John of Choziba

Venerable John of Choziba, originally known as John of Thebes, was a monk born in Egypt around the years 440-450. About 480 he abandoned Monophysitism and moved to Wadi Qelt, a valley in the Judean desert. There he reorganized the already existing lavra into a monastery, known as the monastery of Choziba.

In 516 he was made bishop of Caesarea, but he soon resigned and returned to Choziba, where he died between 520 and 530. The Church has numbered him among the saints as Saint John of Choziba.

He should not be confused with Saint John Jacob the Chozebite, a Romanian monk of the twentieth century.