A popular lithograph shows Seraphim [Saint Seraphim of Sarov] sharing his bread with an enormous black bear. Paul Evdokimov identifies this as a trait of the ancient desert fathers and mothers, such as Francis of Assisi and Jerome. The animals and birds could detect in the holy ones the original scent of Paradise, the presence of one "very similar, very much like," the Lord himself.
— Michael Plekon, Living Icons