Dorotheos of Gaza

DOROTHEOS OF GAZA. - Ascetic writer of the 6th century. A native of Antioch, in his youth he received an excellent secular education; he subsequently embraced the religious life and withdrew to the monastery of Seridus, situated between Gaza and Ascalon. Through the good offices of Seridus himself, D. was able to make contact with the holy monk Barsanuphius, who was then living in complete seclusion; he was afterward a faithful follower of St. John the Prophet.

In order to deepen his own spiritual culture, D. put to the two ascetics a series of questions on the Bible, on the works of the Fathers and on various theological subjects. Of these questions, together with the answers, about a hundred have come down to us.

By Barsanuphius and John, D. was charged with founding, near the monastery, a hospital, of which he assumed the direction. After the death of the two (c. 540) he left the monastery of Seridus to found one between Gaza and Maiuma, where he spent the rest of his life. In this new monastery he composed his Spiritual Conferences, which were held in great esteem in the monastic life. These are sermons addressed to the monks of his monastery between 540 and 560.