Dionysiou Monastery Explained

Dionysiou Monastery
Native Name:	Ιερά Μονή Διονυσίου
Full:	Holy Monastery of Dionysiou
Order:	Ecumenical Patriarchate
Established:	mid 14th century
Dedication:	John the Baptist
Diocese:	Mount Athos
Founder:	Dionysios
Prior:	Archimandrite Elder Petros
People:	Nicodemus the Hagiorite
Style:	Byzantine
Location:	Mount Athos, Greece
Map Type:	Mount Athos
Coord:	40.168°N 24.2739°W
Public Access:	Men only

Dionysiou Monastery (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Μονή Διονυσίου) is an Eastern Orthodox monastery at the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece, at the southwest part of the Athos peninsula. The monastery ranks fifth in the hierarchy of the Athonite monasteries. It is one of the twenty self-governing monasteries in Athos, and it was dedicated to John the Baptist.

History

The monastery is named after Saint, who founded it in the 14th century. Dionysius' brother was the metropolitan of Trebizond, whose ruler Alexios III Komnenos was the main benefactor of the monastery during its founding. His chrysobull from September 1374 is currently kept in the archives of Dionysiou Monastery. A passage from the chrysobull states that:^[1]

By the end of the 15th century, the Russian pilgrim Isaiah confirms that the monastery was Serbian.^[2]

The library of the monastery housed 804 manuscripts and more than 4,000 printed books. The oldest manuscripts come from the 11th century.

Today the monastery has a community of around 50 monks.

Notable people

• Nephon II of Constantinople
• Saint Joseph of Dionysiou (d. 17 February 1819)^[3]
• Arsenios the Cave Dweller (resident from 1980–1983)

Partial list of abbots

• Dositheos of Dionysiou (abbot until 1936)
• Elder Gabriel Dionysiatis (or Gabriel of Dionysiou, 1886–6 November 1983), Abbot of Dionysiou Monastery for 40 years during the mid-1900s^{[4] [5] [6]}
• Elder Haralambos Dionysiatis (or Charalambos of Dionysiou, 1886–6 November 1983), Abbot of Dionysiou Monastery from 1979 to 2000^{[7] [8]}
• Peter of Dionysiou (current abbot)

Manuscripts

• Codex Athous Dionysiou = Uncial 045 (Ω)
• Uncial 050

External links

• Dionysiou monastery at the Mount Athos website.
• Greek Ministry of Culture: Holy Monastery of Dionysiou.

Notes and References

1. Book: Speake, Graham . Graham Speake . Mount Athos: renewal in paradise . Denise Harvey . Limni, Evia, Greece . 2014 . 978-960-7120-34-2 . 903320491 . 74-75.
2. Book: A. E. Bakalopulos. History of Macedonia, 1354-1833. [By] A.E. Vacalopoulos. 1973. 166. At the end of the 15th century, the Russian pilgrim Isaiah relates that the monks support themselves with various kinds of work including the cultivation of their vineyards....He also tells us that nearly half the monasteries are Slav or Albanian. As Serbian he instances Docheiariou, Grigoriou, Ayiou Pavlou, a monastery near Ayiou Pavlou and dedicated to St. John the Theologian (he no doubt means the monastery of Ayiou Dionysiou), and Chilandariou. Panteleïmon is Russian, Simonopetra is Bulgarian, and Karakallou and Philotheou are Albanian. Zographou, Kastamonitou (see fig. 58), Xeropotamou, Koutloumousiou, Xenophontos, Iveron and Protaton he mentions without any designation; while Lavra, Vatopedi (see fig. 59), Pantokratoros, and Stavronikita (which had been recently founded by the patriarch Jeremiah I) he names specifically as being Greek (see map 6)..
3. Web site: Saint Joseph of Dionysiou . Orthodox Church in America . 2022-02-17 . 2022-08-28.
4. Book: Cavarnos, Constantine . Blessed elder Gabriel Dionysiatis (1886-1983): remarkable confessor and spiritual guide, profound analyst of twentieth century society, inspiring writer on many vital topics, and for forty years Abbot of the Monastery of Dionysiou at the Holy Mountain of Athos . Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies . Belmont, MA, U.S.A. . 1999 . 1-884729-47-9 . 42924301.
5. Web site: Cavarnos . Constantine . Modern Orthodox Saints (1886-1993) . Goodreads . 1999-09-01 . 2022-08-26.
6. Web site: Sanidopoulos . John . "Spiritual Invocation" by Elder Gabriel Dionysiatis . www.johnsanidopoulos.com . 2004-02-27 . 2022-08-26.
7. Web site: Elder Haralambos of Dionysiou . Greek Orthodox Christian Society . 2017-03-19 . 2022-08-28.
8. Web site: Relics of Elder Charalambos of Dionysiou, spiritual child of St. Joseph the Hesychast, exhumed . OrthoChristian.Com . 2021-07-01 . 2022-08-28.