The PriestMartyr Dorotheos

Commemorated on June 5

The PriestMartyr Dorotheos was bishop of the Phoenician city of Tyre, during the time of the persecution against Christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305). Heeding the words of the Gospel (Mt. 10: 23), the saint withdrew from Tyre and hid away from the persecutors. He returned to Tyre during the reign of Saint Constantine the Great (306-337, Comm. 21 May), again occupying the bishop's throne he guided his flock for more than 50 years, and converted many of the pagans to Christianity. When the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363) began openly to persecute Christians, Saint Dorotheos was already over 100 years old. He withdrew from Tyre to the Myzean city of Udum (present day Bulgarian Varna). Delegates of the emperor arrested him there. For his refusal to offer sacrifice to idols they began cruelly to torture the holy elder, and under torture he gave up his soul to the Lord (+ c. year 362, at age 107).
To Saint Dorotheos is ascribed by some the compiling of a work, "The Synopsis", a collection of sayings, and including lives of the holy prophets and apostles.