Pardus the Hermit

Venerable Pardus the Hermit was a Roman monk of Palestine in the sixth century. In his youth he had been a driver of animals, and later he was remembered as an example of the ascetic labor of repentance. The Church commemorates him on 15 December by the old calendar.

Pardus lived in Palestine. In his youth he drove camels, according to one source, while according to another he drove carts or pack animals. On a journey to Jericho he saw a boy accidentally trampled under the feet of his camels, and for fear of punishment he fled and hid. The sources do not agree in the detail: one speaks of camels, the other of horses. He then received the monastic tonsure on Mount Arion and lived there in unceasing prayer and repentance.

Weighed down by guilt for the death of the child, Pardus decided to give himself up as a sacrifice of repentance and to offer himself defenseless to be eaten by a lion. He entered a lion's den, but the lion, though provoked several times, paid him no attention and refused to eat him. From this the monk understood that God, in his love and grace, had forgiven him any wrong.

Pardus then returned to his dwelling on Mount Arion and lived there in ascetic labor and prayer until his death in the sixth century. In Orthodox monasticism he is an image of the life of repentance, of the hermit's way, and for that reason he is remembered as Pardus the Hermit.