Saint Dōrotheos of GazaToday in the Holy Orthodox Church we venerate Saint Dōrotheos of Gaza, one of the great monastic fathers of Palestine in the sixth century. Saint Dōrotheos is a beloved saint among Palestinians and Syrians, for he belonged to them. He is particularly beloved, however, for the numerous spiritual writings and advice to new monks – written in a lucid, clear and understandable style – that he left behind him. His books are counted among the spiritual classics. This is one of his three feast days, the other ones being on the fifth of June (in the Russian tradition) and the thirteenth of August (in the Romanian tradition).
Saint Dōrotheos of Gaza [Gk. Δωρόθεος, Ar. Dûrûṯiyyûs دوروثيوس] was apparently born to a certain degree of standing, having been given a fine education and being thirsty for worldly knowledge from a very young age. He recounted that when he was young he didn’t want to study, approaching books as he would wild beasts, but he eventually came to acquire, with God’s help, the habit of diligence in his studies. It got to be so that he did not care what he ate or when he slept. He listened to his lessons to the exclusion of all else, including the exhortations of his friends, and at night he retired to his room and read deep into the middle of the night. These studious habits stayed with him and he acquired a great store of knowledge.
They also served Dōrotheos well in the monastery, into which he came when he was still young. He proved even thirstier for the perfections of the monastic life, than he had for the knowledge of the world. He prayed and kept the fasts, eating only bread and boiled heads of grass with water once a day, and stood in vigil as long as he had sat in study poring over books. One of his first obediences at the monastery was to stand at the door greeting those pilgrims who came inside and showing them the hospitality of the monastery. In this way Saint Dōrotheos gained both a knowledge and a love – these two things coming together with him as they should – of people from all and sundry walks of life. He began to understand the burdens and temptations of people, as well as their spiritual struggles. He also worked with his hands, building up cells for the other monks from stones he gathered himself, or weaving baskets to sell for the necessities of life. But he had little time to sleep, catching only short dozes between the end of his work and the beginnings of his prayer. He would see to the pilgrims’ needs as long as he could, and then go off to vigil, where he asked one of the brothers to wake him and another to keep him awake as the vigil was sung. He said of himself that he clung to these brothers as a man would cling to that which would save his life, for his salvation depended on them.
Saint Dōrotheos served as the cell attendant for Saint John the Prophet for ten years. He served the elder monk with complete love and obedience, kissing the doorpost of the cell the way one would kiss a relic of the Holy Cross. Dōrotheos once revealed to Saint John the trouble of his heart, that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven he would have to face much trouble. But the elder monk comforted Dōrotheos and assured him that mortifying his will and keeping obedience to the Fathers as he had been doing were a delight to Christ. He was also a devotee of Abba Zosimas the confessor and spiritual father of Saint Mary of Ægypt, who lived at the same monastery for a time.
His disciple, Saint Dositheos, said this of him: ‘Towards the brethren labouring with him he responded with modesty, with humility, and was gracious without arrogance or audacity. He was good-natured and direct, he would engage in a dispute, but always preserved the principle of respect, of good will, and that which is sweeter than honey, oneness of soul, the mother of all virtues.’
Saint Dōrotheos left behind him a significant body of homilies and discourses, as well as several letters and a catechetical text. He drew from many of the insights of his fellow monks, particularly the elder ones. Elder Barsanuphios and Saint John figure prominently in these works, as well as the sayings of Abba Zosimas. These writings are clear, direct, and of a practical orientation, and are considered to be classics of spiritual instruction because their advice is as suited to laymen as it is to monks, and to lower-class people as well as to upper-class. He speaks in the unpretentious, unstudied voice of the common people, something remarkable for a man of his education and philosophical background – though not unknown for the advanced monks of the Thebaïd and of the Palestinian monasteries, who approached with love all who came before them, no matter what their station in life. He reposed in the latter half of the sixth century, after sixty years of ascetical labour. Saint Dōrotheos of Gaza, approachable and kind and self-effacing elder and spiritual teacher to many, pray unto Christ our God for the salvation of our souls!
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