Saint Dionysios of Zakynthos was a 16th-century Orthodox Christian

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Aegina Aegina (; ; ) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina (mythology), Aegina, the mother of the mythological hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and became its king. ...

. He was born on the Greek island of

Zakynthos Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; ; ) or Zante (, , ; ; from the Venetian language, Venetian form, traditionally Latinized as Zacynthus) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands, with an are ...

in 1547. He is the patron saint of

(sometimes called Zante in English) and is celebrated on August 24 and December 17.

Biography

In his early life, Dionysios joined a monastery a few miles off the coast of Zakynthos. After a while living there, he was encouraged by his fellow monks to be ordained as a priest, which he did. He eventually decided to travel to the Holy Land by way of Athens. After arriving in Athens, he was made Archbishop of Aigina despite personal protests in humility. In about the year 1589, the

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as ...

made Archbishop Dionysios the Archbishop of Zakynthos, he stayed in this position until a permanent Archbishop arrived. After this, he returned to his island monastery where he lived out the rest of his life until his death on December 17, 1622.Basil E. Eleftheriou, Ph.D, ''Encyclopedia of the Major Saints and Fathers of the Orthodox Church: Volume 1'' , (Light & Life Publishing Company, 2000).

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St Dionysios of Zakynthos
{{Authority control 1546 births 1624 deaths 17th-century Greek clergy Bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Eastern Orthodox bishops in Greece Eastern Orthodox theologians Greek saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church People from Zakynthos Saints of Ottoman Greece