The earthly life of the Saint is "angelic". He perfectly combines asceticism with apostolic zeal and social action. The carefreeness of the ascetic life with the administrative and organizational spirit. The secret ascents of the theoretician with the bloody struggles of the practical.
He was born around 1500 in the village of Drakotrypa (then Sklataina) in the prefecture of Karditsa to Nikolaos and Theodora Kaletsi. His parents, poor in material goods but rich in spiritual things, gave little Dimitrios (baptismal name) the path of Christ. From an early age he showed an inclination towards virtue and diligence in his studies.
At a young age he fled to Meteora to become a monk and submitted to the pious elder Savvas. He was tonsured a monk with the name Daniel. He devoted himself to prayer, fasting and the study of the scriptures. He made enviable progress.
Desiring more peace, he takes refuge in Mount Athos. There he is ordained a magnificent monk with the name Dionysios. He then receives the two degrees of priesthood. He practices asceticism in Karyes, in the Karakallos Skete and in the Philotheos Monastery as abbot. God is by his side, with the Embassies of the Virgin Mary, as with every Christian. Various events testify to this: an angel helps him build his cell, an angel brings him fresh fish on the eve of Lent and he passes in front of a lurking robber without being noticed. As soon as the robber realized the event, he was shocked and became a monk.
For a short time he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he accepted an offer to become a High Priest from the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Dorotheos. He rejected it and returned to Mount Athos.
As Abbot of the Monastery of Philotheos, he offers a significant reformative work. The reactions of the Bulgarian monks force him to leave the Mount and take refuge in the Skete of Veria. There, a large number of people who desire monasticism gather.
The Metropolitan is asleep and the people of the region wish for Dionysios to succeed him. The saint, due to his humility, does not agree and secretly leaves and reaches Olympus. Where new difficulties await him.
He practiced asceticism in a cave that survives to this day. Slandered and persecuted, he left for Pelion where he founded the monastery of the Holy Trinity of Sourvia, by miraculous guidance from God.
The God desires to return to Olympus. Indeed, he returns with the universal demand of the inhabitants of the area and his persecutor Aga Sakos. They asked for the return of the Saint because for three years the taps of heaven had been closed and the drought had afflicted people, animals and nature in a bad state. However, with the return of the Saint, the rains began and gave life to nature.
In 1542 he founded a Monastery on Olympus, again dedicated to the Holy Trinity. In this Holy Monastery, among other things, a "Secret School" operated and many chieftains found refuge during the Turkish occupation, including the pioneer of the Modern Greek Enlightenment, Rigas Feraios. The monastery is preserved and in recent years restoration work has been carried out after the destruction by the Germans during the occupation.
With his angelic life he attracts a multitude of monks to himself. He himself resorts to caves adjacent to the monastery to devote himself to asceticism and prayer. Many times monks saw him returning from his hermitages in full light.
As a precursor of Patrokosmas, he travels to the villages to confess, preach and for strengthening the national and religious spirit of the slave inhabitants. He loved the world very much. He embraced everyone and helped them spiritually and materially. God also endowed him with the gift of miracles. He was informed by God that the end of his earthly life was approaching. His last words to the monks were: "Have love, patience and humility, my children, embrace the wandering, the silence, the prayer and the fasting, which the Holy Fathers handed down to us, you diligently observe, and even more than you can. Let none of you be disobedient and eccentric, or rather, let us say demoniac, for this is the worst of all sins, that any resident who has more silver or more garments than the others is not worthy of heavenly joy. And if such a one is found, let him be expelled from the Monastery like a scabby sheep, so that the rest may not be infected by his plague. Confess your thoughts often, so that demons may not enter your souls. If it happens that some are scandalized, let them make amends before the sun sets, as the Lord commands. Let all do manual labor, each according to his ability and ability. He who is able and does not work, let him not eat, according to the Great Apostle. He who wants to leave the Monastery, let him tell the Abbot first to receive forgiveness, and if he leaves secretly, let the sin be in his soul and I am innocent of his loss. Let the younger ones submit to the elders and let them in turn admonish them with good deeds and soul-beneficial words. Take care of the sick person as if he were a member of yours. Let him not have friendship with a younger one…”
Ἀπολυτίκιον
Ἦhos a΄. Citizen of the desert.
The Olympus's resident Pieria, the beauty of the sea,
and the sacred walls of your eponymous monastery,
You showed yourself wise, Dionysius, living like an Angel on earth,
and you provide your prompt assistance,
Those who cry out respectfully.
Glory to the one who gives you strength,
Glory to those who admired you,
Glory to Him who works through you all healings.
Photo By Hermann Hammer – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43117582, https://el.wikipedia.org/
