Venerable Alexander, the founder of the monastery of the Sleepless, passed away on this day in 430. St. Alexander grew up in Constantinople. After military service, he became a monk near Antioch with a certain Abbot Elias, and after 4 years, he withdrew into the desert. After spending seven years there, Alexander converted many pagans to Christ, led by the ruler Rabbula, who latter became Bishop of Edessa. St. Alexander was able to persuade a gang of robbers to repent. In the desert on the Euphrates, he founded a monastery that swelled in size to almost 400 brethren. There he introduced the rite of incessant round-the-clock singing of psalms, for which the monastery received the nickname of the monastery of the Unsleeping (akoimetai). (The brethren were divided into successive "shifts.") Having preached to the pagans at the Persian border, Alexander engaged in charity work in Antioch and moved back to the Queen City around 420. There, he founded a monastery based on his “Mesopotamian” model. His zeal and popularity among the people aroused the envy and scorn of the urban clergy. Forced to leave the city, St. Alexander founded a new monastery in Gomon, on the shore of the Black Sea, where he departed to the Lord.
Source:
Iu. Vinogradov, “Alexander Konstaninopol’skii,” Pravoslavnaia Entsiklopedia. |
