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His Beatitude was born on August 15th, 1919 in the town of
Heraklion, on the Island of Crete, in the country of Greece. He
is known in the world by the surname Makogambrakis, and attended
the government seminary Pytagoraia Institute in Heraklion,
Crete, from 1934 to 1937. In 1937 he was tonsured a monk at the
Holy Monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos. In 1940 the Monk
Dionysios was ordained to the Diaconate and in March 1943 he was
ordained a Priest by Metropolitan Ierotheos of Militoupoleos,
Greece, at the request of the Holy Monastery of Iviron. His
Eminence has studied Patrology and Theology for over 14 years.
During the pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Monastery of
Iviron, he was assigned by the Patriarch as Superior of Saint Peter
Monastery and Holy Mother's Shrine in Nazareth, Israel. By 1945,
Hieromonk Dionysios was appointed a member of the ecclesiastical
court under Metropolitan Isidoros. Later during the same year, he
was assigned as Superior of the Monastery of Cana in Galilee and he
continued to serve the Lord there until 1960. In 1960, Patriarch
Benedictos reassigned him as Superior of Saint Charalambos Monastery
in Jerusalem and also assigned him to serve as a priest at the
Cathedral of Saint Constantine and Saint Helen in Jerusalem.
A year later in 1961, he was appointed Superior of Holy Cross
Theological School in Jerusalem. At the same time Hieromonk
Dionysios studied Greek, Hebrew, Russian and English at the Hebrew
University. He continued to serve the Holy Cross until July 1963
when, with the permission of Patriarch Benedictos, he returned to
the Holy Monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos in order to seek
permission from his Brotherhood to journey to the United States of
America.
After receiving the blessing of the Iviron Brotherhood, Hieromonk
Dionysios left for America, arriving in the second half of 1963. For
the remainder of 1963 and part of 1964, he served as a Priest at
Saint Markela Orthodox Church is Astoria, New York, under the Greek
Bishop Petros (Astifitheso) who was in turn functioning under the
administration of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.
In the fall of 1964, after coming under the jurisdiction of the
Greek Orthodox Church in America, he was assigned by Archbishop
Photios, the former Metropolitan of Phatos on the Island of Cyprus
as Archimandrite at Saint George Greek Orthodox Church in Lowell,
Massachusetts. In 1966, Archimandrite Dionysios was transferred to
the Orthodox Church of resurrection in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
While serving the body of Christ a the Church of the resurrection,
he also attended English classes at Brown University.
Five years later, in 1971, Archimandrite Dionysios was
canonically elected Bishop by the Parishes of the Greek Orthodox
Church in America. On March 7, 1971, he was consecrated to the
Episcopate of the orthodox Church by Bishop Andreas and Anthony. The
Church of the resurrection was then raised to the status of
Cathedral. His Grace continued to serve there until 1980. After
serving the Lord in Pawtucket, Rhode Island for nearly fourteen
years at the Resurrection Orthodox Cathedral, Bishop Dionysios
raised Saint George Orthodox Church in Memphis, Tennessee, to the
status of Cathedral and transferred there.
On January 11, 1983, Bishop Dionysios was requested to serve as
Exarch for the Exarchate of the Patriarchate of Alexandria in
America known there as the Diocese of New England, and the Patriarch
confirmed the canonical consecration of Bishop Dionysios. On May 26,
1986, His Holiness Patriarch Nicholas The 6th gave "Autocephaly"
(which means "Auto-Self", or "Independence") to his Exarchate in
America and Bishop Dionysios became the first Primate of the
autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church. Since then, Archbishop
Dionysios has served the Church mostly from Mississauga, Ontario,
Canada.
As a faithful Shepherd, Archbishop Dionysios guided the flock
entrusted to him by Christ our Savior down the narrow path of
salvation. His Eminence has been a true pillar of Orthodoxy and has
vigorously defended his faithful little flock from any wolves in
sheep's clothing who prowl about. Fending off both the modernists,
the ecumenists and the pseudo-Orthodox defenders of the Latin
heresy, he has stood firm in much the same manner as did our Holy
Fathers, among the Saints, Photios the Great, Athanasius and Mark of
Ephesus.
Archbishop Dionsyios reposed December 28, 2005.
May his memory be eternal! |
