Acoemeti
Acoemetae

Acoemetae (or "Acoemeti") was an order of monks in the 5th century, who by turns, kept up a divine service day and night.

Only the Acoemeti in Constantinople stayed loyal to Rome, and Acacius put their abbot, Cyril, in prison.

The influence of the Acoemetae on Christian life was considerable.

Its first monks came from the monastery of Acoemetae.

In ancient documents it was referred to as the "great monastery", or motherhouse of the Acoemetae.

On the other hand, the very glamour of the new "Studites" gradually cast into the shade, the old Acoemetae.

The feature that distinguished the Acoemetae from the other Basilian monks was the uninterrupted service of God.

The practice of perpetual prayer was inaugurated by the archimandrite Alexander (died about 430), the founder of the monastic Acoemetae or "vigil-keepers".

When in 424 Alexander, founder of the order of the Acoemetae, visited Antioch, Theodotus refused to receive him as being suspected of heretical views.

In the sixth century, while trying to combat the Eutychian tendencies of the Scythian monks, some Acoemetae themselves were influenced by Nestorianism, and were excommunicated by Pope John II.

The Acoemetae took a prominent part - and always in the sense of orthodoxy - in the Christological discussions raised by Nestorius and Eutyches, and later, in the controversies of the Icons.

Even before the time of the Studites, the copying of manuscripts was in honour among the Acoemetae, and the library of the "Great Monastery", consulted even by the Roman Pontiffs, is the first, mentioned by the historians of Byzantium.