Mariam Soulakiotis

Little is known of Soulakiotis' life before she became an Orthodox nun, and that she was born with the given name Marina in Keratea, Greece, which is around from Athens. Her childhood home, later converted into one of the monastery's buildings, was at No. 71 Megalou Alexandrou St. == Religious life ==

As Greek Orthodox nun (–1923) Soulakiotis started as a nun in the mainstream Greek Orthodox Church (GOC), but soon became a close confidante of her religious superior, the Bishop Matthew Karpathakis of Vresthena. After the adoption of the New Calendar by the GOC at the pan-orthodox Council of Constantinople in May 1923, Soulakiotis became an avid Old Calendarist and a follower of Bishop Matthew, now self-styled Archbishop Matthew of Vresthena, whom both the mainstream Greek Orthodox Church and even other Old Calendarists (self-styled true Orthodox Christians) consider to be in schism. As a nun, Mariam was called Mother (and later Abbess) Mariam of Keratea. The monastery was officially founded to "honour the Presentation of the Virgin Mary", but Matthew also made clear that the goal of the monastery is to support the nascent Old Calendarist movement financially. At the monastery's founding, Matthew was already 66 years old. Plans for the monastery had been a few years in the making—in April 1925 Soulakiotis acquired an additional seven acres of land, and, later that year, she acquired two more plots of land. Greek author Nina Kouletaki writes that even having reviewed "long" sympathetic, Matthewite histories of the monastery, there is no legal explanation as to how the nuns acquired the money to make these expensive property purchases. The monastery's Greek name is occasionally transliterated in English as Pefkovounogiátrissa(s), Peukovoynogiatrissa(s), with or without Panagia(s). The monastery's full Greek name, , can be translated as 'Monastery of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple|Entrance [into the Temple] of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Healer, on the Pine Mountain'. An Australian newspaper, The Sun, translated it in 1954 as "The Convent of the Virgin in the Pines". Part of the reasoning for its name was that the convent was opened to offer tuberculosis treatment, owing to the purported health benefits of its high-altitude, mountainous locale to those who could not afford conventional treatment. In 1938, the convent began marketing itself as a free-of-charge tuberculosis treatment center. Founding nuns The founding nuns were: == Rise to power ==

While Soulakiotis' official tenure as abbess began in 1950, she had already been doing the work of an abbess since 1939, "assuming full responsibility for the monastery" when 'Archbishop' Matthew was aged 78. During this period of her life, she was described and photographed wearing an even more chaste version of the typical epimandylion, a Greek-style black epanokalimavkion worn by Church of Greece nuns of the highest rank (who cannot rise higher as they cannot become ordained priestesses), which entirely covered her forehead and eyebrows. == Crimes ==

Soulakiotis' alleged modus operandi was to encourage wealthy women to join the convent, and then torture them until they donated their fortunes to the monastery; Reuters reported that, at the time of her arrest, she had amassed three hundred homes and farms across the country in this way, along with "gold and jewels worth thousands of pounds". Soulakiotis first came to the attention of police when an anonymous complaint was made by the daughter of a wealthy woman who had willed all her property to the monastery—she insisted that her mother wouldn't have done this without being forced, and accused the monastery's administration of "blackmail and threats". and her father, Christo Spyrides, called on the Greek embassy and authorities from Ohio to take action, claiming that his daughter was "lured" to the convent by a nun he identified as "Mariam Zaphriopoulos", who he said had been in the United States to collect property worth US$10,000 left to the monastery. However, the Associated Press reported that Spyrides was able to get into contact with his daughter after their initial reports, omitting whether or not she had been in the convent. The prosecution further alleged that Soulakiotis' strict adherence to ascetic practices led to the unnecessary deaths of 150 people who had sought treatment, as the monastery was touted as a sanatorium for TB. == Arrest ==

More than eighty-five police officers first raided the monastery's grounds on the night of 4 December 1950, accompanied by a deputy prosecutor, a judge, and a coroner, in an operation which lasted overnight. Upon gaining entry, they forcibly removed all thirty-six children on the premises, having to wrest them away from the hands of nuns, to orphanages "where their future was not much better". Police also freed "several half-naked malnourished and sick elderly women tied up in basements", and were disturbed at the poor quality food served to those in the convent. == Trials ==

Although extremely concerned, due to questions over the voluntary nature of monasticism, The following month, the Public Prosecutor further indicted Soulakiotis, along with thirteen other nuns and monks, on charges including homicide, fraud, forgery of wills, blackmail and torture, with Soulakiotis receiving the harshest indictment. Defence arguments At trial, Soulakiotis' attorney, Panos Panayotakos, said in her defence that people surrender all their material property to monasteries when joining as a matter of course (a vow of poverty). All told, Soulakiotis received three sentences at separate trials: one between 1951–52 and two in 1953, the last one ending mere months before her death. at her second, 10 years concurrently; and at her third, four additional years consecutively. == Religious following ==

Described as a "cult leader", Soulakiotis had more than 400 followers living in the monastery at the peak of her power. Furthermore, state records showed that five hundred people willed all their property to the monastery and later died in it—which prosecutors asserted was an unusually high number for a legitimately operated monastery of its size. In 1951, after her arrest, her followers marched in protest at her detention, demanding that their "leaders" be given back to them. This led police to protect the home of Archbishop Spyridon, who they said the Old Calendarists were planning to kidnap in retaliation, with the goal being to hold him hostage until the authorities released Soulakiotis. == Death ==

Having received multiple different sentences over her three trials adding to a total of fourteen years, Soulakiotis died in on 23 November 1954. Reports conflict as to her age, but Reuters and Newsbeast give her age upon her death as 71. After her death, she was buried on the grounds of the convent, near the body of her predecessor, Bishop Matthew Karpathakis. == Aftermath ==

Even after Soulakiotis' death, her sect continued underground despite having been outlawed; police were investigating cases of "young girls vanishing into thin air" which they believed led to the "rebel Keratea convent" as late as 1959. As of 2022, the Old Calendarist monastery Soulakiotis once managed, Keratea's Panagia Pefkovounogiatrissa Monastery, remains open and still has members who believe she was innocent and who venerate her as a saint. Old Calendarism is no longer an illegal sect in modern Greece, as standards have improved to a level acceptable to the Greek civil authorities, and, as an EU member, Greek citizens enjoy the freedom of religion. == Legacy ==

The number of Soulakiotis' victims is a matter of some debate; the most commonly cited figure of 27 murders and 150 negligent homicides from tuberculosis comes from medical testimony during her trial. it is unclear the degree to which Soulakiotis was involved in the negligent homicides she was convicted of in 1952. Some modern English-speaking Matthewite writers, such as the priest Constantine Kouris, assert that Soulakiotis was innocent and unjustly tried. At least since 2008, none of the monastery's current nuns were personal witnesses of what took place between the 1930s and the 1950s at the monastery, yet they continue to pray for the intercession of "Holy" Mariam of Keratea all the same, whom they regard as martyred in the cause of Christ. Explanations in support of her innocence offered by nuns contemporary to Soulakiotis included the idea that male bishops and monks were "jealous" of the wealth and power held by the female Soulakiotis, and were instead guilty of the crimes they accused her of; another is that the number of deaths was simply attributable to the fact that many who joined the monastery "were already old". According to Nina Kouletaki in her 2019 Greek language treatise on female serial killers, Murderesses, it is only by happenstance that the monastery used the old Julian calendar rather than its revised form; she opines that at the time a cunning, shrewd abbess like Soulakiotis would have had equal success regardless of her brand of Greek Orthodox Christianity. Furthermore, Kouletaki opines that Greek tabloid journalists used the sordid details of Souletakis' convent as a convenient "distraction" from the political chaos of her time. In his 1992 exhaustive academic listing of female serial killers, Women Serial and Mass Murderers, Kerry Segrave writes that the prosecution "established" to his satisfaction the veracity of the number of victims as being at least 177. == In popular culture ==

Two episodes of Greek crime drama '''' were inspired by the case of Soulakiotis, although not directly naming her or the monastery: In the horror drama series Grotesquerie on FX (2024 to present). In Season 1 Episode 2 one of the main characters (a Catholic nun) names Soulakiotis as their favorite serial killer and briefly tells her story. In 2025, a film about the event was released called Sound of Silence. The film is considered gothic horror. == See also ==