Marinos the Monk

Marina^[d] was the child of wealthy Christian parents and was born in Al-Qalamoun, near Tripoli, in present-day Lebanon.^[2] Marina's mother died when he was very young, and so the child was raised as a devout Christian by his father, Eugenius. As Marina approached marriageable age, Eugenius intended to find his child a husband and then retire to the Monastery of Qannoubine in the Kadisha Valley of Lebanon. Marina, upon learning of his plan, asked why his father intended to save his own soul "and destroy mine." He responded, "What shall I do with you? You are a woman", and Marina answered that they would both live as monks together.

Marina shaved his head, changed into men's clothes and took up the name Marinos. Eugenius, seeing his child's strong determination, gave all his possessions to the poor and travelled with Marinos to the Kadisha Valley to live in monastic community life, where they shared a cell. The other monks attributed Marinos' soft voice to long periods of prayer, or else believed their new brother was a male eunuch.^{[8][10][14][15]}

After ten years of prayer, fasting and worship together, Eugenius died. Now alone, Marinos became only more intently ascetic and continued to conceal his sex. One day, the abbot of the monastery sent four monks including Marinos to attend to some business for the monastery. As the journey was long, they were forced to spend the night at an inn. Also lodging there was a soldier of the eastern Roman front. Upon seeing the beauty of the innkeeper's daughter, who was working there, the soldier seduced her and took her virginity, instructing her to say, "that the young monk, Father Marinos, did that to me" should she conceive a child.^[8][10]

After some time, it was discovered that the innkeeper's daughter was pregnant and, as was agreed, she told her father that Marinos had impregnated her. ^[8] On hearing the story, the innkeeper went furiously to the abbot of the monastery. The abbot calmed him and told him that he would see to the matter. He called for and severely reprimanded Marinos. Upon realising what was happening, Marinos fell to his knees and wept, falsely confessing to the sin and asking forgiveness, not wanting to reveal that he could not have possibly done that.^[16] Enraged, the abbot told Marinos to leave the monastery; he did so at once and remained outside the gates as a beggar for several years. When the innkeeper's daughter gave birth, she gave the child to Marinos, who chose to raise it. Marinos fed the child with sheep's milk, provided by the local shepherds, and remained caring for him outside the monastery for ten years. Finally the monks convinced the abbot to allow Marinos to return; he accepted but he also imposed heavy penalties upon Marinos, who was to perform hard labor in cooking, cleaning and carrying water in addition to regular monastic duties and caring for the child.^[8][10][14]

At the age of forty, Marinos became ill, and died three days later. The abbot ordered that Marinos' body be cleaned, clothes changed, and body transferred to the church for funeral prayers. While fulfilling these tasks, the monks discovered that Marinos was, in fact, born female. This made them very distressed. The monks informed the abbot, who came to Marinos' side and wept bitterly for the wrongs done. The abbot then called for the innkeeper and informed him that Marinos was born as a woman. The innkeeper went to where the body lay and also wept for the pain and suffering which he had unjustly brought upon Marinos. During the funeral prayers, one of the monks, who was blind in one eye, is said to have received full sight again after he touched the dead monk's body. It was also believed that God allowed a demon to torment the innkeeper's daughter and the soldier, and that this caused them to travel to where the saint was buried, where they confessed their indiscretion in front of everyone and asked for forgiveness.^[8][10]

Marinos is venerated under the name Marina in the Eastern Orthodox Churches^[17][3][18] and the Coptic Orthodox Church. Today, Coptic Orthodox Christians claim that Marinos' body is kept at Saint Mary Church and has not decomposed. It is displayed to the public on his feast day, on Mesra 15.^[19][20]

In 2022, Marinos (as Marina the Monk) was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day on 17 June.^[21]

Marina the Monk is also honoured among the Druze, who call him "Al-Sitt Sha'wani'". The shrine of "Al-Sitt Sha'wani'" is located in Amiq on the slopes of Mount Barouk (Jebel el-Barouk) to the east, overlooking the Bekaa Valley and offering views of the much higher Mount Hermon to the south.^[4]

Marinos is often called, (or compared to) a transgender man.^{[22][23][24][25][26]} He is considered a part of LGBTQ+ history and has gained recent attention especially among Christians, the LGBTQ+ community, and LGBTQ+ Christians.