brought inside at night to prevent trespassing.

[c][23] He read existing texts on Vazelon Monastery and decided that the chapel had been dedicated to Elias.

[7] The separate chapel dedicated to Elias also holds many paintings of Christian religious figures.

[11] Many historic frescoes have been picked away, and a bell tower that once stood atop the monastery has disappeared.

Besides being funded by both Byzantine and Komnenian emperors,[17] Vazelon was situated on a road to Trabzon, a historic trading port.

During early Byzantine times, Emperor Justinian I used the monastery as a look-out post because of its high altitude in the Pontic mountains.

[29] At the time, the Byzantines had some conflict with the Persian Empire, whose border was close to Vazelon Monastery.

[31] In Byzantine and Trapezuntine times, it was not uncommon for people to donate land to Vazelon Monastery.

Trapezuntine women could inherit property, but men still made the majority of transactions with the monastery.

[35] In the 13th century, a woman named Zoe Chaldena donated some property to Vazelon Monastery "for the salvation of [our] souls."

The Acts are some of the only sources to preserve the names and job titles of peasants in this region, giving historians some information about the lives of average people in medieval Pontus.

[50] The Acts show that Turks settled in the central Trabzon area by 1432 at the latest, some of whom held property.

[54] The Acts of Vazelon and the Chronicle of Michael Panaretos[d] both record raids on Pontic villages by these nomads from outside the empire.

In that year, one woman left her inherited land to Vazelon for the salvation of her and her parents' souls.

[36] She also had another reason for giving up her property: five of her sons had been kidnapped, leaving her unable to care for the land alone.

During the 1290s, coastal markets sold rice, dairy products, meat, olive oil, and a variety of fruits and vegetables, though some of these items were only affordable to the upper classes.

Anthony Bryer, a British Byzantinist, was one such historian; he focused on the Empire of Trebizond, studying the Acts of Vazelon to learn more about its culture.

[60] According to Turkish news sources, which may be state-influenced or censored,[61][62] the government of Turkey plans to restore Vazelon Monastery and make it a tourist attraction.

This is part of a larger project to revive Turkey's ancient buildings and boost faith tourism.