A sensational find in the vicinity of the city of Sudak (Surazh) was made by a group of archaeologists from the Institute of Archeology of Crimea, Russian Academy of Sciences. In March 2016, local residents stumbled upon a piece of masonry in the forest. Historians who examined the find determined that it was part of a religious building, and in May archaeologists began excavations.
Archaeological work continued for almost six months, revealing to the world the largest Byzantine Orthodox cathedral known to date, which has no analogues on the entire peninsula. It is surprising that the chronicles were silent about this cathedral, there was no information about the Orthodox church in the records of medieval travelers.
In the second half of the 19th century, a detailed description of all the Christian temples of Sudak was compiled. The collection includes all active Orthodox cathedrals and already destroyed shrines, from which only ruins remain. It is very strange that this detailed description did not include the temple found in the vicinity of Sudak.
Director of the Institute of Archeology of Crimea of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vadim Maiko said that the description of all Christian temples in Sudak was made by Archbishop Gabriel of Kherson and Tauride. Among the temples of Sudak there is only a brief mention that seven versts from Tokluk (now the village of Bogatovka) near the source there are ruins of a Christian temple. The temple found by archaeologists is at a maximum of 1.5 versts, but not seven.
Whether we are talking about this temple at the source, or scientists have discovered another religious building, it is still impossible to say for sure. The only hint that this place was associated with some kind of cathedral is given by its Greek name - Kilisa-Kaya (Greek ekklisía-βουνό) - "church mountain".
Today the Byzantine temple is completely excavated inside, its construction is clear. The construction area is about 200 square meters. Scientists suggest that this find is only part of a large cult complex, most likely a monastery.
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It is safe to say that the temple was abandoned in 1475 - during the Turkish conquest of Crimea. This is evidenced by the coins found at the excavations, fragments of ceramics, parts of Turkish arrows and traces of a fire. Historians believe that it is too early to name the exact date of the construction of the temple, it is necessary to conduct archaeological excavations of the entire large cult complex.
Director of the Institute of Archeology of Crimea Vadim Maiko explains:
The fact is that all religious buildings, in contrast to residential and outbuildings, were constantly cleaned. For this reason, finds from the time of construction and the beginning of the use of the temple are usually very few. That is why it is impossible to establish the exact age of any temple excavated in Sudak.
In what year the Byzantine temple was built, abandoned in 1475, may be suggested by the earliest finds dating back to the first half of the 13th century and not found in the temple itself, but outside. It can be argued that by this time the temple already existed. It is also clear that this is the largest Christian church of its time on the territory of Crimea. All Armenian churches near the Old Crimea, for example, Surb-Khach (Holy Cross) of the second half of the 14th century, are smaller in size.
Scientists of the Russian Geographical Society conducted a geoscanning and found that the building of the cathedral stands on the foundation of an older structure, and several more structures are covered with earth near it. Perhaps there are also monastic cells in the rock. It is now clear that 10 centuries ago a whole monastery complex existed on this site. It is quite possible that this is the ancient monastery of St. John Chrysostom.