Chrysostomos Dimitriou was appointed as the Greek Orthodox bishop of the island of Zakynthos in 1934.
In April 1941, Greece was divided into three occupied zones. Zakynthos was under Italian occupation. Bishop Chrysostomos was placed under house arrest in Athens. When Italy surrendered in September 1943, German troops took control of the island. Chrysostomos then returned to Zakynthos. Meanwhile, the mayor Loukas Karrer was charged with making a list of the Jews living on the island, and asked Chrysostomos for help. The bishop was determined to protect the Jewish population from deportation. He told the Jewish community to flee to the mountains for safety. Chrysostomos, who spoke German, attempted to persuade the commandant Alfred Lüth not to deport the island’s Jewish population. When that failed, he put only two names on the list: his own and the mayor’s. All 275 Jews living on the island were able to escape and survive.
Bishop Chrysostomos was honored as Righteous Among the Nations in 1978.