St. John was born in AD 454, to a wealthy Armenian family. When he was only eighteen years old, he built a monastery for himself and ten friends, so that they might spend their lives in devotion and prayer. When he was twenty-eight, he was made Bishop of Colonia, though he preferred quiet and solitude to a life of administration. When locals around him were being persecuted in 490, he went to Constantinople to seek the emperor's intervention. With this successfully done, John decided to move out to the desert, rather than go home to Armenia, in order to seek the quiet and solitude he longed for.
John found his way to the monastery of St. Sabas, and was allowed in 494 to graduate from his novice status and live alone as a hermit. This lasted for nine years, but in 503, when St. Sabas was evicted form the monastery due to the displeasure of some of the monks, John also ceased contact with the monastery. When St. Sabas was welcomed back in 509, John renewed his ties to the monastery. John died in 558, when he was 104 years old
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