Together with mayor Loukas Carrer and at a lesser extent, Alfred Lüth, Dimitriou saved the Jews of the island from the Holocaust; for this they were awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations.
[2][4] In 1935, he joined the Old Calendarist sect, but after being condemned by the Holy Synod, he issued public repentance and was admitted back as the legitimate Metropolitan of Zakynthos.
[3] The administration of the island came under the control of Nazi occupation authorities, specifically the German Chief of Police, Baerens, and the Wehrmacht Colonel, Alfred Lüth.
[3] They asked the metropolitan and mayor Loukas Carrer to give them a list of the Jews residing on the island to proceed to the deportation.
[2][3][6] In other exchanges with the governor, he reportedly stated that the Jews had "never bothered anyone", that they were "like other Greeks", and that it would "greatly offend the population of Zakynthos if they were to leave".
"[6] According to a widespread legend within the Jewish and Orthodox community of Zakynthos, he would have personally prevented the departure of a convoy of around sixty deportees by going in front of the supposed ship to take them away.
[15] After the war, the Jewish community financed the stained glass windows of the Saint Dimitrios Church in Zakynthos in his honor.
[18][19][20][21] In a passage from Arnold Zable's Fig Tree, the author connected Chrysostomos Dimitriou with the Greek concept of philoxenia.