# Saint John the Short

Source: https://coptic-lore-forge.lovable.app/wiki/saint-john-the-short — Coptic Orthodox Wiki (updated 2026-10-02)

Saint John the Short, also called John Colobos, was a fourth–fifth-century Desert Father associated with Scetis, remembered especially for his humility and spiritual guidance.[^1][^5]

## Identity and sources

Saint John the Short, also known as John Colobos, John the Little, or John the Dwarf, was a Desert Father of the fourth and fifth centuries. His principal sources are collected sayings of the Desert Fathers and a Coptic panegyric composed by a bishop of Sakha at the end of the seventh century. The historical value of some additional details in the panegyric is uncertain, and sayings attributed to monks named John can be difficult to distinguish.[^1]

## Early life and monastic formation

John was born around AD 339 in Upper Egypt and entered Scetis at eighteen. He had earlier made an unsuccessful attempt to live in the desert in ceaseless prayer, against his elder brother's advice.[^2] John came from Tesi in the region of Oxyrhynchus, now al-Bahnasa.[^1]

At Scetis, John became the disciple of Ammoe, also called Ammoes, whose direction was notably austere.[^3][^4] John cared for his incapacitated master for twelve years without receiving thanks; shortly before dying, Ammoes praised him before other elders as “an angel, not a man.”[^4]

## Spiritual guidance and teaching

John later lived in a narrow natural cave near Wadi al-Natrun and became a respected spiritual father, known for humility, discernment, and readiness to receive monks seeking counsel.[^5] He was ordained priest sometime after 385 and subsequently responsible for the four congregations of Scetis.[^6] However, the sources differ: the panegyric calls John a priest and hegumenos, whereas the apothegms provide no indication of these offices.[^5]

Humility occupies a central place in the sayings attributed to him. Among those reproduced by Yanney are “Humility and the fear of God are above all virtues” and “Humility is the door which leads into the kingdom.”[^7] His teaching also joins scriptural reading, prayer, and work, with reading understood as a means of gathering the mind for prayer.[^8] Accounts of his dealings with struggling monks emphasize patience: he encouraged an elderly monk who repeatedly forgot his answers to return whenever he needed help.[^9]

## The tree of obedience

John's master ordered him to water a dry stick daily; after three years it bore fruit, which the elder offered to the brethren as “the fruit of obedience.”[^10] The attribution is disputed: an alternative attribution assigns the episode to John of Lycopolis rather than John Colobos.[^11]

## Death, relics, and commemoration

John departed from Scetis during a raid, probably in 407, and subsequently withdrew to the Clysma region, where his death is tentatively dated to 17 October 409.[^12]

The sources differ over the return of his remains to Scetis. The Coptic-tradition account gives 22 August 804; the Arabic tradition includes an Ethiopic account placing the transfer to the Monastery of Saint Macarius in AD 805.[^12][^13] As of 1984, John's relics were kept there with those of the three holy Macarii.[^14]

The Coptic Church celebrates his feast on 20 Baba, identified in *Coptic Church Review* as October 30. The same source states that his doxology is chanted on that day during the liturgy, the Daily Office, and the Raising of the Incense.[^15]

## Sources
[^1]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 17)
[^2]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 21)
[^3]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 23)
[^4]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 17)
[^5]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 18)
[^6]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 24)
[^7]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 24)
[^8]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 26)
[^9]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 25)
[^10]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 23)
[^11]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 17)
[^12]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 18)
[^13]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 21)
[^14]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 28)
[^15]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 4)