Acoumeti (Gk ἀκοίμητοι), or the “sleepless ones,” was an epithet given to a group of monks near Constantinople based on the unique monastic rule of their founder, Alexander the Sleepless. Alexander’s rule was based on strict adherence to a life of voluntary poverty (Wealth) and freedom from care as interpreted from the Gospels. The label “sleepless” came from the practice devised by Alexander of dividing his monks into liturgical shifts who continually performed hymns and doxology (Caner, 2002, 131). This strict ascetic discipli…