Yesterday, Mount Athos celebrated the first feast of the translation of the holy relics of Saint Dionysios of Kolitsou (of Vatopaidi) following his recent canonisation.
At the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopaidi, according to Athonite tradition, a festal all-night vigil was held. Participating were His Grace Bishop Varlaam of Ploiești, Assistant Bishop to His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania; His Eminence Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol; as well as the Abbots of the Holy Monasteries: Elder Ephraim of Vatopaidi, Elder Nikolaos of Koutloumousiou, Elder Elisaios of Simonopetra, Elder Christophoros of Gregoriou, and the Dikaios of the Vatopaidi Skete of Saint Andrew, Elder Nektarios.
As part of the festive celebration, the holy relics of Saint Dionysios were ceremoniously received.
The canonisation of Saint Dionysios by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate took place on 31 August 2025, and his feast day was designated to be celebrated annually on 11 May.
The complete text of the Patriarchal and Synodal Act of Canonisation:
Patriarchal and Synodal Act on the enrolment into the choir of the Saints of those who laboured ascetically on the Holy Mountain
Hieromonk Niphon, surnamed Ionescu,
first Dikaios of the Patriarchal and Stavropegic Skete of the Honourable Forerunner;
Nectarius the Monk, called the “Protopsaltis”, surnamed Crețu;
Hieromonk Dionysios,
of the Vatopaidi Cell of Saint George at Kolitsou;
and Hieromonk Petronios,
Dikaios of the Patriarchal and Stavropegic Skete of the Honourable Forerunner.
Those who in this present life conducted themselves piously, virtuously, and in imitation of Christ; who were revealed as chosen vessels of divine grace and were endowed by God with diverse gifts of the Holy Spirit; who through these gifts benefitted and healed many of their brethren in soul and body; who pleased God through prayer, liturgical ministry, and ascetic struggle; and who, having lived and departed to the Lord, have been attested by signs and wonders – whose intercessions the pious Orthodox faithful invoke with reverence and faith, being assured of their holiness and their boldness before God – these the Holy Church of Christ has ever known how to honour, revere, and praise with hymns together with the chosen people of God, enrolling them among the Saints and the Righteous, and calling upon their fervent supplication and intercession before the God of mercy for the forgiveness of sins, the healing of infirmities, protection and strengthening in the faith, and, in sum, for the spiritual and bodily benefit of the Christian plenitude.
Since, therefore, such eminent virtues and accomplishments were likewise manifest in the lives of those originating from Romania who for many years dwelt in the sacred habitations of the Holy Mountain – Hieromonk Niphon, surnamed Ionescu, first Dikaios of the Patriarchal and Stavropegic Skete of the Honourable Forerunner; Nectarius the Monk, the “Protopsaltis”, surnamed Crețu; Hieromonk Dionysios, of the Vatopaidi Cell of Saint George at Kolitsou; and Hieromonk Petronios, also Dikaios of the same Patriarchal Skete – who embraced the solitary and arduous life of ascetic labour, some receiving the grace of the priesthood, becoming spiritual fathers and comforters of many monks and pilgrims, being sanctified first in complete and self-sacrificial obedience and submission and in the continual cutting off of their own will, in self-denial, humility, temperance, and many ascetical struggles, compassionately teaching and strengthening those who came to them for spiritual encouragement and consolation – all these things having now been submitted to the Church by the Archbishop of Bucharest, Metropolitan of Ungrovlachia and Patriarch of Romania, Locum Tenens of the Throne of Caesarea in Cappadocia, our beloved brother and concelebrant, His Beatitude Daniel, who presented full dossiers containing many signed and trustworthy testimonies, together with further documentation clearly attesting and demonstrating the high and God-inspired manner of life and works of these Athonite fathers, as men who far excelled many in virtue and who were enriched with divine gifts in abundance of grace, and who in all things walked the narrow and laborious monastic path in a manner pleasing to God unto the end of their life – and who requested that the Church proceed officially to their inclusion in her Calendar as Saints –
we, together with the Hierarchs in Christ who are with us, having also taken into account the unceasing testimony of ecclesiastical conscience, not only of those labouring on the Holy Mountain (of which we are the canonical Bishop) and of those who go there for pilgrimage, but also of the faithful of Orthodox Romania, concerning the holiness of these venerable Athonite fathers, and the honour paid to them as Righteous Ones from of old, have, following the common custom of the Church, judged the request of His Beatitude to be both reasonable and fitting, and have accepted it.
Therefore, we decree Synodically and in the Holy Spirit ordain that the aforementioned four Athonite fathers—namely, Hieromonk Niphon; Monk Nectarius the “Protopsaltis”; Hieromonk Dionysios of Kolitsou; and Hieromonk Petronios—Romanian by earthly origin, be henceforth numbered among the Saints of the Church unto ages of ages, honoured annually as follows:
Niphon the Prodromite on the 13th of July;
Nectarius the “Protopsaltis” on the 18th of November;
Dionysios of Vatopaidi on the 11th of May;
and Hieromonk Petronios on the 24th of February;
to be praised with hymns of honour by clergy, faithful, and monks.
In confirmation of this, the present Patriarchal and Synodal Act has been composed and signed in the Holy Codex of our Holy Great Church of Christ, and an identical and unaltered copy is being sent to His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania, for reading in the churches and subsequent deposition in the archives of his Most Holy Church, as well as to the Holy Community of Mount Athos, where their honour and memory have been continually kept verdant and undying, likewise for deposition in its proper archives.
In the year of salvation 2025, in the month of October (16th).
Signatories:
Emmanuel of Chalcedon
Ambrosios of Karpathos and Kasos
Apostolos of Miletus
Athanasios of Colonia
Andreas of Arkalochori, Kastelli and Viannos
Sebastianos of Atlanta
Cleopas of Sweden and All Scandinavia
Maximos of Selyvria
Makarios of Australia
Kyrillos of Imbros and Tenedos
Maximos of Switzerland
Iakovos of Mexico
Source: orthodoxianewsagency.gr