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| St. Dionysius Exiguus (Feast Day - September 1) |
Saint Dionysius Exiguus was, according to his biographer Cassiodorus, "of Scythian descent, but of entirely Roman manners, very skilled in both languages [Latin and Greek], a perfect connoisseur of Holy Scripture and Dogmatics."
He entered a monastery in Dobruja as a young man, joining the Scythian monks. Later he arrived in Constantinople, only to be called to Rome in 496, where he was ordained a priest and remained for the rest of his life.
He lived for a long time in the Monastery of Saint Anastasia, and also worked in the papal chancellery.
Cassiodorus also wrote that Dionysius taught dialectics in the Vivarium Monastery (in Calabria) and that he taught for many years in the church.
He was a great scholar of the Holy Scriptures, a strict guardian of all monastic virtues and, above all, humility, as a sign of which he called himself "Exiguus" (the Small).
With an excellent knowledge of the Greek language, he, as a translator, rendered important services to ecclesiastial canon law and Christian chronology, the history of monasticism and dogmatics. The following works belong to him:
1) A collection of synodal acts, published in two editions. Both editions consist of a translation of 50 apostolic canons, a Greek collection of the acts of the synods of Nicaea, Ancyra, Neocaesarea, Gangra, Antioch, Laodicea, Constantinople and 27 canons of Chalcedon (with 28-30 canons missing), as well as 21 canons of Sardinia and the definitions of Carthage from 419. Both editions are dedicated to Bishop Stephen of Salon.
2) Quite a long time after the second edition of the Collection of Synods, the Collection of Decretals appeared, the oldest collection of this kind. It contains the Epistles of Siricius of Rome (384–398) in 15 chapters, twenty-one Epistles of Innocent I, one of Zosimus, four from the time of Boniface I, three of Celestine, seven of Leo I, one of Gelasius, and one of Anastasius I.
3) The Paschalion, which is a continuation of the 95-year Paschalion of Cyril of Alexandria, which ended in 531. In 525 Dionysius continued this work, repeated the last nineteen-year cycle of Cyril, and added five more from 532. He introduced the Alexandrian Paschalion, which had come into use in the East since the Synod of Nicaea, into the Latin Church, which had hitherto adhered to the 84-year Victorian cycle, and thereby rendered no small service in the matter of the unity of the Church. He ceased to reckon the years from Diocletian, that impious persecutor of Christians, and began to reckon the years from Anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi ("in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ"), which is abbreviated to Anno Domini (A.D.) and was thus the founder of the Christian calendar that dates to the birth of Christ. He placed the birth of Christ, as is now known incorrectly, in the year 754 from the foundation of Rome, and precisely on December 25 in the 1st year of his calendar; he considered the day of the Annunciation to be March 25. His Paschal cycle was soon adopted by Rome, and then by the rest of Italy, by the end of the sixth century in Gaul, and finally from 729 in the British Church. In the time of Charlemagne, the Dionysian calendar, as it was called in the West, came into official use in the Church.
4) His other works consist of various epistles and translations of patristic texts from Greek to Latin.
Saint Dionysius was canonized by the Romanian Orthodox Church on July 8, 2008 and the Russian Orthodox Church on March 7, 2018, with the celebration of the day of commemoration determined as September 1/14. In September of 2008 the Romanian Patriarchate also named Saint Dionysius the patron saint of the National Institute of Statistics.
He entered a monastery in Dobruja as a young man, joining the Scythian monks. Later he arrived in Constantinople, only to be called to Rome in 496, where he was ordained a priest and remained for the rest of his life.
He lived for a long time in the Monastery of Saint Anastasia, and also worked in the papal chancellery.
Cassiodorus also wrote that Dionysius taught dialectics in the Vivarium Monastery (in Calabria) and that he taught for many years in the church.
He was a great scholar of the Holy Scriptures, a strict guardian of all monastic virtues and, above all, humility, as a sign of which he called himself "Exiguus" (the Small).
With an excellent knowledge of the Greek language, he, as a translator, rendered important services to ecclesiastial canon law and Christian chronology, the history of monasticism and dogmatics. The following works belong to him:
1) A collection of synodal acts, published in two editions. Both editions consist of a translation of 50 apostolic canons, a Greek collection of the acts of the synods of Nicaea, Ancyra, Neocaesarea, Gangra, Antioch, Laodicea, Constantinople and 27 canons of Chalcedon (with 28-30 canons missing), as well as 21 canons of Sardinia and the definitions of Carthage from 419. Both editions are dedicated to Bishop Stephen of Salon.
2) Quite a long time after the second edition of the Collection of Synods, the Collection of Decretals appeared, the oldest collection of this kind. It contains the Epistles of Siricius of Rome (384–398) in 15 chapters, twenty-one Epistles of Innocent I, one of Zosimus, four from the time of Boniface I, three of Celestine, seven of Leo I, one of Gelasius, and one of Anastasius I.
3) The Paschalion, which is a continuation of the 95-year Paschalion of Cyril of Alexandria, which ended in 531. In 525 Dionysius continued this work, repeated the last nineteen-year cycle of Cyril, and added five more from 532. He introduced the Alexandrian Paschalion, which had come into use in the East since the Synod of Nicaea, into the Latin Church, which had hitherto adhered to the 84-year Victorian cycle, and thereby rendered no small service in the matter of the unity of the Church. He ceased to reckon the years from Diocletian, that impious persecutor of Christians, and began to reckon the years from Anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi ("in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ"), which is abbreviated to Anno Domini (A.D.) and was thus the founder of the Christian calendar that dates to the birth of Christ. He placed the birth of Christ, as is now known incorrectly, in the year 754 from the foundation of Rome, and precisely on December 25 in the 1st year of his calendar; he considered the day of the Annunciation to be March 25. His Paschal cycle was soon adopted by Rome, and then by the rest of Italy, by the end of the sixth century in Gaul, and finally from 729 in the British Church. In the time of Charlemagne, the Dionysian calendar, as it was called in the West, came into official use in the Church.
4) His other works consist of various epistles and translations of patristic texts from Greek to Latin.
Saint Dionysius was canonized by the Romanian Orthodox Church on July 8, 2008 and the Russian Orthodox Church on March 7, 2018, with the celebration of the day of commemoration determined as September 1/14. In September of 2008 the Romanian Patriarchate also named Saint Dionysius the patron saint of the National Institute of Statistics.
Troparion (Tone 1)
As a bright ray illuminating the whole world, you appeared, Holy Venerable Dionysius, who calculated the flow of time after the Nativity of Christ and made known the ordinances of the Holy Fathers. For this we sing to you with joy: Glory to Him who gave you wisdom; Glory to Him who blessed you; Glory to Him who works through you the sanctification of our lives.
Kontakion (Tone 8)
From ancestral Dobruja you set out for the West as an apostle, preaching Christ and becoming a follower of the Holy Fathers, Holy Venerable Dionysius. Your light, wise Father, praises the thrice-radiant Godhead; for this we lovingly celebrate your holy memory.
As a bright ray illuminating the whole world, you appeared, Holy Venerable Dionysius, who calculated the flow of time after the Nativity of Christ and made known the ordinances of the Holy Fathers. For this we sing to you with joy: Glory to Him who gave you wisdom; Glory to Him who blessed you; Glory to Him who works through you the sanctification of our lives.
Kontakion (Tone 8)
From ancestral Dobruja you set out for the West as an apostle, preaching Christ and becoming a follower of the Holy Fathers, Holy Venerable Dionysius. Your light, wise Father, praises the thrice-radiant Godhead; for this we lovingly celebrate your holy memory.