Today, July 17, the Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of Saint Marina, a young martyr from Antioch in Pisidia whose story has, across many centuries, become closely tied to healing — and, in particular, to the wellbeing of the kidneys.

Historical and medical sources note that devotion to Saint Marina as a protector against kidney ailments dates back to at least the 13th century, extending also to women facing difficult childbirths and to sickly children. In traditional iconography, she is often depicted wearing a belt across her lower back, in the area of the kidneys — an image that, over time, led to a custom of pilgrims placing belts upon her relics for blessing before wearing them themselves. This association became so well established that a 1999 article in the American Journal of Nephrology formally recognised her as the patron saint of nephrology, tracing her connection to kidney health from the Middle Ages through to the present day.

That centuries-old reputation for healing continues in more recent, personal accounts as well. On the island of Andros, a monastery dedicated to Saint Marina has become a place of pilgrimage for people describing their own experiences of unexpected recovery during serious illness.

One such account comes from a Cypriot family whose young son was diagnosed with leukaemia and needed a bone marrow transplant abroad. Before travelling overseas for the procedure, the family contacted the monastery and asked for the elder’s prayers. According to their retelling, an unfamiliar doctor appeared just before the operation, assisted throughout the procedure, and then could not be located afterward — leaving behind only a name the family later connected to the saint they had prayed to. The boy recovered, and the family has continued returning to Andros each year since.

A second account concerns a young mother from Athens facing a cancer diagnosis, shortly after her own mother had described a similar experience of recovery. She and her family visited the monastery before her surgery, and she later described a frightening episode during a complication in recovery — one she came to associate, upon waking, with her prayers during that moment. She has since recovered fully and remains connected to the community around the monastery.

These stories, whether framed in centuries-old tradition or in recent personal testimony, are offered here as accounts of faith rather than medical claims. They aren’t proof in any clinical sense, but they speak to something enduring: the way devotion can offer comfort and meaning to people facing illness and uncertainty, across a very long span of history right up to today.

For readers who want the full sourced details — including the academic citation on Saint Marina’s connection to nephrology and the complete personal testimonies from Andros — see here.