Commemorated September 16 (New Calendar) September 29 (Old Calendar)

Saint Dorotheus was from the Thebaid. He lived near Alexandria, in the place called the Cells of the hermits. For sixty years he stayed in one cave. In the noon heat he gathered stones by the sea and built cells for those who could not build their own. He ate dry bread and a little desert green once a day, and drank a little water. At night he sat and wove baskets from palm branches and bought his food with them. No one saw him lie down to sleep. He reposed in peace at a great age, late in the fourth century.

The words of Saint Dorotheus

“So that it may not torment me, but I may torment it.”
(Answer to Palladius, who asked why, in old age, he still wore out his body in the fierce heat.)

“If you ever persuade an angel to sleep, then you may persuade me.”
(Answer when they pressed him to lie down a little on a mat.)

“If the devil wanted to throw vipers and asps and other poisonous creatures into every well and every spring, you would never drink water and would die of thirst.”
(Answer when Palladius came back from the well in fear, saying he had seen an asp there.)

“Where there is a cross, there is no harm from demonic power at all”
(After making the sign of the cross and drinking from the well)

The words of Palladius

“Why do you, Father, in such old age, torment your body in the fierce heat?”
(Question to the elder while he gathered stones at noon.)

“We are lost, Father, for I saw an asp in the well.”
(What he said when he returned without water.)

Who stood with him

Palladius, later bishop of Helenopolis, saw his labors in youth and wrote them down. The elder built cells for hermits who could not build them, and sold baskets so that he might eat.

He used his strength for others while the sun was high, and kept watch while other men slept.

We ask his prayers when the body wants ease, when fear keeps us from ordinary work, and when we need a quiet life that is still useful.

Pray for us

Troparion, Tone 8
“By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
O our holy father Dorotheus, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!”

Saint Dorotheus, pray for us.

Sources

St. Demetrius of Rostov, Lives of the Saints, September 16.
https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Dmitrij_Rostovskij/zhitija-svjatykh/795

Orthodox Church in America, Venerable Dorotheus the Hermit of Egypt.
https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2034/09/16/102632-venerable-dorotheus-the-hermit-of-egypt

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