Who was Saint John Colobos (John the Short) and what is his significance in early Desert monasticism?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-11-05

Origins and Ascetic Formation

The early life and origins of Saint John Colobos—frequently referred to as John the Short or John the Dwarf—are documented with slight variations across early ecclesiastical and monastic records. As Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity relates, the saint was born in the beginning of the fourth century within the nome of Oxyrhynchus, historically known as al-Bahnasa. In a slightly different biographical account preserved in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, he is identified as the son of poor parents from Tees, with his birth placed around the year 339. The latter source notes that he spent his youth residing at home with his family prior to his departure for the monastic life.

At the age of eighteen, John renounced worldly attachments and withdrew into the remote wilderness of Scetis, situated in the modern Wadi al-Natrun. Upon his arrival in the desert, he placed himself under the spiritual direction of an elder named Abba Amoes (also identified as an old man of Thebes). According to The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, John remained in submission and spiritual training under Abba Amoes for a period of twelve years. A defining episode of this formative period involved his Abba commanding him to plant a piece of dry wood in the arid soil and water it daily from a bottle until it bore fruit, serving as a classical testament to early desert obedience.

Monastic Leadership and Solitude in Scetis

Following his lengthy novitiate under Abba Amoes, John established himself as a central pillar of the monastic settlement in Scetis. As Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity underscores, Scetis emerged as the spiritual center of Coptic monasticism, attracting luminaries of the Egyptian Church such as Saint Macarius the Great, Saint Bishoi, Saint John Kame, Moses the Black, and the Roman brothers Maximus and Domitius. John stood alongside these fathers in cultivating an ascetic culture that made this remote wilderness more prominent in later monastic history than earlier settlements such as Mount Nitria or Cellia.

Saint John the Short was eventually ordained to the priesthood, ministering to the burgeoning ascetic population of the desert. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers notes that he was one of the most vivid characters in the desert and attracted numerous disciples who sought his spiritual counsel. However, in order to preserve his interior contemplation and protect his solitude from the crowds that visited him, he dug an underground cave for himself. His standing as an influential spiritual master is further demonstrated by the substantial corpus of his sayings that were carefully preserved and transmitted among his disciples.

Companionship, Displacement, and Final Years

Early hagiographical tradition associates John closely with Saint Bishoi during the foundational era of Scetian monasticism. As recorded in The Coptic Encyclopedia regarding the recensions of the Life of Bishoi, the author of that text claims to be John Colobos himself, presenting the two ascetics as companions during their initial period in Scetis. The text explains that the two fathers eventually separated geographically: John remained in the location where they had previously lived together, while Bishoi withdrew to a cave situated approximately two Roman miles to the northwest, a distribution that corresponds closely to the physical topography of their later monastic complexes.

This settled desert existence was permanently fractured around the year 407, when barbarian incursions overwhelmed the monastic settlements of Scetis. Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity records that during this first destruction of the monasteries by the Berbers, Saint John fled the devastation and sought sanctuary in the Eastern Desert. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers similarly notes that after 407 he traveled to Suez and the Mountain of Anthony. Taking refuge at the Red Sea Monastery of Saint Antony, John spent the remainder of his earthly life there until his death.

Translation of Relics and Liturgical Commemoration

Following his death, Saint John the Short was interred at the Monastery of Saint Antony, initiating a complex historical sequence surrounding his bodily remains. During the seventh and eighth centuries, the Monastery of Saint Antony was occupied by Melkite (Greek Orthodox) monks. As Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity explains, toward the end of the eighth century, Coptic monks journeyed to the Red Sea monastery and, through shrewdness, managed to secure possession of the relics of Saint John. The Coptic Encyclopedia similarly dates this removal to approximately the year 790, recording that Coptic monks transferred the relics from the Mountain of Antony back to Wadi al-Natrun.

Upon their recovery, the relics were first translated to the Monastery of Saint Macarius before being transferred to the Monastery of Saint John the Short once that complex was established. When the Monastery of Saint John the Short eventually fell into ruin, the relics were brought back to the Monastery of Saint Macarius, where, as Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity notes, they repose to this day, with portions also preserved in the nearby Monastery of the Syrians. Liturgically, the Coptic Church honors this venerated desert father on his feast day, commemorated annually on Baba 20, corresponding to October 30 in the Gregorian calendar.

Historical Monastic Settlement and Archaeological Witness

The legacy of Saint John Colobos is closely tied to the historic monastery that bore his name in Wadi al-Natrun. In A Study of Anba Yusab the Bishop of Fuwwah in 13th Century Egypt, Bishop Martyros observes that the rank of the deputy of the Monastery of Saint John the Short was historically regarded as equal in dignity to the abbots of other monasteries. This elevated status reflected the magnitude of the surrounding monastic settlement, which included four additional monasteries, numerous hermit cells, and living quarters (manshobites), leading the medieval historian Abdel Kader Al-Maqrizi to designate the precinct as 'the lake of monasteries.'

Although the historic monastery eventually declined and fell into ruin, modern scholarship has confirmed its substantial physical footprint. As Two Thousand Years of Coptic Christianity highlights, an international team of archaeologists sponsored by two American institutions undertook excavations of the ruins of the Monastery of Saint John the Short in January 1992. These excavations successfully uncovered significant structural remains of the complex, including its ancient church and extensive outer defensive walls, providing material confirmation of the enduring impact of Saint John Colobos upon the landscape of early Egyptian monasticism.

Sources

• two thousand years of coptic christianity 1nbsped 9774247574 9789774247576
• two thousand years of coptic christianity 1nbsped 9774247574 9789774247576
• two thousand years of coptic christianity 1nbsped 9774247574 9789774247576
• A Study of Anba Yusab the Bishop of Fuwwah in 13th Century Egypt - Bishop Martyros
• ce3
• Sayings-Of-Desert-Fathers
• ce3