The preserved body of St. Marina the Monk was returned to Lebanon in a glass box Tuesday from Italy’s Venice, in the presence of caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and religious representatives.
“With the return of St. Marina to her land, Lebanon will regain grace. I am receiving an ‘expatriate’ saint from Lebanon,” Bassil said from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport. It is widely believed that Marina lived in Qadisha Valley during the fifth century. After the death of her mother, she disguised herself as a man, moved into a monastery with her father and lived as a monk, according to Maronite accounts. She was kicked out after being falsely accused of rape and fathering a child, and lived for some years outside the monastery as a beggar. She was venerated when she died and was discovered to be a woman.
Her remains were brought to Constantinople after her death and then to Venice in 1113, according to the Orthodox Church in America.
The Chapel of Mar Marina stands next to the monastery where is she is said to have lived in Qannoubine and is open for tourists. Marina’s recently repatriated relics will be transported to the Maronite Patriarchate in Dimane, the state-run National News Agency reported.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
