Venerable Dius Abbot of Antioch

Life and Monastic Foundation

Saint Dius was born in Antioch in Syria toward the end of the fourth century, into a pious Christian family, and from youth gave himself to severe asceticism, eating little and not every day and keeping constant vigil and prayer. The synaxarion relates that the Lord commanded him in a vision to go to Constantinople, there to serve both God and the people, and that he settled in a solitary place beyond the city which others feared to inhabit.

Emperor Theodosius the Younger is said to have come to him for a blessing together with Patriarch Atticus of Constantinople (406-425). The emperor funded the construction of a monastery, and the Patriarch ordained Dius to the priesthood and installed him as abbot (igumen). The people of the area came to him for counsel and guidance, and whatever was offered to him he distributed to the poor, the homeless, and the sick.

Miracles and Traditions

Traditional Accounts: The synaxarion relates that Dius drove his staff into the ground, praying that it might grow if God approved his remaining there, and that the staff took root and in time became an immense oak which stood long after his death. It further recounts that at his prayer a spring of pure water issued for the monastery and that he raised up a man who had drowned. By the same tradition, during a grave illness in old age he appeared to die, and Patriarch Atticus together with Alexander of Alexandria attended his funeral; he then unexpectedly revived, declaring that the Lord had granted him another fifteen years of life. These are accounts handed down in the hagiographic tradition rather than independently documented events.