death_date attributes feast_day venerated_in article_title name
6th century lion december 15 eastern orthodoxy pardus the hermit
 pardus the hermit
pardus the hermit

saint pardus -lrb- died 6th century -rrb- was a roman who lived in palestine .
in his youth , he had worked as a camel driver .
once when he traveled to jericho he witnessed a boy accidentally trampled to death under the legs of his fleet of camels , and from fear of retribution , he fled into hiding and took monastic vows at mount arion .
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 .
he entered the den of a lion , but 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 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 .
pardus the hermit is commemorated 15 december in the eastern christian churches .
