Marina (in some Western traditions, or Mary or Mariam in other manuscript traditions) was the child of wealthy Christian parents. Her mother died when Marina was very young, so Marina was raised as a devout Christian by her father Eugenius. As Marina approached marriageable age, her father intended to find his child a husband and then retire to the Monastery of Qannoubine in the Kadisha Valley of Lebanon. When Marina learned of his plan, she asked why he intended to save his own soul "and destroy mine." When asked by her father, "What shall I do with you? You are a woman", Marina answered that she would live as a monk with him: she then shaved her head and changed into men's clothes. Eugenius, seeing his child's strong determination, gave all his possessions to the poor and traveled with Marina to the Kadisha Valley to live in monastic community life, where they shared a cell. She took the name Marinos. The other monks attributed his soft voice to long periods of prayer, or else believed their new brother was a male eunuch.