(October 17)
✠ St. John the Dwarf ✠
Egyptian Desert Father:
Born: 339 AD
Thebes, Egypt
Died: 405 AD
Mount Colzim, Egypt
Venerated in:
Roman Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Churches
Oriental Orthodox Churches
Feast: October 17
Saint John the Dwarf, also called
Saint John Colobus, Saint John Kolobos or Abba John the Dwarf, was an Egyptian
Desert Father of the early Christian church.
Countless stories are told about
hundreds of hermits and hermitages that hallowed the deserts of Egypt in the
earliest Christian centuries. Some of these stories are likely folklore.
Usually, they ring true. Always, they edify.
One of the best-known of the
fifth-century desert saints was a man called “John Kolobos;” that is, John the
Little, of John the Dwarf. He was a young man when he entered the monastic
wilderness of Skete in northern Egypt. There he would pass his whole life in
prayer and manual labor.
Little John had a beautiful
simplicity of character. On his arrival, he was assigned to an old, experienced
hermit as a tutor. The tutor straightway gave John a walking stick. “Plant this
in the ground,” he ordered, “and water it every day.” The command was a test as
well as a task. John obeyed at once, without question or delay. Even though the
river from which he fetched the water was at a distance, he watered the stick
dutifully every day. In the third year, the walking stick put forth buds and
flowers and fruit. John had passed the test. His tutor collected the fruit and
distributed it among his companions. “Take,” he told them, “and eat the fruit
of obedience.”
(Although this sounds like folklore,
there is a record, dating from 402 AD, that refers to a certain tree in the
monastery yard as John’s walking stick come to life.)
It is not surprising that such a
simple soul would be single-minded in his service of God. Divine things were
his only interest. He cared nothing for the “news” of the day. (Here is
something for us gossips to ponder; and, even more, the media people!) In fact,
his focus was so intense that he was often absent-minded about worldly things.
Once, for instance, a man on a camel came to his cell to pick up John’s basket
making tools and transfer them elsewhere, according to an agreement. But,
between the door and his bench, John forgot his messenger and his message. This
happened three times. Finally, he hammered the caller’s purpose into his mind
by repeating to himself: “The camel; my tools.” So the caller on the camel
finally did get the equipment. On the other hand, John once spent a whole night
and day without break discussing spiritual matters with another monk.
Around that time, a hitherto
reputable young Egyptian woman named Paesia fell into unworthy ways. St. John’s
monks begged him to try to bring her back to God. He called at Paesia’s home
and gently expressed his concern for her She asked why he was weeping. “How can
I not weep,” he replied, “while I see Satan in possession of your heart?”
Poesia was deeply touched. “Will you
show me the route to repentance?” she asked. John bade her come back to the
desert with him. En route, they had to stop overnight. As he slept in the dark
wasteland he dreamt that he saw Paesia going up to heaven, and he heard a voice
that said, “God has already considered her repentance perfect.” When he awoke
and went to the place where she had been sleeping, he found that she had indeed
died.
Towards the end of St. John’s life,
Berbers from the west raided the monastic fastness of Skete. John and his
followers fled east across the Nile to the desert made famous by St. Anthony,
the pioneer Egyptian monk. It was there that John, too, drew his last breath.
When they saw that his death was
imminent, St. John’s disciples asked him to give them one final spiritual
lesson.
Still too humble to want to be
thought an expert, he simply said, “I have never followed my own will; nor did
I ever teach another what I had not practiced myself.”
There were spiritual giants in the
ancient deserts of Egypt. One of the tallest of these giants was St. John the
dwarf.
~ Father Robert F. McNamara
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