Dorotheos of the Koutloumousiou Skete

Dorotheos of the Koutloumousiou Skete, with the secular name Demetrius Tsironis, was born in 1873 at Divri in Elis. At fifteen he came secretly to the Holy Mountain, to the hut of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified in the skete of Koutloumousiou. The elders, because beardless youths were not admitted on Athos and he was small, kept him inside the hut and hung blankets on the clothesline so that he would not be seen. He was tonsured a monk in 1894 with the name Dorotheos, ordained deacon in 1898 and priest in 1904. Later he had two disciples, the hieromonk Antonios and the monk Savvas. As a young man he was elected abbot at Esphigmenou, but did not wish to accept. In 1934 he settled in the Koutloumousiou cell of the Forerunner at Karyes. For ten years he was parish priest and typikarios of the church of the Protaton, with a reputation as an outstanding typikarios. He was also an outstanding confessor; at his stole Archbishop Leontios of Cyprus (d. 1947) confessed when he visited Athos.

Because of health and various temptations he had to leave the Holy Mountain about 1944. At first he lived at the Holy Monastery of Andros, as confessor of the sisterhood there, but because of the dissensions over the calendar he withdrew. In 1952 he went to the monastery of Saint John the Theologian at Papagou, Athens, where he remained to the end as confessor of the community and of many people. He celebrated very regularly, with compunction and reverence, and it is said that if he did not see a sign in the holy chalice, he did not commune. He communed with tears, joy and a shining face. His sweet speech and calm gave the faithful peace. His little free time he devoted to prayer. On confession days, from morning till late evening, people of all ages, monks, nuns and lay people, waited hours to see him. He was an experienced and discerning confessor, a perfect physician of souls. Together with his friend Elder Hieronymos of Simonopetra (d. 1957), at the dependency of the Ascension, they were the spiritual pillars of those parts. Six months before his death he informed the nuns of his definitive departure. He reposed on 16 July 1966, aged ninety-⁠three. On his grave a nun wrote: "Dorotheos Tsironis, hieromonk, 93 years. Reposed in the Lord 16.7.1966. As a youth you zealously sought holiness; upright, humble, guileless and gentle as a bodiless one you lived into deep old age. You departed to the Lord to receive the crown of immortal life. Your spiritual children." He is venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization.