Francesco e l’oriente cristiano

Whenever I introduce myself in Greek Orthodox circles as a follower of St Francis, I consistently detect a notable warmth towards me. A few years ago, an Orthodox monk with a gaunt face, hollowed out by asceticism, explained the reason to me: ‘We Orthodox,’ he confided, ‘feel at home with Francis. Elsewhere, in the Latin Church, we do not feel at ease; we feel as though we were strangers’.”

This significant account is provided by Monsignor Ioannis Spiteris, Archbishop Emeritus of Corfu, Zakynthos and Kefalonia, a Capuchin friar since 1959 and a priest since 1968, a former lecturer at the Pontifical Oriental Institute and the Gregorian University, and the author of important works on theology. With the words quoted above, which appear in the Introduction, he aptly summarises the message contained in this fine book of his: the affinities between the extraordinary figure of the ‘Poverello’ of Assisi and Greek-Eastern Christianity are so numerous and significant that ‘it can be said that we are able to better understand the religious genius of Francis if we study him by situating him within the great tradition of Eastern Christianity’. Spiteris supports this thesis by focusing on three fundamental aspects of the relationship between Francis and the Christian East: the esteem in which the Assisian has always been held within Orthodox circles; the parallels between his spirituality and that of the East; and the numerous points of convergence that also exist at the doctrinal level. Thus, within the framework of a comparison between Francis and the Christian East, it is possible to find a further reason to fully appreciate the luminous greatness of the witness borne by the ‘Poverello’, a witness that makes him a master of reconciliation between East and West. In this regard, Spiteris states that Francis shows us the right path towards Christian unity, one that is nourished by an authentic ‘attachment’ to Christ, and in him ‘the Orthodox see a kind of synthesis of all the forms of holiness that have blossomed in the Eastern Church’. Against the rich and evocative backdrop of the renewed interest in the Saint of Assisi to mark the 800th anniversary of his death, Spiteris’s book stands as an original and particularly useful contribution to highlighting the ecumenical dimension of Francis, who “shows us the way to Christian unity, beginning with the rediscovery of our common spiritual, ascetic and mystical heritage”. (Maurizio Schoepflin)

Ioannis Spiteris
, Francesco and the Christian
East, Pazzini, 222 pp., 17 euros