Dosithæus

, a reputed magician of Samaria, of the first century, who pretended to be the Messiah, is looked upon as the first heresiarch, but was more properly an enemy to Christianity. He applied to himself all the prophecies which are held by the church to regard Jesus Christ. He had in his train thirty disciples, as many as there are days in the month, and would not have any more. He admitted among them a woman whom he called the Moon. He observed the rite of circumcision, and fasted often. To gain belief that he was taken from the earth by an ascension into heaven, he retired into a cavern, where, far from the prying eyes of the world, he starved himself to death. The sect of the Dosithecans made great account of their chastity, and regarded with contempt the rest of mankind. A Uosithaean would not associate with any one who did not think and live like him. They had some singular practices, to which they were strongly attached: such as that of remaining for twenty-four hours in the same posture they happened to be in when the sabbath began, which they pretended to be founded upon the prohibition of working during the sabbath. In consequence of such practices the Dosithseans thought themselves superior to the most enlightened men, to the most virtuous citizens, to the most beneficent of men. This sect subsisted in jEgypt till some time in the sixth century, but ecclesiastical historians are much divided as to the history of Dosithoeus and his sect. ²