The Martyr Zosimas the Desert Dweller lived during the fourth
century. Once, while hunting, Dometian, the governor of Sicily, saw the
Elder calmly and amiably conversing with the beasts around him.
Seeing
the hunters, the beasts fled. They then interrogated the Elder, asking
who he was and why he lived in the wilderness. The Elder answered that
he was a Christian called Zosimas, and that he could not live in the
city with the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, he lived
alone among the wild animals.
Then Dometian said threateningly:
“If you worship the Nazarene, I shall subject you to fierce tortures at
Nazareth, and you will renounce Christ.”
When asked what kind of
magic he used to tame wild beasts, St Zosimas replied, “I am a
Christian.” At Nazareth the tortures began. They tied the Elder head
downwards, with a large stone around his neck, and they began to
lacerate his body with iron hooks.
The torturers taunted the
sufferer: “If the beasts do listen to you, tell one of them to come
here, and then we will believe in your God.” The holy martyr turned to
God in prayer, and suddenly a huge lion came forth.
Everyone fled
in terror, and the lion went up to the Elder, and began to lift the
stone around the martyr’s neck with its paw in order to ease the
suffering of the saint. The governor implored the martyr to keep the
lion calm, and he gave orders to untie the saint, and to bring him to
the emperor, but St Zosimas was already dead, having given up his pure
soul to God.
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