Dionysius the Philosopher

Holy Hieromartyr Dionysius the Philosopher was Metropolitan of Larissa and died as a martyr at Ioannina in the year 1611. He was a very learned hierarch, mockingly called "Skylosophos", the dog-⁠philosopher, by the Turks. He had his seat at Trikala. Urged on by the Duke of Nevers, whom many hierarchs recognized as heir to the rights of the Palaiologoi to the throne, in 1600 he stirred up a rising of the Christians against the Turks, arming them only with faith in freedom and religious zeal, without military preparation. After the failure of the rising he fled to the West, pursued by the Turks.

Setting out later from the Monastery of Saint Demetrius at Dichouni, between Paramythia, Karasovo and Radovitsa, he entered Ioannina in 1611 and besieged the governor's residence. The rising was crushed, and he hid in a cave on the islet in Lake Ioannina. Betrayed and seized by the Turks, he endured terrible tortures, remaining unbroken in spirit and faithful to the Christian faith. The Turks flayed him alive, stuffed his skin with straw and carried it around several cities; brought to Constantinople, it was shown to the sultan, who, horrified, rose from his throne.

His contemporaries criticized him sharply, and the Patriarchate declared him deposed from the throne of Larissa. For this reason, it is thought, the synaxaria do not mention him at all. Nevertheless he is honoured as a saint in Epirus for his struggle for Christ. He is remembered on 10 October.