Patriarch Dionysius I of Constantinople

Dionysius I
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Church	Church of Constantinople
In office	end 1466 – end 1471 July 1488 – end 1490
Predecessor	Symeon I Nephon II
Successor	Symeon I Maximus IV
Personal details
Born	Dimitsana
Died	1492 Drama
Previous post	Metropolitan of Philippopolis
Sainthood
Feast day	November 23
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church

Dionysius I (Greek: Διονύσιος Α΄) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople two times, from 1466 to 1471 and from 1488 to 1490. He is honoured as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and his feast day is November 23.

Dionysius was born in Dimitsana, in the Peloponnese. He became a monk and entered in a monastery in Constantinople where he was a pupil of Mark, Archbishop of Ephesus, who ordained him as priest. During the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 he was enslaved by the Ottomans, but he was bought and freed some time later in Adrianople by an archon known as Kyritzes (probably Demetrios Apokaukos, one of the two Greek secretaries of Sultan Mehmed II).

Following his release Dionysius became highly thought of by Mara Branković, daughter of the Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković and one of the wives of Sultan Murad II, the father of Mehmed II. Although Mara remained a lifelong Christian, she was quite influential with Mehmed. Supported by Mara, Dionysius was appointed Metropolitan of Philippopolis by Patriarch Gennadius Scholarius.