DOROTHEANS. — An Arian sect of the followers of Dorotheus, bishop of Antioch (v.).
At the death of Demolius, bishop of Constantinople, the Arians elected Mary; shortly afterwards, however, they preferred Dorotheus of Antioch. Marino took offence and separated from the Arian community. The breach between the two parties became definitive when, in a public disputation, Dorotheus maintained that, since the Word had been created in time, the Father could not have been called such before the creation itself, since that name denotes a real relation, thus constituting a new sect even within the Arian body. The sect of the Dorotheans lasted for about 35 years; in 420, in fact, through the intervention of a certain Plinthus, a general of the army and very influential with Theodosius the Younger, a compromise was reached by agreeing not to speak further of the matter. The two sects, that of Marino and that of the Dorotheans, returned to the Arian community of Marino.