Ecotheological ideas in the works of St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and Francis of Assisi

The article presents a textual analysis of the perception of natural environment in the works of Western Church Fathers - St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and Francis of Assisi. The study conceptualizes both ecotheological ideas from the position of «man-consumer» and the perception of their ecotheological ideas in the context of the current state of science. St. Augustine insists that biological beings (animals, plants) with their inherent freedom want to live and want to be known, while Thomas Aquinas sees them only as natural objects for satisfying human needs. The ecotheological ethics of Thomas Aquinas is emphatically anthropocentric and allows only indirect moral concern for natural environment. Francis of Assisi, on the contrary, in his ecotheological ideas endows natural world with a special, essentially equal to man, status. The results of the study conclude that the ecotheological ideas of St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and Francis of Assisi represent not so much their ecologically-oriented worldview, but rather a different approach to nature - from “utilitarian” to “reverent”.