TEODOTO, bishop of LAODICEA. — A follower of Arius from the very beginning (Theodoret, Hist. eccl., I, 4), he took part at the beginning of 325 in the Synod of Antioch for the election of Eustatius, but refused to subscribe to the formula of faith promulgated there.
At the Council of Nicaea he was among the few defenders of Arius, but nevertheless subscribed to the Symbol (ibid., I, 6; 20). Shortly afterward, however, he attempted to retract his subscription, and Constantine wrote him a letter warning him that by doing so he was exposing himself to serious risks (Gelasios, Hist. eccl., III, 3). In 330 he took part in the Synod of Antioch at which Eustatius was deposed. He forbade the two Apollinarii, father and son, to attend the lectures of the pagan philosopher Epiphanius, and, since they did not obey, excommunicated them. Despite his outspoken Arianism, Eusebius of Caesarea gives him a splendid eulogy (Hist. eccl., VII, 32), and Theodoret attests (Hist. eccl., V, 7) that in his city he was venerated as a saint. Induced by these testimonies, Ado inserted him into his Martyrology, from which he passed into the Roman one (2 Nov.). The Bollandists raised doubts about his sanctity, and in 1883 the Sacred Congregation of Rites reserved the matter to itself (Acta SS. Novembris, I, Paris 1887, p. 420).