Story
Saint Dorotheus the Theban was a native of the Thebaid in Upper Egypt, who in his youth forsook the world and gave himself wholly to the ascetic life in the wilderness of Egypt. For sixty years he dwelt in a cave in the desert near the sea, six miles outside the great city of Alexandria, laboring in unbroken stillness and prayer.
His manner of life was one of severe and ceaseless toil. Through the heat of the day he went out under the burning sun to gather stones along the seashore, and with them he built cells. He would complete about one cell each year, and then give it freely to monks who were unable to build a dwelling for themselves, and so he labored not for himself but for the brethren. Through the night, that he might not give himself to sleep, he wove ropes from palm leaves, and by the work of his hands he received the little he needed to live.
His food was but six ounces of bread and a small bunch of herbs each day, with a measure of water; once a day only did he partake. He never lay down upon a bed, nor did he willingly take rest. Sleep would overtake him only against his will, sometimes at his work and sometimes while he ate, so that the food would fall from his hand as weariness seized him. When his disciple Palladius, who lived with him three years to be taught the ascetic way, asked why he wore out his aged body with such hardship, the old man answered: "It kills me, and I kill it."
Once, when a creature was found in the well from which the hermits drew their water, the brethren feared the water was poisoned. But Dorotheus, fasting, drew the water with his own hand, signed it with the sign of the Cross, and drank of it first, saying: "Where the Cross passes, the power of any evil thing is brought to nothing."
After his long labors the holy elder fell asleep in peace at a great old age, having pleased God by his patient endurance. His memory is honored on the sixteenth day of September. Through his prayers may the Lord have mercy upon us. Amen.