ABSTRACT
The Saint and Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite (feasted on 3 October) was a first-century Athenian who came to Christian faith after hearing the preaching of the Apostle Paul at the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17:34). According to tradition, Dionysius subsequently became bishop of Athens (Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 3.4.10). Much later, he was styled as the apostle to the Gauls and the first bishop of Paris, martyred at Montmartre. (Both traditions are recorded in the Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church; see e.g. Makarios of Simonos Petra 1998: 268–71.)
