Pardus the Hermit

Saint Pardus had, in his youth, worked as a trader. Due to the traumatic experience of witnessing a boy die under the feet of Pardus' camel fleet, and fear of retribution, he fled into hiding and took monastic vows.

Bearing great feelings of guilt for the death of the boy, Pardus decided to give himself up in an act of extreme penance and offer himself, defenceless, to be eaten by a lion. After repeated provocations the lion simply ignored the saint and refused to eat him. With this the monk concluded that God, in his love and grace, had certainly forgiven him of any wrong he may have done.

Pardus then returned to his dwelling at Mt. Arion to live out the rest of his life in asceticism and prayer, dying in the 6th century AD.

Pardus the Hermit is commemorated 15 December in the Eastern Christian Churches. [http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/december/15th.cfm]

See also

*Christian monasticism
*Stylites
*Poustinia

References

* [http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/december/15th.cfm St. Luke the Evangelist Orthodox Church]
* [http://www.missionstclare.com/english/people/dec15o.html St. Clare Mission]