DOROTHEUS (1)
Deacon of Antioch, he followed Meletius in the sad events that afflicted the Church of Antioch in the second half of the 4th century, during which the Catholics were divided between the two bishops Paulinus and Meletius. St Basil made use of him to restore peace to that Church, sending him with letters to Alexandria and Rome. D. made his first journey in 371 to Alexandria, bringing to St Athanasius an earnest appeal from St Basil asking for help on behalf of the Easterners. In 375 he went for the first time to Rome to Pope Damasus, but obtained little. He returned there a second time in 377, still concerning the matter of Antioch; there he found a synod assembled at which he had to defend the orthodoxy of his bishop Meletius. But even this time, because of the mutual distrust between East and West, he had to return to Antioch with little hope.
DOROTHEUS (2)
Arian bishop, a native of Thrace, he succeeded Hypatius in the see of Heraclea about 365. He was one of the principal supporters of Demolius, bishop of Constantinople. In 376, during the Meletian schism, the Arian sect at Antioch elected him as its bishop. Called to Constantinople by the Arians, he remained there until 381, when a law of Theodosius forbade assemblies of all who did not accept the faith of Nicaea and ordered that their churches be given to the Catholics. He was recalled to Constantinople in 386 after the death of Demolius, in place of Marinus previously elected by the Arians themselves. A dispute between D. and Marinus gave rise to the new Arian sect of the D. (v.).
DOROTHEUS (3)
Archbishop of Thessalonica, installed in 500. Like his predecessor, he persisted in the Acacian schism and even persecuted the bishops of Epirus who had adhered to Rome. D. refused to subscribe to the formula of faith sent to him by Pope Hormisdas through a delegation, which was maltreated and in part massacred. Nevertheless D. was not deposed.