DOROTEO. – An Antiochene deacon, he followed Meletius in the troubled episode that afflicted the Church of Antioch in the second half of the 4th century, when the Catholics were divided between the two bishops Paulinus and Meletius. St. Basil employed him to restore peace in that Church, sending him with letters to Alexandria and Rome. D.’s first journey was made in 371 to Alexandria, carrying to St. Athanasius an earnest appeal from St. Basil requesting help on behalf of the Easterners. In 375 he went to Rome for the first time, to Pope Damasus, but obtained very little. He returned there a second time in 377, again concerning the question of Antioch; he found a synod assembled there, before which he had to defend the orthodoxy of his bishop Meletius. But this time too, because of the distrust between East and West, he had to return to Antioch with little hope.
Dorotheos
BIBL.: Tillemont, IX, Venice edition 1732, pp. 139 ff., 221 ff.; F. Cavallera, Le schisme d'Antioche, Paris 1905, p. 145 ff.; L. Duchesne, Histoire ancienne de l'Eglise, II, 4th ed., there 1910, pp. 399-414; P. Batifol, La siège apostolique, 3rd ed., there 1924, p. 105 ff.; G. Bardy, in Fliche-Martin-Frutes, IV, pp. 274-81.
DOROTEO. – An Arian bishop, originally from Thrace, he succeeded Ipaziano in the see of Heraclea around 365. He was one of the principal supporters of Demofilo, bishop of Constantinople. In 376, during the Meletian schism, the Arian sect of Antioch elected him as its bishop. Summoned to Constantinople by the Arians, he remained there until 381, when a law of Theodosius forbade the assemblies of all those who did not accept the faith of Nicaea and decreed that their churches be given to the Catholics. He was recalled to Constantinople in 386, upon the death of Demofilo, to replace Marino, previously elected by those same Arians. A dispute between D. and Marino gave rise to the new Arian sect of the Dorotheans (v.).
BIBL.: Socrates, Hist. eccl., 4, 35; 5, 23; Sozomeno, Hist. eccl., 7, 17; Tillemont, VI, ed. Venice 1732, p. 629 ff.
DOROTEO. – Archbishop of Thessalonica, installed around 500. Like his predecessor, he continued in the Acacian schism; indeed, he persecuted the bishops of Epirus who had adhered to Rome. D. refused to subscribe to the formula of faith sent by Pope Hormisdas through a delegation, which was mistreated and partly massacred. Nevertheless, D. was not deposed.
BIBL.: J. P. Kirsch, s. V. in LThK, III, col. 426.
Cite this article
“DOROTEO.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IV (1950), p. 1092. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/doroteo.