Alexander Akimetes

Who they were

Alexander was born in Asia, converted while studying in Constantinople by reading the gospels, and spent eleven years as a monk and hermit in Syria. He then preached in Mesopotamia, where he is said to have converted Rabbula, later bishop of Edessa, and founded a large monastery on the Euphrates.

Restless and often in conflict, he moved with many of his monks to Antioch and then to Constantinople, was banished and mobbed, and finally built a monastery at Gomon on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, where he died in 430. He is remembered for a choir service kept up day and night by monks in relays, the 'sleepless ones', which influenced the Western divine office.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

The founder of the 'sleepless' monks and their unbroken choir prayer.

Connected on this site

• Hypatius of Bithynia Saint
  “He was an opponent of Nestorianism and sheltered Alexander Akimetes and others whose safety was threatened by the Nestorians.” — Wikipedia