John bar Aphtonia (c.480–537) was a Syriac monk of the Miaphysite persuasion who founded around 530 the monastery of Saint Thomas in Qenneshre ("Eagle's Nest"), located on the eastern side of the Euphrates in present northern Syria.
[5] At the age of fifteen he was sent to the monastery of Saint Thomas in Seleucia Pieria near Antioch.
Sometime between 528 and 531, he left with several other Miaphysite-leaning monks facing persecution from the pro-Chalcedonian imperial authorities.
They established the monastery of Qenneshre on the banks of the Euphrates near Jarabulus and elected John as their first abbot.
[2][3] According to the historian Zacharias Rhetor, John was part of the Miaphysite delegation that negotiated with the Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople around 531.