Eugene Vale (1916–1997)

Francis of Assisi (+1226) has been well-loved in almost every sector of Western European and American religion for centuries. The question will often be asked by Orthodox Christians, "Is Francis of Assisi an Orthodox saint?" We might say, "No," because he is not widely venerated liturgically in Orthodox Churches. In fact, he is only venerated liturgically at New Skete in Cambridge, New York. New Skete was founded by former Franciscan monastics in the Byzantine rite under the Roman Catholic pope. Later, the monastics there were received into the Holy Orthodox Church under the Omophorion of the Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church in America. Are the monastics at New Skete wrong in their veneration of Francis? After all, Francis came after the Great Schism between the Orthodox East and the Latin papal West, right? If the New Skete monastics are Orthodox, why are they venerating a post-Great-Schism Roman Catholic saint?

Such questions arise based on certain assumptions about when the Great Schism occurred and what it entailed. The common, simple yet inaccurate characterization of the Great Schism is that it happened in A.D. 1054 and was a nice, clean break due to a disagreement over the Filioque (the "and the Son") clause inserted by the pope of Rome to the universal creed. Although the illegitimate excommunication of the Patriarch of Constantinople that occurred in 1054, together with his counter-excommunication of the papal legates who issued the illegitimate papal bull of excommunication, was a critical moment in the long-developing schism, it was not the culmination of this process. The Great Schism was certainly completed with the Latins' adoption of post-Francis, scholastic Thomism and sealed by the defense of Orthodoxy given by Saint Mark of Ephesus at the Council of Florence in 1438-1439, 200 years after the time of Francis. Up until the Sack of Constantinople by Latin Catholics during the time of Francis in 1204, the Latin Christians and the Eastern Christians continued to embrace one another as brothers. As Bishop Kallistos Ware notes, "Even after 1054 friendly relations between East and West continued. The two parts of Christendom were not yet conscious of a great gulf of separation between them. … The dispute remained something of which ordinary Christians in East and West were largely unaware" (Kallistos Ware, THE ORTHODOX CHURCH [London: Penguin Books, 1963], p. 67). The greed inciting the ransacking of Constantinople's churches had nothing to do with the Franciscan way of poverty, self-control, and respect of others.

Francis of Assisi would have been one such Western Christian who likely was largely unaware of the growing differences between the Latin Church and the Eastern Churches. When Latin Christians began saying the Nicene Creed with the inserted Filioque were they, in effect, excommunicating themselves from Holy Orthodoxy? Some Orthodox seem to assume so, yet many Orthodox acknowledge that the Filioque can be interpreted in an Orthodox manner. Some Orthodox criticize Francis for his alleged romantic personifications of elements of nature, yet such a way of relating to nature seems to resonate with the earlier, Celtic orthodox Christian spirituality. Some criticize him for his harsh asceticism or adoption of poverty, but such harshness can be found among Eastern Christian saints. Look at Saint Anthony the Great. Some lambaste Francis for his passionate expressions of desire for identification and union with Christ, yet similar expressions can be found in the writings of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, the Apostle Paul, and the Psalmist. Others say Francis was deluded by demons because of the manifestation of stigmata in his body, pointing out that no Orthodox saint has ever exhibited stigmata. Such reasoning, however, minimizes the freedom of the Holy Spirit to manifest His graces in different ways at different times in different persons in different cultures, whether in Latin Catholicism with its emphasis on the sufferings of Christ or in Greek Orthodoxy with its emphasis upon Christ's triumph over death. While widespread acceptance of Anselmian atonement theory among Western Christians certainly served to increase their focus on the sufferings of Christ, this focus did not appear to rob Francis of the joy exhibited by the saints. The following writing may help disabuse us of a preponderance of false notions regarding the allegedly strange, romantic, and supposedly heterodox spirituality of Francis of Assisi:

https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/the-spirituality-of-saint-francis-of-assisi/

Perhaps, Orthodox Christians should try judging Francis of Assisi by the same charitable standards they have used to evaluate eccentrics whom they have glorified as "Holy Fools" for Christ. Perhaps the 13th-century Latin Church was, in some mystical way, still Orthodox in its understanding and implementation of the growing number of divergent practices and innovative expressions imposed on it by misguided Latin popes. Certainly Francis of Assisi observed Orthodox monastic obedience to such misguided leaders like many a good monastic has. Does such obedience necessarily make such a subservient monastic wrong? Hardly. The heart is a large affair...so much so that it may even be possible to obey an heretical hierarch with an Orthodox heart and manner, in other words, while retaining an authentic spirituality of Orthodox faith and practice. Let us remember that it was the Franciscans who opposed the Thomist philosophization of the Faith when it arose following the death of Francis. Perhaps Francis is a saint after all, maybe one of the last Orthodox saints from the Latin tradition, and the New Skete who came to the Orthodox Church through Franciscan poverty, chastity, and obedience is not misled. God knows. While these questions remain officially unanswered, the Orthodox Church certainly does not forbid us to venerate and request the intercession of Francis of Assisi in our private devotions.

For more information about the supposedly unorthodox spirituality of Francis of Assisi, read the following fair, Roman-Catholic summation:

http://stfrancisofassisisanantonio.com/franciscan-spirituality/

For a biased, hyper-Orthodox view, which ignores elements of Orthodox tradition which align with Francis, read:

http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/francis_sarov.aspx

For a critique of this hyper-Orthodox view, read:

https://hnp.org/orthodox-church-francis-of-assisi-was-no-saint/

There seems to be a certain furor on the part of some Orthodox to distance themselves from Francis in order to appear more Orthodox and "protect" Orthodoxy from Latinizing corruptions. Such motivations undermine any fair treatment of the matter.… (altro)