James, James the Deacon and Dionysios the Monk

The Holy Monastic Martyrs James, James the Deacon and Dionysios the Monk were three Athonite monks killed for Christ on 1 November 1520, after seventeen days of torment.

James was tonsured at Docheiariou Monastery on Athos. Moving to the neglected Georgian skete of Saint John the Baptist, he restored it under the guidance of Elder Ignatius. In various obediences he rose to the heights of purity and received heavenly revelations, like the Apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 12:2-4): he beheld the mansions of Paradise and the depths of Hades. By the grace of God he could perceive the mysteries of hearts and the secret thoughts of those who came to him, and he had the gift of working miracles. While visiting Aetolia with his disciples he healed the sick and instructed all. The Turkish authorities fabricated false charges, accusing him of fomenting rebellion, in order to force him to renounce Orthodoxy. James and his two disciples, Deacon James and the monk Dionysios, endured the most severe torments for seventeen days and received the crown of martyrdom on 1 November 1520.

The relics of the monastic martyrs, glorified by miracles, were placed in the monastery of Saint Anastasia the Deliverer from Potions, in the small town of Galatista near Thessaloniki. The fame of the relics soon drew about a hundred brethren to the monastery under Abbot Saint Theonas (4 April), himself a disciple of Saint James.