Today's imposing church and the adjacent Monastery of Ammos have gone through many phases. They were destroyed in the big earthquake of Zakynthos in 1893. Seven years later, a fundraising committee was set up to undertake the construction of the church and on August 22, 1948, the inauguration took place. Numerous works of art adorn the church, the most important of which are the silver sculpture of Larnaca of the Holy Relic, work of Georgios Diamantis Bafas (1829), the Despotic icons in the iconostasis with silver plating by the same artist (1829), the famous handmade painting of Procession of the Saint by the priest Nikolaos Koutouzis (1766), the wood-carved and gilded "Chamber" of the Saint and many more. The frescoes of the church have been painted by exceptional icon painters such as Nikolaos Stratoulis, Dionysios Andravidiotis, Ioannis Karousos, Charalambos Giatras and Ioannis Tsolakos, while the icons of the icon screen (iconostasis) –apart from the four central ones which are handmade by the priest Nikolaos Petrouis– were created by Dimitrios Pelekasis and Christos Rouseas. Saint Dionysios was born in 1547 in Zakynthos and specifically in Aegialos, in the coastal zone of Zakynthos town. His family was wealthy, of Western Europe origin and with ancestors who were following the Catholic Doctrine. His parents, taking part in the Venetian wars against the Turks, acquired an aristocratic position. His father was called Moukios and his mother Pavlina, while he had two siblings Konstantinos and Sigoura. According to Zakynthian traditions, which are not historically confirmed, Saint Dionysios had Saint Gerasimos as godfather. From an early age, he had a Christian upbringing. After the death of his parents at the age of 20, he decided to follow monasticism. He left all his property to his brother with special mention for his sister’s marriage. Saint Dionysios showed from a young age his desire to follow an ascetic life based on Orthodox patristic theology. Although he came from a wealthy family, he decided to become a monk in the monastery of Strofades, an island south of Zakynthos, taking the name Daniel. So he devoted himself to praying, studying the scriptures and living the ascetic lifestyle which he longed for. His spiritual progress was soon obvious and as a result, two years later he became abbot of the monastery. An ascetic life with continuous and unceasing work followed. During the last years of his life, he had retired to the monastery of Theotokos Anafonitria. Many people visited him for advice and confession. He died at the age of 75, on 17 December 1622. Three years after his death, when he was exhumed, his remains had stayed intact. During the Turkish attack on Strofadia in the 18th century and the amputation of the relic's hands by the attackers, the body of the Saint was transported and is now in the Church of Saint Dionysios in Zakynthos. It is one of the three intact relics in the Ionian Islands (Saint Spyridon, Saint Gerasimos and Saint Dionysios). His Holiness was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1703, but on the island, he has been celebrated as a saint for several years before.