(A.D. 530.)
[Not in Roman Martyrology nor in Greek Menæa, but inserted in the
Martyrology of Peter Galesinius on this day, and by Ferrarius, and
also in the Acta Sanctorum by the Bollandists, on this day.
Authority:--His Life, by a fellow-disciple.]
Dositheus was page to an officer in the army, who was warmly attached
to him, and regarded him almost as a son. He grew up among soldiers,
without the least knowledge of the truths of religion. One day he
heard a conversation turn on Jerusalem, which was called the Holy
City, and he was filled with curiosity to see it, and know why it was
regarded as sacred. As a friend of his master's was about to visit
Jerusalem, he asked permission to accompany him, and his request was
readily granted. On his arrival at Jerusalem, Dositheus went to
Gethsemane, and saw there a painting which represented the lost in the
flames of hell. This picture produced a most powerful impression upon
him, and he stood long before it, wondering what it meant. A lady who
was present, seeing the astonishment of the boy, explained to him
about the judgment and hell, truths he had not heard before. When he
asked her how the terrible place could be escaped, she replied, by
fasting and prayer. The instruction of the lady made upon the youth so
deep an impression that he at once began to abstain from meat, and
pray as best he could. His companions, astonished at the change, said,
laughing, that he was going to become a monk. But he had not heard of
monks before, and when he ascertained what monks were, he resolved to
seek the nearest monastery. He accordingly went to that governed by S.
Serides, who was at first disposed to reject him, on account of his
rich dress, youth, and delicate complexion; but, at last, overcome by
the boy's earnestness, he committed him to S. Dorotheus, as a
disciple. Dorotheus saw that the youth was not of sufficiently robust
temperament to stand austerities, he, therefore, laboured to correct
his self-will, and discipline his hitherto ungoverned tongue. "Well,
Dositheus," said the master to him, soon after his admission, "How
much hast thou eaten to-day?" "A loaf and a half," answered the
boy;--this was equivalent to about five pounds. "That is pretty well,"
said Dorotheus, smiling. "Try, my son, to be a little more moderate
tomorrow." And then, when the lad had taken somewhat less, "How farest
thou to-day?" asked the master. "Well, my father." "Then learn to eat
sufficient to satisfy thy need, but never devour food in excess of
what is necessary." He made the youth serve the hospital. Dositheus
was so cheerful, that the sick therein loved his presence. Sometimes
he lost patience, and when a sick man provoked him he gave way to
temper and bad words. Then, filled with compunction, he ran to his
cell, and fell, crying, on the floor, and would not be comforted till
his master came to assure him that God would on his repentance pardon
the little outbreak. One day, Dorotheus heard the lad talking noisily
in the infirmary, so he called him, and said, "Go, my son, and bring a
bottle of wine." Thereupon the lad obeyed, and presented the flask to
his master. "Oh, Dositheus," said his superior, "the bottle is for
thee, not for me. It is the way of the rollicking Goths to drink and
shout. I heard thy clamouring, and I thought the bottle of wine was
all that was wanted to make a complete Goth of thee." Dorotheus was
watchful to check every feeling of vanity and self-will in his young
pupil, and for this purpose he sometimes assumed a harshness of
manner, which ill-accorded with his natural gentleness. "There,
father," said Dositheus one day, "See how neatly I have made the
infirmary beds." "Humph!" answered Dorotheus; "thou art an excellent
bed-maker, no doubt, but not much of a monk." The steward one day gave
Dositheus a knife, which he showed with much elation to his master.
"Let me see it," said Dorotheus. And when the youth had put it into
his hand, the old monk turned it and studied it. "It will serve me
admirably for cutting up my cakes," said Dositheus. "Art thou very
much delighted with it, my son?" asked the master. "Indeed, I am,
father," was the reply. "Then, my son," said Dorotheus, "give the
knife to the other brethren; let them use it, and do thou never touch
it again." Dositheus obeyed without a murmur. Dorotheus obliged him
diligently to study the Holy Scriptures. Sometimes the youth came to a
passage he could not understand, and he sought his master to have it
explained. One day, to prove his humility, he said, roughly, "I cannot
attend to thee, go to the abbot." Now, he had before advised the Abbot
Serides what he should do. So the novice came to him with the book,
and said, "My father, explain to me this passage." Then the abbot
boxed his ears, and sent him away, saying, "I have other matters to
attend to than to teach an ignorant fellow like thee." Then Dositheus
went patiently back to his cell, and God illumined his understanding
in the reading of the Scriptures. Now, after five years, the lay
brother began to spit blood, and exhibit marks of consumption. He had
heard it reported that raw eggs would cure this complaint, and the
idea haunted him. However, he schooled himself till he was quite able
to feel that if they were denied him he would cheerfully submit
without a contrary wish. Then he said to Dorotheus, "Dear master, I
have heard that raw eggs will stop the blood, but, I pray thee, forbid
me to try this remedy." "Well, my son," answered Dorotheus, "thou
shalt not prove the efficacy of eggs, but of every other remedy."
Accordingly, everything was done for the young novice that could be
devised, but he became rapidly worse. Now, when he was ill, Dorotheus
said to him, "Dositheus, be instant in prayer, lose not hold of that."
He replied, "Master, it is well, pray for me." And when he became
greatly exhausted, Dorotheus asked him, "Well, Dositheus, how farest
thou in prayer?" "Oh, pardon me, master, I cannot continue." "Then,"
said the monk, "give it up, my son, but keep God in thy mind as though
He were present beside thee." And, after some days, he said to the old
man, "Send me away, I care no more." Then Dorotheus answered,
"Patience a while, my son. The mercy of God is not far off." And
again, after some days, he said, "I can bear no more." Then the old
man said to him, "Go in peace, and stand before the Holy Trinity, and
pray for us."
Now, some of the monks murmured that Dorotheus should have thus
promised heaven, and asked the intercession of one who had never done
anything in the way of fasting, and had wrought no miracles. Then
Dorotheus said, "He fasted not, but he never gave way to his
self-will."
And after some days, there was an old monk taken into the hospital,
who prayed to God to show him all the holy fathers of that house who
had served Him, and had entered into their rest. And he saw in vision
a goodly choir of aged saints, and amongst them was a young lay
brother, with hair on which the snows of age had not fallen, and a
hectic colour in his cheek. Now the old man told his vision to the
brethren, and when he described the novice, the monks knew that it was
Dositheus, touching whose sanctity they had doubted.