Abbess MARIAM (+1954)

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Archimandrit Nilos
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Abbess MARIAM (+1954)

Post by Archimandrit Nilos »

In memory of holy feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, in which the martyred and historical women's Monastery of the Virgin Mary in Keratea Attica celebrates, we quote from the history article of then actually "Orthodox Breath" (January 1990) to remember the Older and younger know the battles that holy faces gave in our days (such as Mary Abbot) for the sweetest Orthodoxy and the Holy Church of Christ at all costs!

“And by this pretext that supposedly the Abbot of the monastery late Mariam Soulakiotou, usurping the property of them sisters who become a monk, but only literally, because She (Nun Mariam) and the Monastery follow consistently the paternal Eastern Orthodox calendar, in 1950 she was tried and convicted, unjustly unnecessarily and illegally. And she was shut, despite her blatant innocence, in prison where she died as a martyr and a saint on November 8, 1954 Saints Angels’ feast (in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar), at the age of 64 years.
Therefore, the late and blessed memory Abbot Mary Soulakiotou was undoubtedly a SAINT- MARTYR and CONFESSOR of this century, enduring with unparalleled generosity and heroic endurance, albeit bloodless martyrdom without to be anxious, without being bent, without to be angry against anyone, with great patience and fortitude, with admirable intellectual prowess and exemplary generosity, always she was having the beatitudes of the Lord: "Blessed are you when they criticize you and reject you and tell you every wicked saying Because of me, in falsehood. Be glad and rejoice that your reward is great in Heaven. For this is how they rejected the prophets before you. (Matthew 5, 11- 12)" And "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you" (Luke 6, 27- 28).

She was the late Mary Abbot, and not as she was presented by the shameless papers and the disrespectful mob. One proof that all this were occurred by infernal purposes and by malicious people with devil libelous was this: A Athenian Journalist in a newspaper visited the monastery and he was questioned by the Nuns why he inflicted with so much passion and evil on the monastery in his newspaper and he replied "I get paid and write. Give me the double and I will immediately resume. Be blessed everlasting the memory of the Martyr and Confessor Mother Mary Soulakiotou. Similar tortures endured the (400) nuns (of this historical Holy Monastery of Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece.
As many were influenced by the formidable slander and the terrible lies, they sought the complete dissolution of the monastery. They discussed constantly and consult on the change when they would have in their hands. Sometimes they decide to change it in a hospital, sometimes in camp for kids and sometimes in barracks. This persisted on it and very senior military were coming, who were entrants in arbitrary dimensions in Monastery’s Parthenon to count the cells but ... by the Divine will, they found them unfit for the military installation. And the most terrible was that they decided to use the buildings of the monastery...as a hospital for lepers. But since this new was spread, the residents of Keratea protested, frustrated for their decision, and they demand persistent not to do this.
The Mighty protects of the Virgin Mary and the embassies of the Blessed memory, owner in heaven (St. Matthew the Confessor), dispelled any contrary advice and remove any malicious action to. The nuns in the monastery, although the daily raids that they ever were left in grief and agony they were thriving but the mind and great generosity and they endured perseverance all this. They results in the heroic decision, if they finally would decide the dissolution of the monastery and they would come to compel by force, then the nuns would be blow up in the air. They preferred to be buried in the ruins than to leave the Monastery of their repentance, which by so toil and labor, the sisters formed, for their soul's salvation.

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Isaakos
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Re: Abbess MARIAM (+1954)

Post by Isaakos »

So this may be obvious, but do we have good evidence apart from anecdote of her innocence? I believe it is certainly possible, I know Archbishop Matthew Prophesied her fate. But, do we have any good English stuff?

Blessed is the man who has volunteered to hold and keep until the end of his life our holy Orthodox faith, the faith of the one Church of Christ and our mother, the Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Archbishop Matthew Karpathakis

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Barbara
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Re: Abbess MARIAM (+1954)

Post by Barbara »

What a remarkable story ! I had not seen this post.
I didn't understand everything. Yes, could we get more detail on the worthy Abbess' life ?

I was not clear whether she reposed of illness or some kind of ill treatment in the prison ?
It IS wonderful that it occurred on that holy Feast of Archangel Michael and All Angels, which of course was also the day of repose of our St Philaret of New York !

Nice to see your avatar Icon, Isaakos, speaking of the great Metropolitan Philaret !

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Isaakos
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Re: Abbess MARIAM (+1954)

Post by Isaakos »

So, it turns out that the State Church Archbishop of Greece, Spyridon, told Met. Chrysostom they needed the monastery at Keratea destroyed in order to destroy the GOC. Met Chrysostom agreed.

on page 175 of his book, ..Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane," the famous old Calendarist historian, Mr. Stawos Karamitsos, (whose writings are used by both the Holy Synod and Florinites alike) gives the following account regarding the events of 1951 involving the New Calendarist "Archbishop" Spyridon Vlachos (the most fierce persecutor of the Genuine Orthodox Christians) and Chrysostom, the former Metropolitan of Florina: "At the time that Spyridon Wachos was elevqted to the Archdiocesan throne (of the State Church), ... many issues that needed quick solutions (including the calendqr issue) were discussed. For this reason, (Spyridon Vtachos) visited the former (Metropolitan) of Florina, with whom he shared a brotherly friendship, and told him the following:

'Chrysostom, our Church has made a prince. We must take care to dissolve the Monastery of Keratea. And afterwards, we ourselves shall Find a solution to the Old Calendarist issue, in accordqnce with the Divine and Sacred Canons of the Church.."

Mr. S. Karamitsos then continues: "The holy former (Metropolitan) of Ftorina, and the Synod under him, believed in Archbishop Spyridon's words, in that the latter was really interested in the unity of the faith and the observance of the Sacred Canons, and that he desires to dissolve the faction of the ("Matthewite") Bishops, urged by godly zeal for the Divine and Sacred Canons'.."

So basically the destruction of the monastery was planned by the Florinites and the New Calendarists acting together.

Blessed is the man who has volunteered to hold and keep until the end of his life our holy Orthodox faith, the faith of the one Church of Christ and our mother, the Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Archbishop Matthew Karpathakis

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Re: Abbess MARIAM (+1954)

Post by Jean-Serge »

I seldom heard about Mother Mariam and recently read about her from a website that seems run by a World Orthodox person who reported things from the newspapers of this period. It appears she was accused of and condemned for : stealing the property of some person with fraud but also mistreatment (hitting, starving etc) against people staying at Keratea, some of them dying. I guess this will be a new angle of attack against Matthewites, so I suggest them to gather the complete information about this period to clarify the situation for people like me who never heard about this. What do we know about the trial of this time, about the accusers, the trial etc.

Priidite, poklonimsja i pripadem ko Hristu.

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Maria
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Re: Abbess MARIAM (+1954)

Post by Maria »

Jean-Serge wrote:

I seldom heard about Mother Mariam and recently read about her from a website that seems run by a World Orthodox person who reported things from the newspapers of this period. It appears she was accused of and condemned for : stealing the property of some person with fraud but also mistreatment (hitting, starving etc) against people staying at Keratea, some of them dying. I guess this will be a new angle of attack against Matthewites, so I suggest them to gather the complete information about this period to clarify the situation for people like me who never heard about this. What do we know about the trial of this time, about the accusers, the trial etc.

Jean-Serge, please do not quote from this unofficial New Calendar laity blog where you got this information or from any laity-run gossip blogs in the ROCOR-A.

That particular New Calendarist blog is one of hundreds of disinformation blogs run by members of the Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL), who continue to persecute not only the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece (GOC), but also all the monasteries run by Elder Ephrem of Mt. Athos. They remain very anti-monastic and anti-Traditional. Most of the leadership and membership in OCL are Freemasons, and their hatred of True Orthodoxy, the Old Calendar, fasting regulations, and monasticism is very evident. In their sponsorship and heavy financial support of SCOBA and now the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, they remain very influential within the Greek Archdiocese of North America under Archbishop Demetrios and friends of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

While the OCL had their official blog open to the public about ten years ago, I perused it and found a lot of anti-monasticism and disinformation. Their official blog was then closed to the general public and is only open to members with various degrees of membership, much like masonic lodges. In other words, OCL has an official site, which you can read, but you cannot go beyond the general membership information to subscribe to it. When I last looked, only paid members can open the other areas.

Members of the OCL are encouraged to have numerous blogs of disinformation. Blogs are personal websites, which no one can rely upon as official news information outlets.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

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Maria
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Re: Abbess MARIAM (+1954)

Post by Maria »

Jean-Serge wrote:

I seldom heard about Mother Mariam and recently read about her from a website that seems run by a World Orthodox person who reported things from the newspapers of this period. It appears she was accused of and condemned for : stealing the property of some person with fraud but also mistreatment (hitting, starving etc) against people staying at Keratea, some of them dying. I guess this will be a new angle of attack against Matthewites, so I suggest them to gather the complete information about this period to clarify the situation for people like me who never heard about this. What do we know about the trial of this time, about the accusers, the trial etc.

This was posted by Archimandrite Nilos above:

  • And by this pretext that supposedly the Abbot of the monastery late Mariam Soulakiotou, usurping the property of them sisters who become a monk, but only literally, because She (Nun Mariam) and the Monastery follow consistently the paternal Eastern Orthodox calendar, in 1950 she was tried and convicted, unjustly unnecessarily and illegally. And she was shut, despite her blatant innocence, in prison where she died as a martyr and a saint on November 8, 1954 Saints Angels’ feast (in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar), at the age of 64 years.

    Therefore, the late and blessed memory Abbot Mary Soulakiotou was undoubtedly a SAINT- MARTYR and CONFESSOR of this century, enduring with unparalleled generosity and heroic endurance, albeit bloodless martyrdom without to be anxious, without being bent, without to be angry against anyone, with great patience and fortitude, with admirable intellectual prowess and exemplary generosity, always she was having the beatitudes of the Lord: "Blessed are you when they criticize you and reject you and tell you every wicked saying Because of me, in falsehood. Be glad and rejoice that your reward is great in Heaven. For this is how they rejected the prophets before you. (Matthew 5, 11- 12)" And "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you" (Luke 6, 27- 28).

    She was the late Mary Abbot, and not as she was presented by the shameless papers and the disrespectful mob. One proof that all this were occurred by infernal purposes and by malicious people with devil libelous was this: A Athenian Journalist in a newspaper visited the monastery and he was questioned by the Nuns why he inflicted with so much passion and evil on the monastery in his newspaper and he replied "I get paid and write. Give me the double and I will immediately resume. Be blessed everlasting the memory of the Martyr and Confessor Mother Mary Soulakiotou. Similar tortures endured the (400) nuns (of this historical Holy Monastery of Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

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