Dionysius the Greek of Rostov

Holy Hierarch Dionysius the Greek of Rostov, bishop of Rostov and Yaroslavl, departed to the Lord on 18 October 1425. He is commemorated on 5 June, in the Synaxis of the Saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl, and on 20 May, in the Synaxis of the Venerable Russian Fathers of the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon on Athos.

Abbot at Spaso-⁠Kamenny

The fullest information about Dionysius the Greek is kept by the old Russian chronicles and the Tale of the Beginning of the Spaso-⁠Kamenny Monastery, composed in the last quarter of the fifteenth century by Paisius Yaroslavov. According to the Tale, Dionysius was tonsured a monk on Athos; it does not say that he was a Greek. His coming from Constantinople to Moscow coincided with the growth of Russian-⁠Byzantine contacts, among them Russian-⁠Athonite, at the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth century. He was received with honour by Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy, who ordered that he be given a cell at the Epiphany Monastery in Moscow. Before 19 May 1389, at the request of the monks of the Spaso-⁠Kamenny Transfiguration Monastery and with the consent of Grand Prince Dmitry Ivanovich, he was made abbot of that monastery. At Spaso-⁠Kamenny, Dionysius introduced the rule of common life on the Athonite model, the rule of the Holy Mountain, and endowed the monastery with icons and books, some of which, perhaps, had come from Constantinople or from the South Slavic lands. The monastery's contacts with the Balkans at the end of the fourteenth century are shown by a note on the last leaves of a manuscript of the writings of Saint Gregory the Theologian, which says that around the year 1394 the monk Vassian Rumyantsev brought this book from the Serbian land to the Spaso-⁠Kamenny Monastery, where the leadership of the region was held by the venerable abbot Dionysius. During the years of the abbacy of Dionysius the Greek, at the Spaso-⁠Kamenny Monastery there laboured for a long time and were tonsured by him as monks Venerable Dionysius of Glushitsa and Alexander of Kushta.

Bishop at Rostov

On 12 July 1418 Dionysius the Greek was ordained bishop of Rostov and Yaroslavl. The chronicles say that he did not wish to accept the episcopal rank, for he desired the life of the wilderness and labours, but Metropolitan Photius of Kiev and Grand Prince Vasily I Dmitrievich set him on the throne out of necessity. As abbot of the Spaso-⁠Kamenny monastery he appointed his disciple, Hilarion. At Rostov, the new bishop, with the local clergy, served a moleben with the blessing of water, after which the plague in the city ceased. To Dionysius the Greek disciples came for a blessing: to Venerable Dionysius of Glushitsa the saint gave an icon of the Most Pure Mother of God with the Eternal Child and church vessels; Venerable Alexander of Kushta received permission to found a new hermitage and everything needed. According to the oldest editions of the Life of Venerable Dionysius, he was at Rostov in 1418-1419, and in 1419-1420 he received from Dionysius the Greek the blessing for the consecration of the church of Saint John the Baptist and for the founding of the Glushitsa Sosnovets Monastery. According to the first edition of the Life of Venerable Gregory of Pelshma, Dionysius the Greek begged Gregory to become archimandrite of the Savior-⁠on-⁠the-⁠Sands Monastery in Rostov.

The death of Bishop Dionysius the Greek is placed in all sources on 18 October, but the year differs. According to the Typographical Chronicle, the saint died in 6935 (1427), stating that he shepherded the Church of God seven years and five months; in that case he departed to the Lord in 1425, which seems to be the right date.

Veneration

Of the local veneration of Dionysius the Greek at the Spaso-⁠Kamenny Monastery in the second third of the fifteenth century the note already cited speaks, which says that the venerable abbot Dionysius was brilliant in life and had deep understanding, and that for his great humility and deep understanding and virtuous life he was made bishop in the city of Rostov. His name was entered in the synodikon of the cathedral of Rostov. In several handwritten calendars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Dionysius, already with the nickname the Greek, is commemorated on 18 October as a saint. Canonisation was effected by entering his name in the Synaxis of the Saints of Rostov and Yaroslavl, whose feast was established in 1964.