Early Life and Captivity
His parents originated in Elateia and, in fear of the Turks, moved to Chrysopolis in Macedonia, where his father soon died, leaving him and his brother in the care of their mother, Eudokia.
As youths, both brothers were captured by the Turks to be raised as Muslims. The account relates that their mother was left in great anguish by the loss of her sons and eventually enclosed herself in a nearby convent. The brothers nonetheless maintained their Orthodox faith. By tradition, the Theotokos delivered them from captivity and directed them to take up the monastic life at a monastery in Neapolis.
Monastic Life at Dionysiou
According to the tradition recorded of him, Philotheos arrived at Mount Athos around 1551, at about the age of twenty-five, and settled at Dionysiou Monastery.
His ascetic labors are remembered for the resistance of temptation; one episode in his vita recounts his withstanding the attempts of a demon-possessed nun to seduce him. He is also said to have feigned illness in order to withdraw into solitary prayer in a cave, and in time he gathered three disciples around him.
He became renowned for working miracles and was credited with the gift of foreknowledge of future events.
Relics & Shrines
Philotheos reposed peacefully in 1610 at the age of eighty-four. By tradition he asked that his body be left unburied in the forest, and his remains were said to have been preserved, a monk later discovering his skull shining with great light.
His skull is kept at Petra Monastery in Thessaly in a silver reliquary case. Additional relics were brought to Dionysiou Monastery in 1972.
