Saint John of Choziba, originally known as John of Thebes, was a monk who was born in Egypt around the year 440–450 CE. He abandoned

monophysitism Monophysitism ( ) or monophysism ( ; from Greek , "solitary" and , "nature") is a Christological doctrine that states that there was only one nature—the divine—in the person of Jesus Christ, who was the incarnated Word. It is rejected as he ...

around 480 and moved to

Wadi Qelt Wadi Qelt (; Qelt is also spelled Qilt and Kelt, sometimes with the Arabic article, el- or al-), in Hebrew Nahal Prat (), formerly Naḥal Faran (Pharan brook), is a valley, riverine gulch or stream ( ', " wadi"; , "nahal") in the West Bank, o ...

, a

wadi Wadi ( ; ) is a river valley or a wet (ephemerality, ephemeral) Stream bed, riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portion ...

in the

Judaean Desert The Judaean Desert or Judean Desert (, ) is a desert in the West Bank and Israel that stretches east of the ridge of the Judaean Mountains and in their rain shadow, so east of Jerusalem, and descends to the Dead Sea. Under the name El-Bariyah, ...

, where he reorganized the existing

lavra A lavra or laura (; Cyrillic: Ла́вра) is a type of monastery consisting of a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center. Lavra monasteries operate within the Orthodox and other Eastern Chri ...

into a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

known as the monastery of Choziba. In 516, he became

Bishop of Caesarea The archiepiscopal see of Caesarea in Palaestina, also known as Caesarea Maritima, is now a metropolitan see of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and also a titular see of the Catholic Church. It was one of the earliest Christian bish ...

, but soon resigned and returned to the monastery of Choziba, where he died between 520 and 530. He has been

canonised Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sai ...

as Saint John of Choziba.

References

440s births 520s deaths 5th-century Byzantine monks 6th-century Byzantine monks 5th-century Egyptian people 6th-century Egyptian people 6th-century Syrian bishops 6th-century Christian saints Saints from the Holy Land Bishops of Caesarea {{saint-stub