Life in the Desert of Scetes
According to the Wikipedia account, John was born around 339 in Thebes, Egypt, to poor Christian parents, and at the age of eighteen withdrew to the desert of Scetes with an elder brother, becoming a disciple of Pambo. The OCA Synaxarion likewise records that he came to the monastery with his brother, named Daniel, who served as his elder, and that he studied under Saint Pimen the Great, renowned for a firm and steadfast will.
He is said to have befriended Pishoy and to have taught other monks, among them Arsenius the Great. The Wikipedia account relates that after Pambo's departure, Pope Theophilus of Alexandria ordained John a priest, and that John founded and served as abbot of a monastery in Scetes gathered around the "Tree of Obedience."
Both accounts describe his ascetic rigor: he is reported to have eaten only flatbread and vegetables, taking a single meal each day throughout his life.
The Tree of Obedience
The most celebrated account of John concerns the Tree of Obedience. His elder Pambo commanded him to plant a dry wooden stick in the ground and water it daily, though the water source lay roughly twelve miles from their dwelling. The OCA Synaxarion frames the same discipline as carrying water and pouring it on a dry stick.
John obeyed faithfully, watering the stick for three years. At the end of that time the dry stick is said to have sprouted leaves and in time to have become a fruitful tree. Pambo then gathered its fruit and distributed it among the elder monks of Scetes with the words, "Take, eat from the fruit of obedience."
The Wikipedia account notes that a visitor named Postumian, present in Egypt in 402, is reported to have witnessed the thriving tree standing in the monastery yard. John is depicted in religious art as a short monk watering a stick, symbolizing this account of obedience.
Later Life and Relics
According to the Wikipedia account, when the Mazices — a Berber tribe — invaded Scetes in 395, John fled to Mount Colzim near present-day Suez, where he died around 405. His relics were transferred to the Nitrian Desert in 515.
The monastery he founded became known as the Monastery of Saint John the Dwarf in Scetes and is recognized by the Coptic Orthodox Church.
His feast is observed on November 9 in the Eastern Orthodox Church, on October 17 in the Roman Catholic Church, and on Paopi 20 in the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Writings and Disciples
John became a guide to many on the way of salvation. The OCA Synaxarion names among those he mentored Saint Arsenius the Great and Saint Thais.
The sources differ on a biography credited to him: the Wikipedia account states he wrote a life of Saint Ababius, a monk of Scetes, while the OCA Synaxarion credits him with authoring the Life of Saint Paisius the Great.
