(Mariam Soulakiotis) The Killer Nun

Описание: An Orthodox Nun in Greece spent nearly a decade recruiting sick and emotionally vulnerable people. When her reign of terror came to an end, at least 177 people were dead. Mariam, at the time of her arrest, owned over three hundred properties and had nearly a million dollars in cash. In this episode we explain how it happened.

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00:00 Introduction
00:52 Christianity In The East
03:12 The Disregard Of Timekeeping
04:37 The Monastery
06:52 Reign Of Terror
09:18 The Raid And Trial
13:22 Conclusion

Before explaining how Mariam Soulakiotis came to be a nun, we first have to explore a brief history of Christianity. When the Western Roman Empire fell in 476, Christians in the East and West shared a common belief. However, that would change around 1054. As the Roman Catholic church began to elect Popes, Christians in the East went their own way. This became the Eastern Orthodox Church. From 1914 to 1922 Greeks in Turkey were hunted. Many were deported, others were tortured and killed. When the Greek Genocide finally ended the Greek Orthodox Church was in disarray.

The Eastern Orthodox Church continued to use the Julian Calendar until 1923. A committee finally decided to move to a more modern calendar system. However, a group of conservative clergy known as Calendarists refuse to follow the new calendar. Among them was Bishop Matthew Karpathakis.

Mariam Soulakiotis was born in Keratea, Greece in 1883. As a young woman she became a nun in the Greek Orthodox Church. In 1906 she met Matthew Karpathakis and liked his views on religion. Matthew decided to start his own church and Mariam decided to help him. She acquired several acres of land. In 1923 the pair left the Orthodox Church and started their own church and monastery.

Matthew was an old man when the monastery opened, so Mariam took over most day to day responsibilities. She was very focused on fundraising. New converts had to take a vow of silence and sign over all money and property to Mariam. If they tried to speak, being hit in the face with a shoe was the usual response. Additionally, those who were sick usually died without receiving treatment. And many elderly women were kept in chains and allowed to starve as penance for their sins.

Villagers near the monastery could hear people screaming at night. One evening a pair of drunk men jumped over the wall and found and elderly woman chained to a wall. She refused to be rescued saying her salvation depended on suffering. Around 1950 Mariam's schemes started to be noticed. The family of one woman who disappeared into the monastery contacted authorities. Finally, a young girl from Toledo, Ohio disappeared into the monastery and Greek authorities could no longer ignore it.

On December 4th, 1950 the police raided Mariam's monastery. They arrested her, and found 177 bodies buried on the grounds. Prosecutors had problems charging her at first since the victims volunteered. They charged her with illegally smuggling tires and olive oil. Later she was put on trial for murder and found guilty. However, Mariam never served her full sentence. She passed away on November 23rd, 1954.

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