Dorotheus I ( el, Δωρόθεος Αʹ) was the

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...

metropolitan bishop In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis. Originally, the term referred to the b ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

from to 1392, and the first to reside in the city since 1205. He was the first Orthodox

bishop of Athens The Archbishopric of Athens ( el, Ιερά Αρχιεπισκοπή Αθηνών) is a Greek Orthodox archiepiscopal see based in the city of Athens, Greece. It is the senior see of Greece, and the seat of the autocephalous Church of Greece. It ...

to be allowed to reside in the city since its conquest by the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

in 1205 and the exile of its then bishop,

Michael Choniates Saint Michael Choniates (or Acominatus; el, ; c. 1140 – 1220) was a Byzantine Greek writer and cleric, born at Chonae (the ancient Colossae). At an early age he studied at Constantinople and was the pupil of Eustathius of Thessalonica. Around ...

. Holders of the see continued to be appointed in the meanwhile, but were always in exile, while Athens, like most of the principalities of

Frankish Greece The ''Frankokratia'' ( el, Φραγκοκρατία, la, Francocratia, sometimes anglicized as Francocracy, "rule of the Franks"), also known as ''Latinokratia'' ( el, Λατινοκρατία, la, Latinocratia, "rule of the Latins") and ...

, remained the sole province of Roman Catholic clergy. The situation changed in 1388, when the

Duchy of Athens The Duchy of Athens (Greek: Δουκᾶτον Ἀθηνῶν, ''Doukaton Athinon''; Catalan: ''Ducat d'Atenes'') was one of the Crusader states set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade as part of the ...

passed into the hands of the Florentine

Acciaioli The Acciaioli, Acciaiuoli, Accioly, Acciajuoli or Acioli was an important family of Florence. Family name is also written Acciaioli, Acciainoli, or Accioly, Accioli, Acioli and Acyoly in Portugal and Brazil, where there are branches of it. Descent ...

family. With little military might of their own, and surrounded by potential rivals and enemies, the Acciaioli cultivated a policy of conciliation towards the overwhelmingly Orthodox local Greek population. To that end, they adopted Greek as the official language of their chancery, and allowed an Orthodox metropolitan to resume residence in their capital. However, even then the cathedral Church of the Virgin in the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; grc, Παρθενών, , ; ell, Παρθενώνας, , ) is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena during the fifth century BC. Its decorative sculptures are considere ...

remained the residence of the

Latin Archbishop of Athens The Archdiocese of Athens ( la, Archidioecesis Atheniensis or ''Athenarum'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Greece. Its cathedra is found within the neoclassic Cathedral Basilica of St. Dionysi ...

, and Dorotheus had to do with a church in the lower city. Dorotheus was also , i.e. administrator, of the vacant sees of Thebes and

Neopatras Ypati ( el, Υπάτη) is a village and a former municipality in Phthiotis, central peninsular Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality of Lamia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an a ...

, which were also located within the duchy. Dorotheus was expelled from his see in 1392 by Duke

Nerio I Acciaioli Nerio I Acciaioli or Acciajuoli (full name Rainerio; died 25 September 1394) was the actual ruler of the Duchy of Athens from 1385. Born to a family of Florentine bankers, he became the principal agent of his influential kinsman, Niccolò Acciaiol ...

, who accused him of treacherous dealings with the

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

, because, in the spirit of his ardent hostility to the Latin Church, he had welcomed the raids of the Ottoman commander

Evrenos Beg Evrenos or Evrenuz (died 17 November 1417 in Yenice-i Vardar) was an Ottoman military commander. Byzantine sources mention him as Ἐβρενός, Ἀβρανέζης, Βρανέζης, Βρανεύς (?), Βρενέζ, Βρενέζης, Βρε ...

against the Frankish states of southern Greece in 1391–92. A synod of the

Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...

absolved Dorotheus of any blame, with the justification that the arguments of Nerio were inadmissible since he was a Catholic. Nevertheless, Nerio refused to allow his return.

References

Sources

* * {{authority control 14th-century Greek people Bishops of Athens People of the Duchy of Athens 14th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops Medieval Athens