Saint Dionysios the Rhetorician and his disciple Saint Mētrophánēs

Commemorated on July 9.

Saint Dionysios was admired by many, and his repose was regarded as something special in the codices of the Monasteries of Dionysiou and Docheiariou. Both of these luminaries lived godly and ascetical lives. Saint Dionysios reposed peacefully on July 9, 1606, although other manuscripts give the date of his repose as October 6, 1596 or 1602. Saint Mētrophánēs went to the Lord shortly afterward.

According to the ever-memorable Father Gerasimos of the Little Skḗtē of Saint Anne, the XX century hymnographer of the Great Church, who composed more than 2,000 Services (including the Service in honor of Saint Dionysios and Saint Mētrophánēs), Hieromonk Dionysios fell asleep in the Lord on October 6, 1606, and his disciple Saint Mētrophánēs reposed shortly thereafter. At Little Saint Anne’s Skḗtē, both Saint Dionysios and Saint Mētrophánēs are commemorated together on July 9 with a solemn celebration in the cave where there was once a temple, in addition to their cell. Proof of their presence is a surviving washbasin from their temple.

Elder Gerasimos, and his equally pious entourage, managed to clean the cave in which Saints Dionysios and Mētrophánēs had spent their ascetic life, through much labor, and then by an appearance and revelation of these Saints. They built a church dedicated to both of these Saints. The roof of the cave has an extension of rock which covers the church. At a certain place water drips constantly, which the Fathers collect and give to devout pilgrims as holy water for their sanctification.

According to Tradition, Saint Dionysios the Rhetorician is depicted standing up straight, with a broad forehead, a large mustache, and a square beard.