Francis is one of the few figures in the post-Orthodox West that bears even a slight resemblance to humanity’s first parents before the Fall or to the many Orthodox saints throughout Church history who have regained the ‘fragrance of Paradise’ and have lived in peace with wild animals and compassionately towards other men and women. Thus, they cling to Francis as their last living memory of such times and people. But they needn’t do that. All that is necessary is for them to step back into the Orthodox world where we often refresh ourselves with the lives of Saints of this kind, and where also these things are still an ongoing reality.

https://orthodoxreflections.com/the-true-spirit-of-francis-of-assisi/