| Saint John the Dwarf | |
|---|---|
| Born | ca. 339 Basta, Egypt |
| Died | ca. 405 Mount Colzim, Egypt |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches |
| Feast | October 17 = Paopi 20, November 9 (Eastern Orthodox Church) |
| Attributes | Short Monk watering a stick |
Saint John the Dwarf (Coptic: Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲓⲱⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ Ⲡⲓⲕⲟⲗⲟⲃⲟⲥ; Greek: Ιωάννης Κολοβός; Arabic: ابو يحنّس القصير (Abū) Yuḥannis al-Qaṣīr ca. 339 – ca. 405), also called Saint John Colobus or Saint John Kolobos, was an Egyptian Desert Father of the early Christian church.
John the Dwarf was born in the town of Basta in Egypt to poor Christian parents. At the age of eighteen he moved to the desert of Scetes where he became a disciple of Saint Pambo and a good friend of Saint Pishoy. He lived a life of austerity and taught several other monks his way of life, among them Arsenius the Great.
John the Dwarf is best known for his obedience. The most famous story about his obedience is that one day Saint Pambo gave him a piece of dry wood and ordered him to plant and water it. John obeyed and went on watering it twice a day even though the water was about 12 miles from where they lived. After three years, the piece of wood sprouted and grew into a fruitful tree. Pambo took some of this tree's fruits and went around to all the elder monks, saying "take, eat from the fruit of obedience." The tree of Saint John the Dwarf, known as the Tree of Obedience, still exists today in the deserted Monastery of Saint John the Dwarf in the Nitrian Desert.
After the departure of Saint Pambo, John was ordained a priest by Pope Theophilus and became abbot of the monastery he founded around the Tree of Obedience. When the Berbers invaded Scetes in 395, John fled the Nitrian Desert and went to live on Mount Colzim, near the present city of Suez, where he died.
In 515, the relics of Saint John the Dwarf were moved to the Nitrian Desert. His feast is celebrated on October 17 in the Roman Catholic Church, on 20 Paopi at the Coptic Orthodox Church and on November 9 in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Monastery of Saint John the Dwarf in Scetes is now deserted.