Ronald Reagan had always believed that Mikhail Gorbachev was a closeted Christian and a recent visit to Assisi seems to confirm that. St. Francis seems to have impacted him significantly, with Gorbachev saying “his story fascinates me and has played a fundamental role in my life.” It is also interesting that Gorbachev visited John Paul II in 1989 and afterwards recognized the important role the Pope played in the downfall of communism. Gorbachev also had very kind words to offer on the death of John Paul II. Perhaps the most interesting quote from his visit to Assisi is this: “it was through St Francis that I arrived at the Church, so it was important that I came to visit his tomb.” Would an Orthodox Christian say this or has Gorbachev become Catholic?
Read more about his recent visit to Assisi (from the Telegraph)
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March 19, 2008 at 4:22 pm
You soooooo beat me to that. I already had it half typed.
Clever you!
Maybe consider adding a link to Gorby walking with the Franciscans? this is the one I was going to use:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/19/wgorbachev119.xml
March 19, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I never would have guessed it. Thanks.
March 19, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Wow. I had no idea of Gorby’s devotion to St. Francis. It was truly Providence that he became the President of the USSR.
Just typiing USSR gives me a chill. Those letters used to carry with them the fear of nuclear annihilation. What a complete miracle it was to see the end of that empire with hardly a drop of blood spilt, except Romania. Remember Ceauşescu? We are certainly witnesses to the insurrection of grace and justice!
March 20, 2008 at 11:35 am
Yes, Orthodox Christians also recognize St Francis of Assisi as a saint. Indeed, there is a well known vision which had St Francis and St Seraphim of Sarov together in heaven. While some Orthodox might decry St Francis, as a general rule, he is highly favored by the Orthodox and I know many who have devotions to him. Just like Catholics with devotions to St Seraphim. I, of course, have devotions to both.
March 20, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Well some do Henry. I made the mistake of thinking veneration of the Seraphic Father was more widely accepted than it was once based on icons I have seen of St. Francis from New Skete or even an icon of St. Francis on a GOA booklet issued for a meeting the Greek Orthodox held in San Francisco:
http://www.byzcath.org/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showgallery/Number/280507
Sadly among a small but perhaps growing group of (mostly convert) Orthodox, anti-western contradistinction makes stuff like this anti-Francis article more common still:
http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/francis_sarov.aspx
Interestingly for a brief period in Toronto Father Serge Keleher (formerly of the Russian Orthodox Church of Russia now serving the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church - by way of Dublin!) had a UGCC mission under the patronage of Saint Seraphim of Sarov. It is no longer, but it was a happy thing to have for the time.
I would be very interested in the vision of Ss. Francis & Seraphim if you had any further info on that. I always thought the two went together like peas & carrots… I would be excited to hear more about that vision.
March 20, 2008 at 11:58 pm
SS, for some reason, your reply to HK isnt coming through.
March 21, 2008 at 3:25 am
is it now?
March 21, 2008 at 8:33 am
A Simple Sinner
True, as I said, some of the Orthodox decry St Francis. But the general rule is what I said, that most have great respect for him. Certainly, one of the most interesting things about St Francis that few know: the church he rebuilt was Byzantine (Italo-Greek), and as such, helps explain why St Francis is a great East/West personality as a whole (and why the Franciscans tend to closer to Eastern views in their theological charism than Dominicans).
March 21, 2008 at 9:52 am
That is an interesting thought on Saint Francis. I always had considered his severe asceticism like the Dessert Fathers to be the main focus… But you make an interesting and compelling point. I also saw - in a limited sort of way - a very “fool for Christ” sort of style to his spirituality… To so happily embrace Providence and poverty while wandering about.
I have seen images privately commissioned of Ss. Francis and Seraphim in icons together. That is “on my list” of an icon I would love to have to venerate. I am intrigued by your mention of a vision of these two saints together. Do you recall more about that?
March 21, 2008 at 10:22 am
“Would an Orthodox Christian say this or has Gorbachev become Catholic?
Aye, that’s the $1 million question that the media aren’t answering.
March 21, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Right now, I cannot say where exactly I read of the vision - I think it took place in the 1920s Moscow, but I could be wrong. I read about it probably over a decade ago now; I thought it might be in one of my biographies of St Seraphim — and it might be. But I do remember that the vision was used to discuss how whatever canonical division there might be on earth, in heaven there is unity — between East/West at least.
Maybe someone else remembers it? I will look for it, but with the storehouse of books I am trapped with, I could be ignoring the one book it is in.
***
Back to St Francis of Assisi. Certainly he follows through with classical “fools for Christ” and he has elements of, say, St Symeon the New Theologian’s spiritual director (who went through the streets of Constantinople naked at one time). But more than that, the Franciscan spirituality and theology is more open to a discussion of theosis and the idea that the incarnation is the framework for creation and its purpose instead of merely an after-thought based upon Adam’s sin. Certainly I would not want to ignore the elements of Eastern thought which is in Thomas and Thomism (it is clearly there), but the simplicity of St Francis (and St Anthony of Padua) certainly has ties to Eastern devotions and the idea that man has a role to uphold the sacredness of all creation as a mediator — in a way Christ is a mediator for us. How else can we understand Francis and Anthony and their relationship with animals? It’s mediatorial.
March 21, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Steve on your own blog you write:
“Trouble is, I’m seeing more and more of these “don’t get”/”out to get” religion pieces. If it’s not the Archbishop of Canterbury and Sharia, its “recycle or go to hell”, and now this.”
This is fair enough, I largely agree with it. But then I have to ask for clarification as to why you write:
“Would an Orthodox Christian say this or has Gorbachev become Catholic?”
“Aye, that’s the $1 million question that the media aren’t answering.”
On one hand we are critical of the poor media coverage, on the other you seem to be inviting the media to further speculate on Gorbachev’s exact religous background.
It could be that he is Catholic (very slim chance I would say) , but I suppose more likely that he is one of the many Orthodox faithful out there who - all things being equal - take a more open approach to the sanctity of Saints from the west after the first millenium.
As much as some of the more stident convert parties seem to gravitate towards a rigorist and exclusivist approach to Byzantine Orthodoxy above and against all non-Byzantine Christians, it simply isn’t the case that this is mandated to the Orthodox believer. Councils holding a pride of place among the communion of Eastern (Byzantine) churches run through autocephalous polyarchy, to date there has been no council firmly defining what is to be understood about the Latins and their saints. It is perfectly orthodox for radical agnosticism on such matters to hold sway!
One can make a good case that the better part of Byzantine Christianity such as the Slavs and Arabs did NOT see the split in such radical terms as we do today. In point of fact the Antiochians weren’t really divided into a “Catholic” and “Orthodox” party until the 1700s when rival patriarchs were backed alternately by Rome and Constantinople… before that?
Blessed Constantine, ethno-martyr and last emperor of Byzantium went into battle never having repudiated union with Rome and after having taken communion from Cardinal Isidore of Kiev…
Was Saint Piotr Moghyla of Kiev understood to be a Catholic because of his scholasticism? Saint Nicodemos of Mt Athos translated the Latin “Unseen Warfare” which he used as well as his translations into Greek of the Spiritual Excercises of Saint Ignatiurs. So too did Saint Theophan the Recluse. Any number of Russian Orthodox in France learned to love the great Saint Theresa of Liseaux and her little way… All suspected converts? I think not.
I’d love to have Gorbachev become a convert spokesman to the Catholic Church as a witness to the world… but rather than speculate, I am happy to say the story is what it is - a Christian stopped by the tomb of another baptized Christian lauded as a Saint by well more than the world’s 1.1B Catholics….
…and prayed.
That last word alone associated with the last leader of one of the scariest places on earth… I call it a miracle.
Have a blessed Great Fast.
March 28, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Gorbachev has denied that he is a Christian. See the article below. Also I am an Orthodox Christian and most of us have never even heard of your St. Francis of Assisi. Our church only venerates our own saints.
http://www.christianpost.com/article/200…_is_Atheist.htm
Gorbachev Dispels ‘Closet Christian’ Rumors; Says He is Atheist
By Ethan Cole
Christian Post Reporter
Mon, Mar. 24 2008 05:21 PM ET
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev made clearthis past weekend that he is an atheist after European news agencies last week claimed that he had confirmed his Christian faith during a visit to the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi in Italy.
Gorbachev, the last communist leader of the Soviet Union, confronted speculations that he had been a closeted Christian during an interview with the Russian news agency Interfax.
“Over the last few days some media have been disseminating fantasies – I can’t use any other word – about my secret Catholicism, citing my visit to the Sacro Convento friary, where the remains of St. Francis of Assisi lie,” Gorbachev
said, according to an Interfax article posted Friday.
“To sum up and avoid any misunderstandings, let me say that I have been and remain an atheist,” he stated.
Rumors for decades had circulated that Gorbachev was a Christian after he moved to loosen restrictions on religious worship and expressed to a party congress a year before the communist state dissolved that “spiritual rebirth is as essential to society as oxygen,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
As a result, media agencies had jumped to conclusions when Gorbachev visited St. Francis’ tomb last Wednesday and was seen kneeling for half an hour in silence at the tomb.
But Gorbachev, who was baptized Russian Orthodox as a child, explained that his visit to the tomb was as a tourist and not a pilgrim. He acknowledged the important role religion plays in society and said he looks forward to visiting Orthodox churches in Russia, Catholic and Protestant churches in the United States and Europe, synagogues in Israel and mosques in the Arab world, according to Interfax.
“But all these years, it has never occurred to anyone to list me among followers of any faith on that basis,” Gorbachev noted.
Back in Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church seemed unimpressed with Gorbachev’s visit to St. Francis’ tomb.
“In Italy, he spoke in emotional terms, rather than in terms of faith,” a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox patriarch Alexei II told the Russian media.
“He is still on his way to Christianity. If he arrives, we will welcome him.”
Christians make up only about 17 to 22 percent of Russia’s population, according to the CIA World Factbook.
March 28, 2008 at 5:51 pm
“Gorbachev has denied that he is a Christian. See the article below. Also I am an Orthodox Christian and most of us have never even heard of your St. Francis of Assisi. Our church only venerates our own saints.”
Are you meaning most who are in Russia? And I am guessing you mean your particular church when you say “our church only venerates our own saints”?