Domitian of Ancyra

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DOMITIAN OF ANCYRA

6th-century Byzantine bishop. A learned Origenistic monk, he was an intimate friend of theodore ascidas; together they helped spread "Origenism" among their fellow monks in Palestine. St. sabas, their superior, appealed to Emperor justinian i to have the Origenists expelled from Palestine (c. 530) but died before any action was taken. Domitian gained the favor of the emperor and was named bishop of Ancyra in Galatia (c. 537), but remained in residence in Constantinople. In his treatise On the Origenian Controversy (c. 545), addressed to Pope vigilius, Domitian admitted that the Origenists disputed the three chapters in order to divert public opinion from their own teachings; facundus of hermiane quotes this treatise in his Defense of the Three Chapters (1.2; 4.4).

Bibliography: e. venables, A Dictionary of Christian Biography, ed. w. smith and h. wace (London 187787) 1:875. h. g. beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinschen Reich (Munich 1959) 384. f. diekamp, Die origenistischen Streitigkeiten im 6. Jahrhundert (Münster 1899). o. bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur (Freiburg 191332) 5:25.

[r. k. poetzel]