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Saint / historical person
Saints & Martyrs
Church Fathers

Saint John the Short

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]

Also known as: John Colobos · John Colobus · John the Little · John the Dwarf · Abba John Kolob · John the Short · John Kolobos

Published 10/2/2026Updated 2 revisionsPage history

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.34 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 805.1213 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

References

Sources

  1. 1.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 17)
    John Colobos, the Little or the Dwarf (fourth and fifth centuries), is one of the most striking figures among the desert fathers. He is known principally from the APOPHTHEGMATA PATRUM and from a Life in the form of a panegyric composed by Zacharias, the bishop of Sakha, at the end of the seventh century in Coptic, in Lower Egypt. This Life adds certain extra information to the data in the apothegms, the value of which it is difficult to assess with any precision. Some of the apothegms also should be handled with caution. In the fourth century there were many monks in Egypt bearing the name Joh
  2. 2.Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 21)
    St. John was born about AD 339 in a town of Upper Egypt. Nothing is known about his early years except that he had an older brother who advised him against going to the desert early in his life in order to pursue a life of ceaseless prayer like the angels. Still John went away, only to return after one week and hear the reproach of his brother. The character of John must have changed quickly because when he was eighteen he went to Scete and he became the disciple of St. Ammoe who proved to be one of the sternest men of the desert.
  3. 3.Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 23)
    The young John arrived at Scete about AD 357, where he became the disciple of St. Ammoe. ... Most of the incidents mentioned about him in the Apophthegnata Patrum reflect the harsh treatment he gave to his disciples.
  4. 4.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 17)
    He found the abbot Ammoes a rough and austere master who did not stint when it came to humiliating and rebuffing him. When Ammoes became incapacitated, John cared devotedly for him for twelve years, without ever receiving the least thanks. It was only just before he died that Ammoes praised his disciple, saying to the old men who were present, "He is an angel, not a man" (PG 65, col. 240B).
  5. 5.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 18)
    When in his turn John had become one of the "elders," he led a solitary life "in a pit," that is, in one of those narrow, deep natural caves in the environs of the Wadi al-Natrun, doubtless at the site where later the monastery bearing his name was to be erected. His holiness, his humility, and his discernment ensured that his influence would be an extraordinary one: "Who is John that by his humility he had all Scetis hanging on his little finger?" ... In the apothegms there is no indication that John was a HEGUMENOS and a priest as Zacharias claims. However, he was a spiritual father renowned
  6. 6.Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 24)
    At some time after 385, St. John was ordained priest, and when St. Paphnutius died, he became the common father of all four congregations of Scete.
  7. 7.Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 24)
    The one virtue for which John the Short was famous was his humility. It was the basis for all his asceticism and his spiritual life. Among his sayings, "A monk should feel that he is the least of all creation." "Humility and the fear of God are above all virtues." "Humble yourself to everyone. Do not get angry toward that who thinks he is better than you, for it is from ignorance that a brother raises himself above his brother." "Humility is the door which leads into the kingdom."
  8. 8.Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 26)
    In answer St. John says, "Your day should be divided between reading, prayer and work, so that your prayer may be illuminated by reading . . . Give more time to reading than to any other work, for reading gathers the mind when it wonders during prayer." By reading St. John means the meditation on the Scriptures, both the Old and the New Testaments.
  9. 9.Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 25)
    John was very patient and kind in his relation to weak monks. An old man came to him several times in one day asking the same question. Every time he forgot the answer; and finally he gave up for fear of overburdening the saint. When John knew this, he said to the old man, "Never hesitate to come to me anytime you want me. If all Scete comes to see me, they will not separate me from the love of Christ."
  10. 10.Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 23)
    One of the first jobs given to John was when his master planted a stick in the ground and ordered him to water it daily. He did this for years without any questioning, although he had to carry the water for two miles. After three years the dry stick came to life and even blossomed and bore fruit. The old man carried some of the fruit to the brethren in the church saying, "Take and eat the fruit of obedience."
  11. 11.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 17)
    The episode regarding the piece of wood that was watered for three years as an act of obedience should, according to Saint John CASSIAN, be attributed to JOHN OF LYCOPOLIS (PG 65, cols. 154-57).
  12. 12.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 18)
    John Colobos had to leave Scetis for good when raiders made an incursion into the region, doubtless in 407 (Evelyn-White, 1932, pt. 2, p. 158). He withdrew to the Clysma area where he seems to have died on 17 October 409 and his remains were brought back to Scetis on 22 August 804 (Evelyn-White, Vol. 2, p. 294).
  13. 13.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 21)
    Doubtless also through Arabic channels comes the Ethiopic reference for 29 Nahasé (5 September) which tells of the difficulties in moving the remains of John Colobos from Clysma, then in Chalcedonian hands, to the convent of Saint Macarius (DAYR ANBA MAQAR) of Scetis in the year A.M. 520/A.D. 805.
  14. 14.Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 28)
    The relics of St. John the Short are now kept with those of the three holy Macarii in the Monastery of St. Macarius the Great at Scete.
  15. 15.Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 4)
    In our series of the lives of the Desert Fathers we have in this issue the Biography and Spirituality of Saint John the Short. The Coptic Church celebrates his feast day on Baba 20 (October 30). His doxology is chanted in that day in the liturgy, during the Daily Office and during the Raising of the Incense.

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