The spirit of Assisi and the other religions
I) The Greek Orthodox Church (extracts from S. Bejan's contribution to the San Francesco periodical.)
There is increasing admiration and interest amongst our Orthodox brethren for the Catholic Saint Francis.
The way of life of the Poor Son of Assisi is very similar to that of the Oriental Christian tradition, making him "one of the most delightful and possibly best loved saints of the Western Church"
(K. Yannakopulos)
"Today, after eight centuries of history, … we can confirm that Francis represents the gentlest of human figures ever borne out of Europe. (P. Kanelopulos "Storia dello spirito europeo" [A history of European spirit])
"Love, compassion and admiration for this hero were the feelings overwhelming me as I was writing this inscription" ("Il Poverello di Dio" [The Poor Son of God] by N. Kazantzakis, author of "Zorba il Greco" [Zorba the Greek])
II) The Russian Orthodox Church (S. Bejan / San Francesco)
The life of St Francis is "the greatest event in Christian history after the life of Jesus Christ" (N. Berdjaev)
The Poor Son "can be considered as the patron saint of non Catholic intellectuals" (S. Averincev)
"I read it (a book about St Francis) in three days and remained terrified by my weakness and turpitude; at least for this reason it has made me into a better human being (N. Tolstoj)
In the novel "The Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoyevsky the Staretz Zossima appears as a new Francis "Love a man even in his sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love… Love the animals, love the plants, love everything."
And the terrible dying confession of V.I. Lenin to his friend Vittorio Bödö:
"I was mistaken. There was doubtless the need to liberate an oppressed multitude, but our method provoked other oppressions and terrible massacres. You know that my living nightmare is to be drowning in the sea of blood from countless victims. It would take ten Francis of Assisi to save our beloved Russia - but it is too late to turn back. With ten Francis of Assisi, we would have saved Russia."
