His most notable work, The Cretan War (Greek: Ο Κρητικός Πόλεμος, O Kritikos Polemos), was printed in 1681 and is over six hundred pages long.

The book is a historical account of the Cretan War between Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire and it is accompanied with short poems.

His brother Emmanuel Tzanes was one of the most prolific painters of the 17th century and has one of the largest existing catalogs of Greek-style paintings.

An important historical document demonstrates that Emmanuel received 52 ducats for icons he painted with Marinos around 1662.

He wrote the story based on personal experience, eyewitness testimonies, and other oral written sources to address his fellow refugees and compatriots.