John the Dwarf

Saint John the Dwarf (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.

Life

John the Dwarf was born in the town of Basta in Egypt to poor Christian parents. At the age of eighteen he, together with an elder brother, moved to the desert of Sceteswhere 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.