Mariam Soulakiotis

Abbess Mariam Soulakiotis[lower-alpha 1][note 5] (c. 1883[note 1] – 23 November 1954),[3][5] née Marina Soulakiotou,[lower-alpha 3][1]: 360  also known either to her followers as Mariam of Keratea,[lower-alpha 7][6][7] or in contemporary media pejoratively as "Mother Rasputin",[lower-alpha 8][9][1]: 357 [2] was a Greek Old Calendarist Eastern Orthodox abbess and serial killer who was found guilty of numerous counts of murder, fraud and other crimes, which public prosecutors of the Kingdom of Greece alleged she committed against both laypeople and other nuns in her abbey[1]: 365–366  between 1939 and her arrest in December 1950.[7][9]

"Mother Rasputin" redirects here. For the daughter of Grigori Rasputin, see Maria Rasputin.
"Abbess Mariam" redirects here. For saints named Mary, see Saint Mary (disambiguation).
Mariam Soulakiotis
Μαριάμ Σουλακιώτη[lower-alpha 1] or
Σουλακιώτου[lower-alpha 2]
Born
Marina Soulakiotou[1]: 360 [lower-alpha 3]

c. 1883 (1883)[note 1]
№71 Megalou Alexandrou,[1]: 360 [lower-alpha 4] Keratea, Greece
Died (aged 71)[note 2]
Averoff Prison
Resting placePanagia Pefkovounogiatrissa Monastery [wd][lower-alpha 5][1]: 366 
Occupation(s)Nun, abbess, convicted criminal
OrganizationGreek Old Calendarists (Florinite)
PredecessorBishop Matthew Karpathakis of Vresthena (†1950)[lower-alpha 6]
Criminal penalty14 years in prison (died with pending criminal cases)
Details
Victims27[note 3]–177[note 4][3]
Date apprehended
5 December 1950
Imprisoned atAveroff Prison

During the time period of the crimes she was convicted of, Soulakiotis was neither a member of the mainstream Greek Orthodox Church nor in communion with the other, larger Old Calendarist group (the "Florinites") — she was a devoted follower of Archbishop Matthew Karpathakis of Vresthena,[lower-alpha 6] whom both groups consider a schismatic.[10][11]

Greek civil authorities first arrested Soulakiotis on two charges unrelated to serial murder: export of olive oil to Cyprus and import of tires[4] after a large raid on her abbey which took place on 4 December 1950.[7] Receiving multiple sentences over her three trials totaling fourteen years,[1]: 366 [note 6] Soulakiotis died in Averoff Prison on 23 November 1954.[12] As she died before all of her criminal trials were done, she was only technically found guilty of seven premeditated murders—as well as more than one hundred negligent homicides due to offering 'free' tuberculosis treatment that only consisted of staying at her monastery's high altitude locale, not medical therapy.[1]: 365  Excluding these negligent homicides, the typically agreed upon total of her victims is 27; including them, 177.[12][13]

Soulakiotis' convent was the Panagia Pefkovounogiatrissa Monastery[lower-alpha 5][14] ("The Convent of the Virgin in the Pines")[9] near Keratea, Greece. As of 2022, the Old Calendarist abbey Soulakiotis once managed remains open and still has nuns who believe she was innocent and who venerate her as a saint.[15][14] Some modern Greek Old Calendarists on Matthew's side of the schism (but outside the convent) concur.[16]: 8, 22 

Modern secular historians, however, reject the possibility of her innocence, based on the overwhelming number of witness statements and amount of evidence, although disagreement exists as to the true number of her victims.[1][13]

Early life (c. 1883–c. 1900)

Little is known of Soulakiotis' life before she became an Orthodox nun,[3] except that she was a factory worker,[8] and that she was born with the given name Marina[1]: 359–360  c. 1883 in Keratea, Greece,[note 1] which is around 50.6 kilometers (31.4 mi) from Athens.[17] Her childhood home, later converted into one of the monastery's buildings, was at №71 Megalou Alexandrou St.[1]: 360 [lower-alpha 4]

Religious life

As Greek Orthodox nun (c. 1900–1923)

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.[6][lower-alpha 6][10] 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.[10][11]

As a nun, Mariam was called Mother (and later Abbess) Mariam of Keratea.[lower-alpha 7][6]

Foundation of the Pefkovounogiatrissa Monastery (1923–1939)
Map of the Panagia Pefkovounogiatrissa Monastery
Map of the Panagia Pefkovounogiatrissa Monastery centered at 37°50′14″N 24°02′19″E
Soulakiotis' monastery is located in Greece
Soulakiotis' monastery
Soulakiotis' monastery
Soulakiotis' monastery (Greece)

Mariam Soulakiotis, together with the hieromonk Archbishop Matthew Karpathakis of Vresthena,[lower-alpha 6] founded the Panagia Pefkovounogiatrissa Monastery[lower-alpha 5] in 1927.[6] The monastery is located between the town of Keratea and the rural village of Kaki Thalassa, both located in the municipality of Lavreotiki, in the region of East Attica.[18][13]: 270 

The monastery was officially founded to "honor the Presentation of the Virgin Mary",[1]: 360  but Matthew also made clear that the goal of the monastery is to support the nascent Old Calendarist movement financially.[1]: 359  At the monastery's founding, Matthew was already 66 years old.[1]: 359  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.[1]: 360  Greek author Nina Kouletaki[lower-alpha 9] 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.[1]: 361 

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, Ιερά Μονή Εισοδίων Παναγίας Πευκοβουνογιατρίσσης,[14] can be translated as 'Monastery of the 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".[9]

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.[1]: 361  In 1938, the convent began marketing itself as a free-of-charge tuberculosis treatment center.[1]: 361 [13]

Founding nuns
In the list below, the monastic names of the nuns are shown in parenthesis, unless it is identical to their given name.

The founding nuns were:[1]: 360 

  1. Marina (Mariam) Soulakiotou[lower-alpha 2]
  2. Irini (Evfrosyni) Mendrinou[lower-alpha 10]
  3. Maria (Makaria) Tsangari[lower-alpha 11]
  4. Panagiota (Dionysia) Vounisakou[lower-alpha 12]
  5. Maria Fameli[lower-alpha 13]
  6. Asimina (Xeni) Tampakaki[lower-alpha 14]
  7. Eleni (Synglitiki) Karpathaki[lower-alpha 15]

Rise to power

While Soulakiotis' official tenure as abbess began in 1950, she had already been doing the work of an abbess since 1939,[13]: 270  "assuming full responsibility for the monastery" when 'Archbishop' Matthew was aged 78.[1]: 363  Matthew left all day-to-day operations to her, as he was for some of that time in prison and for the rest of it, as a hieromonk, seeking spiritual rewards for ascetic monastic practices, such as forty-day fasts, voluntary stays in deprived isolation cells, and tying heavy metal chains to his body to be carried around at all times.[16][13][1]: 361–363 

Decline of Matthew's health (c. 1939–1950)

Matthew's health is said to have begun declining during World War II—leaving him even less able to effectively supervise Soulakiotis, and making him more dependent on her.[1]: 363  When Matthew's health started to seriously fail in 1950, Soulakiotis' already considerable influence over him grew in turn.[6]: 100, 104 

Soulakiotis is therefore sometimes portrayed negatively even in Eastern Orthodox Church histories—one author of such a history, Vladimir Moss, relates a story where she is said to have prevented Matthew from saying something on his deathbed to Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Florina, a fellow Old Calendarist bishop, but one with whom he was in schism, after Matthew tried to sit up "out of deference" to Metropolitan Crysostomos and began to try to speak inaudibly.[6]: 106 

Soulakiotis, it is claimed, burst into the room at that moment with a group of other nuns and demanded Metropolitan Crysostomos and his entourage leave at once.[6]: 106  Matthew would die only a few days later, so it is unknown if he wanted to heal the schism with Chrysostomos[6]: 106 —a deathbed conversion of sorts.

After the death of Matthew, Soulakiotis succeeded him as abbot of the monastery.[6][16] 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 Eastern Orthodox nuns of the highest rank (who cannot rise higher as they cannot become ordained priestesses),[19] which entirely covered her forehead and eyebrows.[9][4]

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;[7] once the money was donated, Soulakiotis would embezzle it and in some cases kill the donor.[12] Beginning in 1940, after establishing control over the other nuns in the monastery's convent, she was said to have even sent the monastery's monks around Greece in search of wealthy "spinsters, widows, [and] families" to convert.[13]: 270–271 [20] Reuters reported that at the time of her arrest she had amassed three hundred homes and farms across Greece this way along with "gold and jewels worth thousands of pounds."[2] (£2,000 is equivalent to £72,904 in 2021.) One of her accusers, Eugenia Margheti,[lower-alpha 16][1]: 364  said she was held in an isolation cell and tortured until she surrendered property worth ₯118 million (US$80,000 in 1952—equivalent to US$881,604 in 2022).[21]

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".[1]: 362 

Soulakiotis further faced police scrutiny when they were searching for an 18-year-old woman from Toledo, Ohio but born in Greece, Simela Spyrides,[lower-alpha 17] who first went missing in 1949.[22][2] The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation had traced Spyrides to the monastery,[23] and her father, Christo Spyrides, called on Greek 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.[24] 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.[25]

The prosecution further alleged that Soulakiotis' strict adherence to ascetic practices among those in the convent led to the unnecessary deaths of 150 people, who had sought treatment at the monastery for tuberculosis.[5][1]: 361  They also alleged that the only time doctors were allowed on site was to sign death certificates, never to carry out medically supervised treatment of the deadly communicative lung infection.[13]: 271 

Victims of Soulakiotis' administration of the monastery who were still alive in the 1950's also variously accused her of torturing them, starving them, falsely imprisoning them, and beating them.[12][26]

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.[1]: 362 [7] 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".[1]: 363  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.[1]: 363 

Trials

Although extremely concerned, due to questions over the voluntary nature of monasticism,[1]: 367  the initial charges prosecutors felt they could prove carried light sentences: illegal export of olive oil to Cyprus and illegal import of tires.[4] As more evidence and witness statements came to light, the indictment of Soulakiotis was revised repeatedly.[1]: 365 

When Archbishop Spyridon Vlachos of Athens failed to reconcile with Metropolitan Crysostomos of Florina, all Old Calendarist sects in Greece, including the Matthewites, were outlawed in January 1951.[27] 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.[21]: 365–369 

At her trials, Soulakiotis wore an Orthodox icon depicting the deceased Matthew,[lower-alpha 6][9] who among some Greek Old Calendarists is honored in death—glorified—by referring to him by the posthumous name (Father) "Saint Matthew the New Confessor".[16]: 1 [lower-alpha 18][28]

Defense arguments

At trial, Soulakiotis' attorney, Panos Panayotakos,[lower-alpha 19] said in her defense that people surrender all their material property to monasteries when joining as a matter of course (a vow of poverty).[note 7][24] He said that the properties were put in Soulakiotis' personal name simply because there was no legal person behind the monastery.[24] In furtherance of their defense, Panayotakos also showed a letter by Field Marshal Harold Alexander, which he claimed thanked the clergy of the Panagia Pefkovounogiatrissa Monastery[lower-alpha 5] for heroically risking themselves to aid the escapes of a number of British soldiers in the midst of the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II.[24]

Specific murders tried

Only accounted for in this section are the murders she was convicted of before her death; she had pending unresolved cases.[1]: 365–366  Soulakiotis was found guilty of the following seven murders in particular between her three trials:[1]: 365–366 

Mr. and Mrs. Baka[lower-alpha 20]
the Baka family, originally having five members—two adults and three children—were convinced by Soulakiotis to join the monastery and at first voluntarily surrendered their property. When Mrs. Baka realized the terrible conditions of the monastery, she informed the nuns she wanted to leave with her children. Not willing to part with the considerable wealth owned by the Baka family, Soulakiotis condemned her to live in solitary confinement in a tuberculosis-ridden cell for six months, with little food. When Mrs. Baka emerged, she fell into a coma and died soon afterwards; her husband met the same fate.[1]: 365 
Mr. and Mrs. Panagiotopoulou[lower-alpha 21]
forced to sign over their home to Soulakiotis, both died of starvation in the monastery.[1]: 365 
Ms. Michalakou[lower-alpha 22]
fell ill with tuberculosis and decided to try the monastery as it offered free treatment. Was given no treatment nor seen by a doctor, and was locked in a cell in which she died after signing over the title to her property.[1]: 366 
Sister Theodote[lower-alpha 23]
after being accused of misconduct by Soulakiotis, she was ordered beaten as a penance. The nuns who carried out Soulakiotis' orders beat her to the point of internal hemorrhage which caused her death.[1]: 366 
Sister Maria[lower-alpha 24]
landed in hospital after a similar beating as was handed out to Sister Theodote, where she died.[1]: 366 

Verdicts

Soulakiotis denied all the charges against her until her death, deriding them as "Satanic fictions".[lower-alpha 25][5] She was said to have accepted all of her criminal sentences "without emotion",[9] only crossing herself and saying a quiet "prayer of vengeance" to "Saint Matthew".[29][note 8]

All told, Soulakiotis received three sentences at separate trials: one between 1951–2, and two in the year 1953, the last ending mere months before her death.[1]: 363  At her first trial, she received a sentence of 26 months;[30] at her second, 10 years concurrently; and at her third, four additional years consecutively.[3][1]: 363 [13]

Religious following

Described as a "cult leader",[31] Soulakiotis had more than 400 followers living in the monastery at the peak of her power.[1]: 362  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.[1]: 362 

In 1951, after her arrest, her followers marched in protest at her detention, demanding that their "leaders" be given back to them.[31] 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.[31]

Death

Having received multiple different sentences over her three trials adding to a total of fourteen years,[1]: 366 [note 6] Soulakiotis died in Averoff Prison on 23 November 1954.[7][12] Reports conflict as to her age,[note 2] but Reuters and Newsbeast give her age upon her death as 71.[2][5]

After her death, she was buried on the grounds of the convent, nearby the body of her predecessor, Bishop Matthew Karpathakis.[1]: 366 [lower-alpha 6]

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.[23] In 1961, police stated that they did not know who had taken over from Soulakiotis, stating that the monastery's new presumed abbess had "perfected the art of making herself and her pseudo-sacred sisters vanish" without a trace.[32]

As of 2022, the Old Calendarist monastery Soulakiotis once managed, Keratea's Panagia Pefkovounogiatrissa Monastery,[lower-alpha 5] remains open and still has members who believe she was innocent and who venerate her as a saint.[15][14] 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.[1]: 367–369 

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.[2] Authorities, however, at one point claimed she had killed more than 500.[13]: 272  As during Soulakiotis' day, tuberculosis treatment was still new, and was a problem throughout Greece,[33] 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.[16]: 8, 22  At least since 2008, none of the monastery's current nuns were personal witnesses of what took place between the 1930's and the 1950's at the monastery, yet they continue to pray for the intercession of "Holy"[lower-alpha 26] Mariam of Keratea all the same, whom they regard as martyred in the cause of Christ.[1]: 368 [15]

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".[13]: 272 

According to Nina Kouletaki[lower-alpha 9] 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.[1]: 359  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.[1]: 357–359 

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.[13]: 272 

Two episodes of Greek crime drama Anatomy of a Crime were inspired by the case of Soulakiotis, although not directly naming her or the monastery:[1]: 369 

S E Greek title Transliterated title Translated title Director
1 20 "Καθαρτήριο" Kathartirio "Purgatory" Takis Spetsiotis
2 26 "Η τρίτη εντολή" I triti entoli "The Third Commandment" Panos Kokkinopoulos

See also

Footnotes

Notes
  1. Press reports state she died in 1954 at the age of 71.[2][5]
  2. For example, Reuters listed her age as 65 in 1953[20] but as 71 in her 1954 obituary.[2]
  3. Only counting direct homicides[2]
  4. Including negligent homicides[2]
  5. Her title was occasionally given (incorrectly) as Mother Superior in English-language works contemporary to her trials.[4]
  6. Due to her old age upon sentencing, her sentence is sometimes described as life in prison[12] despite not legally having been such.[1]: 363 
  7. See also Eastern Christian monasticism
  8. By which she meant the aforementioned Abp. Matthew Karpathakis of Vresthena, not Matthew the Apostle.

Translations
These notes use ISO 843 for the Romanization of Greek.
  1. Greek: Μαριάμ Σουλακιώτη
  2. Greek: Μαριάμ Σουλακιώτου
  3. Greek: Μαρίνα Σουλακιώτου
  4. Greek: Μεγάλου Αλεξάνδρου 71
  5. Greek: Μονή Παναγίας Πευκοβουνογιάτρισσας
  6. Greek: Επίσκοπος Βρεσθένης Ματθαίος Καρπαθάκης; Epískopos Vresthénīs Matthaíos Karpathákīs
  7. Greek: Ηγουμένη (Μητέρα) Μαριάμ Κερατέας
  8. Greek: Η γυναίκα Ρασπούτιν, lit. 'the woman Rasputin'[8]
  9. Greek: Νίνα Κουλετάκη
  10. Greek: Ειρήνη (Ευφροσύνη) Μενδρινού
  11. Greek: Μαρία (Μακαρία) Τσαγκάρη
  12. Greek: Παναγιώτα (Διονυσία) Βουνισάκου
  13. Greek: Μαρία Φαμέλη
  14. Greek: Ασημίνα (Ξένη) Ταμπακάκη
  15. Greek: Ελένη (Συγκλητική) Καρπαθάκη
  16. Greek: Ευγενία Μαργέτη
  17. Greek: Συμέλα Σπυρίδου
  18. Greek: Ἅγιος Πατήρ Ματθαῖος, ὁ Νέος Ὁμολογητής
  19. Greek: Πάνος Παναγιωτάκος
  20. Greek: Ζεύγος Μπάκα; Zeúgos Báka
  21. Greek: Ζεύγος Παναγιωτόπουλου
  22. Greek: Η Μιχαλάκου
  23. Greek: Μοναχή Θεοδότη; Monachī́ Theodótī
  24. Greek: Μοναχή Μαρία
  25. Greek: «κατασκευάσματα του σατανά»; kataskeuásmata tou sataná
  26. Greek: αγια; agia

References
  1. Kouletaki, Nina (2019). Φόνισσες [Murderesses] (in Greek). Athens: Κύφαντα (Kyfanta). pp. 356–370. ISBN 9786188396760.
  2. "Embezzled Nuns' Dowries, Amassed Fortune". Reuters. 25 November 1954 – via Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton Queensland, p. 10.
  3. Newton, Michael (1 February 2006). The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. Infobase Publishing. p. 412. ISBN 9780816069873.
  4. "Nuns Charged with Abduction". The Mercury. Hobart, Tasmania: Associated Press. 26 January 1951. p. 5. Retrieved 28 March 2022 – via Trove.
  5. "To kolastírio tis Monís Keratéas kai i aimostagís igouméni" Το κολαστήριο της Μονής Κερατέας και η αιμοσταγής ηγουμένη [The hellscape of the Monastery of Keratea and its murderous abbess]. Newsbeast (in Greek). 5 February 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  6. Moss, Vladimir (2008). New Zion in Babylon: The Orthodox Church in the Twentieth Century (PDF). Vol. 4. pp. 100–106. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2021.
  7. Stamatiou, Elina (9 May 2016). "I monachí serial killer Mariám tis Keratéas" Η μοναχή serial killer Μαριάμ της Κερατέας [The serial killer nun: Mariam of Keratea]. Ρεπορτερ [Reporter] (in Greek). Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  8. "The Greeks are Calling Mother Mariam a "Female Rasputin"". Sunday Pictorial. London. 17 December 1950. p. 8. Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Martin, Richard (26 November 1954). "Mother Rasputin, They Aptly Named Her". The Sun. Sydney, New South Wales. p. 22. Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Trove, National Library of Australia.
  10. "1937 – 1950". Εκκλησιαστικός (in Greek). 30 July 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  11. Yannakopoulos, Joel (5 June 2012). "Old Calendar–New Calendar: The Facts". Eastern Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  12. Maniatis, Kostas (12 September 2020). "I Ellinída igouméni pou skótone kalógries kai tous ékleve tis periousíes" Η Ελληνίδα ηγουμένη που σκότωνε καλόγριες και τους έκλεβε τις περιουσίες [The Greek abbess who killed nuns and stole their fortunes]. OneMan (in Greek). 24Media. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  13. Segrave, Kerry (1992). "Mariam Soulakiotis". Women Serial and Mass Murderers: a Worldwide Reference, 1580 through 1990. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 270–272. ISBN 9780899506807. OCLC 24910163.
  14. "Istoria Tis Monis" Ιστορια Της Μονης [History of the monastery]. Μονή Παναγίας Πευκοβουνογιατρίσσης [Panagia Pefkovounogiatrissa Monastery] (in Greek). 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  15. Starida, Giouli (22 May 2008). "To monastíri ton nekrón" Το μοναστήρι των νεκρών [The monastery of the dead]. Espresso (in Greek). Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  16. Kouris, Constantine (1 May 2010). "The Life of St. Matthew the New-Confessor († 1950)" (PDF). The G.O.C. The Holy Synod of All Hierarchs of the Genuine Orthodox Church. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  17. "Keratea to Athens". Google Maps. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  18. "ISYCHASTIRIO EISODION PANAGIAS PEUKOVOUNOGIATRISSIS — Alópis 47, Athína Keratéa, 11853" ΗΣΥΧΑΣΤΗΡΙΟ ΕΙΣΟΔΙΩΝ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΑΣ ΠΕΥΚΟΒΟΥΝΟΓΙΑΤΡΙΣΣΗΣ — Αλόπης 47, Αθήνα Κερατέα, 11853 [Corporation: Eisodiōn Panagias Peykovoynogiatrissīs Hesychastry — registered at Alópīs 47, Athens–Keratea, 11 853]. Vrisko (in Greek). Newsphone Hellas Inc. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  19. Thomas, Gabrielle (10 July 2020). Narinskaya, Elena (ed.). Women and Ordination in the Orthodox Church: Explorations in Theology and Practice (ePub). Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock. pp. 12–20. ISBN 9781532695803. OCLC 1191712957.
  20. ""Mother Mariam" is Jailed for Appropriating Wealth of Nuns in Convent". The Owen Sound Sun-Times. Reuters. 7 February 1953. p. 2. Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. "Greek Cloister is 'Vile Den' of Terror". Tucson Daily Citizen. Associated Press. 23 August 1952. p. 6. Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. "Convent headquarters of crime: 4 years' jail for abbess". Leicester Evening Mail. 18 November 1953. p. 10. Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. Lo Bello, Nino (2 August 1959). "Greek Police Try to Break Up Sect". The Times-Dispatch. Richmond, Virginia. p. 17. Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. "Greek Nun Lured Girl, Says Father". New York Daily News. Associated Press. 6 January 1951. p. 156. Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. "Greeks Hunt U.S. Beauty 'Lured' to Monastery". The Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 6 January 1951. p. 15. Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. Karagiannēs, Giōrgos (1997). Ekklisía kai krátos 1833–1997 Εκκλησία και κράτος 1833–1997 [Church and State: 1833–1997] (in Greek). Ekdoseis "To Pontiki". pp. 106–107. ISBN 9789608402492.
  27. "Greece Exiles Leader of Religious Sect". The Salt Lake Tribune. Reuters News Agency. 9 March 1951. p. 4. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  28. Laskaratou, Anagnostis (9 September 2021). "I pnevmatikí schési tou agíou Nektaríou me ágio idioktíti porneíou kai idrytí ántrou vasanistiríon" Η πνευματική σχέση του αγίου Νεκταρίου με άγιο ιδιοκτήτη πορνείου και ιδρυτή άντρου βασανιστηρίων [The spiritual relationship of Saint Nektarios with a holy brothel owner and torment den founder]. Ροΐδη και Λασκαράτου Εμμονές [Roides' and Laskaratou's Obsessions ] (in Greek). Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  29. "Abbess Prays for Vengeance as She Hears Sentence". Panama City News-Herald. 7 February 1953. p. 7. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  30. "Woman Rasputin Bilked Converts of Estates, Fasted Them to Death". Fort Worth Star Telegram. Reuters. 7 February 1953. p. 1. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  31. "Greek Primate Guarded from "Old Calendarists"". The Boston Daily Globe. 23 February 1951. p. 33. Retrieved 30 March 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. Lo Bello, Nino (31 December 1961). "Seek Greek Women of 'Calendarist' Cult". The Cedar Rapids Gazette. p. 7. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  33. Peter, A. Theodos (1 November 1946). "Tuberculosis in Greece: Present Conditions and Future Considerations". Diseases of the Chest. 12 (6): 571–592. doi:10.1378/chest.12.6.571. ISSN 0096-0217. PMID 20274647.
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