Hosian monasticism

Monasticism has played a prominent role in Hosianism, particularly in the Patriarchal Churches. Hosian monks and nuns form monastic communities in order to live their lives under monastic rules intended to emulate the example of Eliyahu and the Hosioi in a life of prayer, contemplation and good works. The origins of Hosian monasticism are found in individual ascetics who retreated from the world to live such lives; when they formed communities, the first monasteries were born. The first known rule, known as the Asketikon of St. Agathon, originated in the Augustan Empire and is attributed to St. Agathon, Bishop of Limenos. It is still the rule most practiced within the Augustan Church, which by tradition draws most of its Bishops from among tonsured monks. In the west, monastic traditions were reconstructed and revitalised under a series of rules starting with the rule of St. Justus.

Aurorian Tradition
The Aurorian Tradition of monasticism, so named because its rules were recognised and promoted by the Arch-Patriarch of the Holy Apostolic Hosian Church of Terra in Auroria, began with St. Justus of Sipellum, who founded numerous monasteries in Selucia based on a rule he reconstructed and adapted from the same sources as the Asketikon of St. Agathon. In contrast to the Agathonian monks of the Augustan Tradition, who live lives of ascetic seclusion, the monasteries in the rest of the Hosian world are very much present in the world, and often held considerable secular power in the Middle Ages. Different orders have developed with different focus and ways of life. Mendicant orders such as those founded by St. Petronius of Subasium were a reforming influence on the Church in the 13th century.