Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Theoctistus Psathyropola

Theoctistus (3) Psathyropola (Ψαθυροπώλης), or the cake-seller, the head of a sect among the Arians of Constantinople c. 390. His followers were called, from his occupation, Psathyrians. Led by a certain Marinus from Thrace, they maintained that the First Person of the Trinity was in a proper sense Father, and so to be styled before the Son existed; while their opponents, the followers of the Antiochene Dorotheus, maintained that He was only a Father after the existence of the Son. A large party of the Arian Goths, taught by their bp. Selena, adopted the Psathyrian view, which continued to divide the church of Constantinople for 35 years, till in the reign of Theodosius Junior a reconciliation was effected (Socr. H. E. v. 23).

[G.T.S.]