The life of St Dionysius the New of Zakinthos
After some years in that office he resigned it, humbly preferring the quieter life of a monk, and returned to Zakynthos to become abbot of the Monastery of the Theotokos of Anafonitria.
It was there that the event took place for which he is chiefly remembered. A stranger, fleeing in terror with blood on his hands, sought refuge in the saint's cell; questioned gently, he confessed that he had just killed a man, who turned out to be Dionysius's own brother. Grieving deeply, Dionysius nonetheless hid the man and helped him escape, and when the family and authorities came searching, he told them he had seen nothing. Only afterward did he reveal to the fugitive who he truly was, and he brought him to repentance before helping him to safety. Dionysius reposed in old age in December; sources differ on the exact year, with 1622 and 1624 both given, and was formally recognized as a saint in 1703. He is a different Dionysius from the fourteenth-century Athonite founder of Dionysiou Monastery.
