Dionysius of Mount Olympus

Saint Dionysius of Mount Olympus (about 1500 to after 1542) was a Greek monk of the sixteenth century, an ascetic on Mount Olympus and founder of the monastery of Saint Dionysius. He is the patron of the town of Litochoro in Pieria and one of the patron saints of Thessaly. He is commemorated on 23 January; the Serbian Orthodox Church has him on 24 January (6 February New Style).

Beginnings

He was born around 1500 of poor but devout parents in the village of Sklataina in Mouzaki, in the Karditsa region, today Drakotrypa; his baptismal name was Demetrius. Early on he showed devotion to God and a desire to renounce the world, even limiting his food to carob pods. After his parents' death, at about eighteen, he followed the elder Anthimus to Meteora and was tonsured a monk in the monastery of the Great Meteoron, with the name Daniel. He was a novice and disciple of the elder Sabbas.

On the Holy Mountain and at Veria

Then he went to Mount Athos, where he received the great schema with the name Dionysius. He was ordained priest and joined the retinue of the protos of the Holy Mountain, Seraphim. He struggled near the monastery of Karakallou, with asceticism, fasting and prayer, and was elected abbot of the monastery of Philotheou. Because the monastery was at that time Bulgarian, he met strong opposition and had to leave Athos. Around 1524 he settled in the region of Veria, in the skete of Saint Anthony the New, where he built the monastery of the Honourable Forerunner. The Serbian source says that he came to the great monastery of Saint John the Baptist at Veria and made friends there with the future Saint Nikanor.

On Olympus

Out of humility he refused to be elected bishop of Veria and withdrew toward Pieria and Thessaly. He settled in a hard-⁠to-⁠reach place on Olympus and struggled in a cave, which survives to this day. Because he was persecuted there, he went for a time to Pelion, to Zagora, where he built the monastery of the Holy Trinity of Sourvia (the Serbian source gives 1542 for its founding). Later he returned to Olympus, and around 1542, according to the Greek source, he built the monastery of the Holy Trinity so that the klephts too could find shelter there. It has been since then a centre of spiritual light. Many monks gathered there because of the saint's fame, and he did not fail to tour the surrounding villages to preach Christ and support the enslaved Greeks.

Repose and veneration

Saint Dionysius reposed on 23 January, the date on which he is commemorated; the year of his repose is not known, but it was certainly after 1542, when the Holy Trinity monastery was built. Our record gives his death around 1541, which does not agree with the Greek source. The Serbian source says he was buried in the north-⁠west chapel of the Holy Trinity monastery, built around his cave. At Drakotrypa his feast is also kept on the last Sunday of July. His relics are kept in the monastery of Saint Dionysius on Olympus; his skull was stolen on 12 July 1890 at Nigrita in Serres, where it had been taken for veneration.