Dionysios of Prodromou Monastery

Saint Dionysios of Prodromou Monastery, builder of the monastery of Saint John the Forerunner later named Dionysiou after him, was born in 1316 in the village of Korissos near Kastoria, to pious and virtuous parents who were simple farmers. He had a modest education, but he was intelligent and wise, and he fled temporal pleasures while contemplating the heavenly and eternal. His older brother Theodosios had gone to Constantinople, where he benefited from the monks of the patriarchate and from theological study. Dionysios, still young, wished to follow in his brother's footsteps and go to the Holy Mountain. Knowing that beardless youths were forbidden to enter Athos, he went anyway, risking refusal. Arriving at Philotheou, he was embraced with joy by his brother, and within a few days he was tonsured a monk.

Theodosios taught him to read the sacred books, appointed him ecclesiarch and, seeing him a pure vessel of the Holy Spirit, had him ordained deacon, and at thirty, priest. Even as a priest Dionysios struggled harder, fasting and keeping vigil more; he possessed one garment and was in constant noetic prayer. Not wanting to be disturbed by the monastery's turmoil, he left and climbed to the summit of the mountain called Little Athos. On the southern flank he found a cave an arrow's shot from a spring and settled there. Life was hard, but conducive to uninterrupted communion with God. When hungry he ate wild grass, sweet chestnuts or fruit, and bread he got from a nearby monastery or cell. Soon other ascetics found him and took him as their elder. They built cells nearby. Dionysios received them with love and told them that since the place was rugged they should go higher up the mountain on the north side, promising to visit as often as he could. He came every Saturday to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and on Sunday evenings descended to his cell with some bread and fruit. The brethren later built cells on the western side at a lower altitude, planted vineyards and built a boat, and the community was established.

One day, during Matins, Dionysios beheld a brilliant light in the distance, shown by divine revelation as the site of his monastery. At first he kept it secret, but seeing the vision night after night, he told a Spirit-⁠bearing, clairvoyant elder named Dometios, who lived in a church of the Theotokos. Together they went to the appointed place, and three nights in a row both saw the brilliant light. They informed the brethren, who, after confirming that the light was immaterial, began preparations for building the monastery. Construction began around 1362, with donations from wealthy people who had come to admire Dionysios. It was dedicated to Saint John the Forerunner and Baptist, with the feast on 24 June, his Nativity. Around this time his brother Theodosios was appointed by the emperor Metropolitan of Trebizond, and Dionysios embarked for Trebizond, where they went together to meet Emperor Alexios III Komnenos (1349 to 1390), who promised help. In 1375 the emperor approved the building of the Monastery of the honorable Forerunner and Baptist John, giving fifty somia (400,000 grosia) and then three thousand komninata. The monastery built by Dionysios was afterwards known by the name of its builder. Saint Dionysios reposed at Trebizond, where he had gone to ask the emperor for further help for the monastery's iconography, in 1388. He is commemorated on 25 June (new style; 8 July on the old calendar).