Ascetic author. Yuḥanon was a W.-Syr. (most likely Syr. Orth.) ascetic on the Holy Mountain near Edessa. He lived before the 9th cent. and his name Naqar (possibly related to the verb nqar) may be an allusion to the fact that he personally carved out his own monastic cell in the rock. Various popular W.-Syr. monastic anthologies have preserved a number of ascetic fragments dealing with simple themes such as genuflections (burke), the Simple Law (of staying away from the world), seclusion, and voluntary poverty. Two fragments are of a more mystic character and deal with the participation in the Holy Mysteries and with baptism. John was held in high esteem by the Syr. Orth. community who called him Sobo qadisho ‘the holy Elder’ Naqar.