On 19th May 2002, at the second Athonian monastery for monks of the Assumption of Virgin Mary, near the mountain Beshtaou and the city of Pyatigorsk, a mass took place in memory of the victims of the genocide of the Pontian Hellenism in the period of 1916-1923. Among the people who attended the memorial service the majority were Greeks from nearby places in Stavropol.
At the future iconostasis of the church of the Assumption, which will be built there, Abbot Siluan officiated the mass and his words in memory of 353.000 innocent victims, moved the attendants very much.
The president of the Greek businessmen of Russia, mr Elias Elias Heliades, made a speech on the chronicle of the tough years for the Pontian Greeks and to this man we owe the idea of performing the mass in the monastery.
The president of the Greek Community of Pyatigorsk, mr Touzanides Constandinos, as representative of the Stavropol communities, made a speech for the unforgettable events of that era and launched an appeal to the Turkish government to recognize the genocide of the Pontian people.
In the end of the mass the monks asked the guests to dinner, during which a mention was launched to innocent victims of that era.