Mariam Soulakiotis Polly SSML

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<p>Abbess Mariam <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> (born c. 1883, died 23 November 1954;), born with the name Marina <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊ'toʊː">Soulakiotou</phoneme>, known both to her followers as Mariam of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="kɛrə'teɪ'ə">Keratea</phoneme>, and in contemporary media pejoratively as "Mother <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="ræˈspu'tiːn">Rasputin</phoneme>", was a Greek Old Calendarist Eastern Orthodox abbess who was found guilty of numerous counts of serial 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 between 1939 and her arrest in December 1950.</p>
<p>During the time period of the crimes she was convicted of, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> 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 self-styled 'archbishop' Matthew <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="kɑːr.pɑːθ.ɑːk.is">Karpathakis</phoneme> of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="vɾes.ˈθe.na">Vresthena</phoneme>, which both groups consider a schismatic.</p>
<p>As more evidence and witness statements came to light, the indictment of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> was revised repeatedly. In January 1951, when the head of mainstream Greek Orthodoxy, Archbishop Spyridon, failed to come to a peace with Old Calendarist metropolitan Chrysostomos of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="floʊ'riːnə">Florina</phoneme> (a rival to Matthew), all Old Calendarist sects in Greece, including the Matthewites, were outlawed. The following month, the Public Prosecutor further indicted <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme>, along with thirteen other nuns and monks, on charges including homicide, fraud, forgery of wills, blackmail and torture, with <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> receiving the harshest indictment.</p>
<p>Receiving multiple sentences over her three trials adding to a total of fourteen years, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> died in Averoff Prison on 23 November 1954. 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. Excluding these negligent homicides, the typically agreed upon total of her victims is 27—including them, 177.</p>
<p><phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> was alleged to have committed her serial murders and other crimes in the <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="pɒnəˈgiə">Panagia</phoneme> <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="pɛfkoʊvoʊnoʊgiətriːsə">Pefkovounogiatrissa</phoneme> Monastery (literally: "The Convent of the Virgin in the Pines") between <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="kɛrə'teɪ'ə">Keratea</phoneme> and <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="kæ'kiː θəlɒː'səː">Kaki Thalassa</phoneme>, both in <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="læv.reɪ'oʊ.tiːk.iː">Lavreotiki</phoneme>, East Attica. As of 2022, the Old Calendarist abbey <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> once managed remains open and still has nuns who believe she was innocent and who venerate her as a saint. Some Greek Old Calendarists on Matthew's side of the schism—but abiding outside the convent in modern times—concur.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Section 1 — Early life (between c. 1883 and c. 1900)</p>
<p>Little is known of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiːz">Soulakiotis'</phoneme> life before she became an Orthodox nun, except that she was a factory worker, and that she was born with the given name Marina c. 1883 in <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="kɛrə'teɪ'ə">Keratea</phoneme>, Greece, which is around 50.6 kilometers (31.4 mi) from Athens. Her childhood home, later converted into one of the monastery's buildings, was at #71 <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="ˈmɛgə.ˌloʊ ˌæləkzˈænd.r'oʊ">Megalou Alexandrou</phoneme> St.</p>
<p>Section 2 — Religious life</p>
<p>2.1 — As Greek Orthodox nun (c. 1900 to c. 1923)</p>
<p><phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> started as a nun in the mainstream Greek Orthodox Church (<phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="ʤi.oʊ.si">GOC</phoneme>), but soon became a close confidante of her religious spiritual father, Bishop Matthew <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="kɑːr.pɑːθ.ɑːk.is">Karpathakis</phoneme> of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="vɾes.ˈθe.na">Vresthena</phoneme>. After the adoption of the New Calendar by the <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="ʤi.oʊ.si">GOC</phoneme> at the quote-unquote "pan-orthodox" Council of Constantinople of May 1923, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> became an avid Old Calendarist and a follower of Bishop Matthew, now self-styled Archbishop Matthew of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="vɾes.ˈθe.na">Vresthena</phoneme>, which both the mainstream Greek Orthodox Church and even many fellow Old Calendarists (quote-unquote "true Orthodox Christians") considered as being in schism.</p>
<p>As a nun, Mariam was called Mother—later Abbess—Mariam of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="kɛrə'teɪ'ə">Keratea</phoneme>.</p>
<p>2.2 — Foundation of the <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="pɛfkoʊvoʊnoʊgiətriːsə">Pefkovounogiatrissa</phoneme> Monastery (1923 to 1939)</p>
<p>Mariam <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme>, together with the hieromonk Archbishop Matthew <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="kɑːr.pɑːθ.ɑːk.is">Karpathakis</phoneme> of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="vɾes.ˈθe.na">Vresthena</phoneme>, founded the <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="pɒnəˈgiə">Panagia</phoneme> <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="pɛfkoʊvoʊnoʊgiətriːsə">Pefkovounogiatrissa</phoneme> Monastery in 1927. The monastery is located between the town of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="kɛrə'teɪ'ə">Keratea</phoneme> and the rural Mediterranean village of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="kæ'kiː θəlɒː'səː">Kaki Thalassa</phoneme>, both located in the municipality of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="læv.reɪ'oʊ.tiːk.iː">Lavreotiki</phoneme>, in the region of East Attica.</p>
<p>The monastery was officially founded to "honor the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple (that is to say, 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 <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> additionally acquired seven acres of land, and later that year, she acquired two more plots of land. Greek author <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="ˈni.nə 'ku.leɪ.tɑk.iː">Nina Kouletaki</phoneme> writes that even after having reviewed quote "long and sympathetic" unquote Matthewite histories of the monastery, there is no legal explanation as to how the nuns acquired the money to make such expensive property purchases.</p>
<p>The monastery's full Greek name, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="i.ˈɛ.rɒ">Ιερά</phoneme> <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="ˈmoʊ.ni">Μονή</phoneme> <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="ˈeɪ.soʊ.di.ˈoʊn">Εισοδίων</phoneme> <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="pɒn.ɒ.ˈgi.ɒs">Παναγίας</phoneme> <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="pɛfkoʊˈvoʊnoʊgiəˈtriːsiːs">Πευκοβουνογιατρίσσης</phoneme>, 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".</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>2.3 — Founding nuns</p>
<p>The founding nuns were:</p>
<p>1. Marina (Mariam) <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊ'toʊː">Soulakiotou</phoneme></p>
<p>2. Irini (<phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="jufroʊsiːniː">Evfrosyni</phoneme>) Mendrinou</p>
<p>3. Maria (Makaria) Tsangari</p>
<p>4. <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="pɒn.ɒ.gi.'oʊ.tə">Panagiota</phoneme> (<phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="diːoʊniːsiːə">Dionysia</phoneme>) <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="vːoʊniːsɒːkkuː">Vounisakou</phoneme></p>
<p>5. Maria <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="fɒ.mɛ.'liː">Fameli</phoneme></p>
<p>6. Asimina (Xeni) Tampakaki</p>
<p>7. Eleni (Synglitiki) Karpathaki</p>
<p>Section 3 — Rise to power</p>
<p>While <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiːz">Soulakiotis'</phoneme> 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 quote Archbishop unquote Matthew was aged 78. 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 severe 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.</p>
<p>3.1 — Decline of Matthew's health (c. 1939 to 1950)</p>
<p>Matthew's health is said to have begun declining during World War II—leaving him even less able to effectively supervise <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme>, and making him more dependent on her. When Matthew's health started to seriously fail in 1950, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiːz">Soulakiotis'</phoneme> already considerable influence over him grew in turn.</p>
<p><phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> 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.</p>
<p><phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme>, 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. Matthew would die only a few days later, so it is unknown if he wanted to heal the schism with Crysostomos—a deathbed conversion of sorts.</p>
<p>After the death of Matthew, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> succeeded him as abbot of the monastery. 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), which entirely covered her forehead and eyebrows.</p>
<p>Section 4 — Crimes</p>
<p><phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiːz">Soulakiotis'</phoneme> alleged modus operandi was to encourage wealthy women to join the convent, and then torture them until they donated their fortunes to the monastery; once the money was donated, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> would embezzle it and in some cases kill the donor. 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 quote "spinsters, widows, [and] families" unquote to convert. Reuters reported that at the time of her arrest she had amassed three hundred homes and farms across Greece this way along with quote "gold and jewels worth thousands of [British] pounds." quote (£2000 is equivalent to £70,060 in 2020.) One of her accusers, Eugenia Margheti, said she was held in an isolation cell and tortured until she surrendered property worth 118 million drachmas ($80,000 in 1952—equivalent to $779,649 in 2020).</p>
<p><phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> 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".</p>
<p><phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> further faced police scrutiny when they were searching for an 18-year-old woman from Toledo, Ohio but born in Greece, Simela <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="spiːriːdɛs">Spyrides</phoneme>, who first went missing in 1949. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation had traced <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="spiːriːdɛs">Spyrides</phoneme> to the monastery, and her father, Christo <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="spiːriːdɛs">Spyrides</phoneme>, 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. However, the Associated Press reported that <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="spiːriːdɛs">Spyrides</phoneme> was able to get into contact with his daughter after their initial reports, omitting whether or not she had been in the convent.</p>
<p>The prosecution further alleged that <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiːz">Soulakiotis'</phoneme> strict adherence ascetic practices among those in the convent led to the unnecessary deaths of 150 people, who had sought treatment at the monastery for tuberculosis, from it. They also alleged that the only time a doctors were allowed on site was to sign death certificates, never to carry out medically supervised treatment of the deadly communicative lung infection.</p>
<p>Victims of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiːz">Soulakiotis'</phoneme> 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.</p>
<p>Section 5 — Arrest</p>
<p>More than eighty-five police officers first raided the monastery's grounds on the night of December 4, 1950, accompanied by a deputy prosecutor, a judge, and a coroner, in an operation which lasted all night. Upon gaining entry, they forcibly removed all thirty-six children on the premises, having to wrest away 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.</p>
<p>Section 6 — Trials</p>
<p>Although extremely concerned, due to questions over the voluntary nature of monasticism, the initial charges prosecutors felt they could prove carried light sentences: illegal export of olive oil to Cyprus and illegal import of tires. As more evidence and witness statements came to light, the indictment of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> was revised repeatedly. When Archbishop Spyridon Vlachos of Athens failed to reconcile with Metropilitan Crysostomos of Florina, although he was not in communion with either <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> or the deceased Matthew, all Old Calendarist sects in Greece, including the Matthewites, were outlawed in January 1951. The following month, the Public Prosecutor further indicted <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme>, along with thirteen other nuns and monks, on charges including homicide, fraud, forgery of wills, blackmail and torture, with <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> receiving the harshest indictment.</p>
<p>At her trials, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> wore an Orthodox icon depicting the deceased Matthew, 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".</p>
<p>6.1 — Defense arguments</p>
<p>At trial, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiːz">Soulakiotis'</phoneme> attorney, Panos Panayotakos, said in her defense that people surrender all their material property to monasteries when joining as a matter of course (a vow of poverty). He said that the properties were put in <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiːz">Soulakiotis'</phoneme> personal name simply because there was no legal person behind the monastery. In furtherance of their defense, Panayotakos also showed a letter by Field Marshal Harold Alexander, which he claimed thanked the clergy of the <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="pɒnəˈgiə">Panagia</phoneme> <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="pɛfkoʊvoʊnoʊgiətriːsə">Pefkovounogiatrissa</phoneme> Monastery for heroically risking themselves to aide the escapes of multiple British soldiers in the midst of the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II.</p>
<p>6.2 — Specific murders tried</p>
<p>Only accounted for in this section are the murders <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> was convicted of before her death; she had pending unresolved cases. <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> was found guilty of the following seven murders in particular between her three trials:</p>
<p>Mr. and Mrs. Bakas</p>
<p>the Bakas family, originally having five members—two adults and three children—were convinced by <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> to join the monastery and at first voluntarily surrendered their property. When Mrs. Bakas 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 Bakas family, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> condemned her to live in solitary confinement in a tuberculosis-ridden cell for six months, with little food. When Mrs. Bakas emerged, she fell into a coma and died soon afterwards; her husband met the same fate.</p>
<p>Mr. and Mrs. Panagiotopoulou</p>
<p>forced to sign over their home to <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme>, both died of starvation in the monastery.</p>
<p>Ms. Michalakou</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Sister Theodote</p>
<p>after being accused of misconduct by <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme>, she was ordered beaten as a penance. The nuns who carried out <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiːz">Soulakiotis'</phoneme> orders beat her to the point of internal hemorrhage which caused her death.</p>
<p>Sister Maria</p>
<p>landed in hospital after a similar beating as was handed out to Sister Theodote, where she died.</p>
<p>Section 7 — Verdicts</p>
<p><phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> denied all the charges against her until her death, deriding them as quote "Satanic fictions" unquote. She was said to have accepted all of her criminal sentences quote "without emotion" unquote, only crossing herself and saying a quiet quote "prayer of vengeance" to "Saint Matthew" unquote.</p>
<p>All told, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> received three sentences at separate trials: one between 1951–2, and two in the year 1953, the last ending mere months before her death. At her first trial, she received a sentence of 26 months; at her second, 10 years concurrently; and at her third, four additional years consecutively.</p>
<p>Section 8 — Religious following</p>
<p>Described as a "cult leader", <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> 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.</p>
<p>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 civil authorities released <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme>.</p>
<p>Section 9 — Death</p>
<p>Having received multiple different sentences over her three trials adding to a total of fourteen years, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> died in Averoff Prison on 23 November 1954. Reports conflict as to her age, but Reuters and News beast give her age upon her death as 71.</p>
<p>Section 10 — Aftermath</p>
<p>Even after <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiːz">Soulakiotis'</phoneme> 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. In 1961, police stated that they did not know who had taken over from <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme>, stating that the monastery's new presumed abbess had "perfected the art of making herself and her pseudo-sacred sisters vanish" without a trace.</p>
<p>As of 2022, the Old Calendarist monastery <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> once managed, <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="kɛrə'teɪ'əz">Keratea's</phoneme> <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="pɒnəˈgiə">Panagia</phoneme> <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="pɛfkoʊvoʊnoʊgiətriːsə">Pefkovounogiatrissa</phoneme> 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.</p>
<p>Section 11 — Legacy</p>
<p>The number of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiːz">Soulakiotis'</phoneme> 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. Authorities, however, at one point claimed she had killed more than 500. As during <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiːz">Soulakiotis'</phoneme> day, tuberculosis treatment was still new, and was a problem throughout Greece, it's unclear the degree to which <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> was involved in the negligent homicides she was convicted of in 1952.</p>
<p>Some modern English-speaking Matthewite writers, such as Father Constantine Kouris, assert that <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> 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 1930's and the 1950's at the monastery, yet they continue to pray for the intercession of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme>, whom they call "Holy" Mariam of <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="kɛrə'teɪ'ə">Keratea</phoneme>, all the same, as they regard her martyred in the cause of Christ.</p>
<p>Explanations in support of her innocence offered by nuns contemporary to <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> included the idea that male bishops and monks were quote "jealous" unquote of the wealth and power held by the female <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme>, 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, quote, "were already old", unquote.</p>
<p>According to <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="ˈni.nə 'ku.leɪ.tɑk.iː">Nina Kouletaki</phoneme> 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 <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme> would have had equal success regardless of her brand of Greek Orthodox Christianity.</p>
<p>In his 1992 exhaustive academic listing of female serial killers, entitled "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.</p>
<p>Section 12 — In popular culture</p>
<p>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: «Purgatory» of season one, and «The Third Commandment» of season two. Both aired on ANT1—the first in February 1993, the second in April 1994.</p>
<p>Section 13 — See also (Wikipedia article titles)</p>
<p>Old Calendarists § Greece, Timeline of Eastern Orthodoxy in Greece (1924–1974), Delphine LaLaurie, Elizabeth Báthory, Dorothea Puente, List of serial killers by country, List of serial killers by number of victims</p>
<p>For the sources of this audio recording, please see the article titled "Mariam <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="suːlɒkiːoʊtiː">Soulakiotis</phoneme>", its final section titled References, on the English language version of Wikipedia, the glorious free encyclopedia. I have been an Amazon Polly voice, "Amy", narrarating an article that was chiefly the work of Fredrick <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="ɑr">R.</phoneme> Brennan, username <phoneme alphabet="ipa" ph="'ps 'siː.xɛ.dɛl.iːs.toʊ">Psiĥedelisto'</phoneme> on Wikipedia.</p>
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