Page "Dositheos (Samaritan)" Paragraph 6

Origen says that the Dositheans were never in a flourishing state, and that in his time they had almost entirely disappeared, scarcely thirty of them being left.

The Midrash, however, speaks of Dositheans, with whom Rabbi Meïr had dealings, and two names, " Dosion and Dosthion ," are also mentioned, which either refer to two Dosithean sectarians or form a double designation for the heretic Dositheus.

Yet the fact that the patriarch Eulogius of Alexandria ( who probably lived 582-603 ) disputed successfully against the Samaritan followers of Dostan ( Δοσϑήν ) or Dositheus, and wrote a work expressly against them ( Photius, " Bibliotheca ," cod.

230 ), shows that the Dositheans existed and even exercised a certain power in the sixth century.

Origen possibly refers to a Christian sect of the Dositheans, who in fact left no traces, while the Samaritan sect certainly continued to exist.

In Egypt especially, this sect was probably numerous enough to induce the Christian patriarch of Alexandria to engage in polemics against it.