DIOSCORO, POPE. — A deacon of the Alexandrian Church, compelled by the Monophysite controversies to go into exile, he took refuge in Rome, where he was incorporated into that clergy.
In 505 he was sent by Pope Simmaco to Theodoric to protest against the usurpations of the antipope Lorenzo; he pleaded the Pope’s cause so effectively that Theodoric ordered the patrician Festo to restore to the legitimate Pontiff the churches and properties that had been taken from him and to put an end to the opposition against him. In 519 he was part of the mission sent by Pope Ormisda to Constantinople to restore peace after the Acacian schism.
Because of his resourcefulness, his knowledge of the Eastern world, and his familiarity with the Greek language, the Pope had placed the greatest trust in him, and D. was in fact the most important person in the legation. He was indeed designated to explain to the clergy of Constantinople the reasons that had led the Pope to condemn Acacius, and he did so with such skill that he obtained the approval of the Easterners. For this reason Ormisda addressed a letter to him thanking him for the work he had performed and announcing that he would propose him to the Emperor for the see of Alexandria. The negotiations with Giustino, however, came to nothing, and D. remained a deacon in Rome. There he acquired great influence among everyone, so much so that, in view of his past merits and his previous activity, which gave good grounds for hope concerning the future, it was thought that he would be elected as the successor of Felice IV. The latter, however, fearing struggles and divisions after his death, designated his archdeacon Bonifazio as his successor, and Bonifazio was in fact elected by a minority and consecrated (September 530). Most of the clergy instead elected D., who was also consecrated in the Lateran Basilica, while Bonifazio was consecrated in the Basilica Julia. D. cannot be numbered among the antipopes (v.). The schism that was looming was nevertheless averted because D. died a few days later (14 October), and his supporters submitted to Bonifazio, also signing a libellus of retraction and anathema against D. Bonifazio preserved the libellus in the ecclesiastical archives as a posthumous condemnation of D., but his successor Agapito (535) burned it before the people in front of the Confession of St Peter.