On Saturday August 3^rd Abbess Magdalene of the Birth of the Theotokos Monastery passed away.  Her worldly name was Maria Tsourapa and she was born in Volos in 1936.  She lost her eyesight from a grenade explosion when she was a child.  At an early age she was tonsured a nun at the Monastery of Panagia Kato Xenia and in 1979 she became the Abbess of the Birth of the Theotokos Monastery at AgiosVlasiosPilios.  She was renowned for her humility, her unfeigned love towards all, her Job-like patience, her spirit of charity, her great respect for the clergy, her avoidness of criticizing others, her forgiveness and her complete confidences in the providence of God.

Her funeral was held on Sunday August 8^th at the Birth of the Theotokos Monastery by his Eminence Metropolitan of Demetrias and Almyros Ignatius, His Eminence Metropolitan of Velestino Damascene and His Eminence of Zambia and Malawi Joachim along with a plethora of priests and laity.