Anti-pope, born Alexandria, Egypt; died 530. Originally a deacon of Alexandria, he became a member of the Roman clergy, and the leader of the Byzantine party in Rome, opposing the Gothic party which Pope Felix IV favored. The latter with a view to averting a contest for the papacy, had taken the unprecedented step of appointing his successor, upon whose accession as Boniface II the majority of the Roman clergy elected the anti-pope Dioscorus. Fortunately the schism was of short duration, for Dioscorus died the same year, and his supporters submitted to Boniface.