VENERABLE LUKE OF HELLAS

“God, in His ineffable judgment, chose you before you were formed, that you might be well-pleasing to Him. From the womb, He showed you forth as His own servant, directing your steps, ever guiding you, O Luke, as the Lover of mankind. Now standing before Him, you rejoice ,” is sung in the kontakion to Saint Luke of Greece, whose memory the Greek Church remembers on February 7, and the Russian Church, in accordance with the Julian calendar in its divine services, on February 20 of the same month.

1,There are saints who are highly revered in the Western Christian world but for some reason forgotten in the East, such as the martyr Agatha of Sicily or St. Augustine. There are saints who are very celebrated in the Eastern Church but seem to have been forgotten in the West, such as the martyr Tatiana or St. Spyridon. In many ways, this is understandable, since the East and West were estranged from each other for many centuries. At that time, most people never left their native villages in their entire lives, and the distances were enormous. But it also happens that saints who are highly revered in one or another Orthodox local Church are almost unknown in other Churches. On the threshold of the third decade of the third millennium of Christian history, this must be overcome.

2 Saint Luke of Hellas is perhaps one of the most revered and beloved saints of the Greek Church, but unfortunately, he is almost unknown in Russian Orthodoxy. Luke is separated from us by just over a thousand years. The dates of his life are surprisingly well known, right down to his birthday on July 29, 896. The saint passed away on February 7 (20), 953. In addition to his winter commemoration, the transfer of his relics is celebrated on May 3 (16). The saint’s life is remarkable in that it contains many details, particulars, and semantic features characteristic of the biographies of very ancient saints. At the same time, it is very historical and was written by a contemporary. Thus, the saint’s sister, named Kali - in Russian “kind,” “good”. At the time of writing the life, she is described as one who is undergoing monastic obedience and is narrating from her own perspective. The co-authors of the life were Luke’s disciples, who were eyewitnesses. The saint’s parents were named Stephen and Euphrosyne, they were refugees after the Arab invasion, and the family had seven children. Luke herded sheep and worked as a farmer. He was uneducated and never left his native Greece.

3 Luke’s life had much in common with the saints whom the Church calls “merciful,” such as John of Alexandria (556-619) and Philaretos of Paphlagonia (702-792). Even when he was helping his parents, he gave everything to those in need. Once, he met some beggars and gave them grain intended for sowing. There was something in him of the “men of God,” such as Alexius of Rome (+412) and John Calybite (+450). Luke tried twice to leave his home, and twice he was brought back. The first time, he was mistaken for a runaway slave and taken into custody. The second time, he was brought home from a monastery. He was a hermit, but he also cultivated a garden to feed his neighbors. He became a monk but was tonsured by pilgrim monks outside of any monastery. He was a wanderer, but he was buried in his cell, within the walls of the monastery, which he, as it were, involuntarily founded. We must remember such saints so that they may remember us. The monastery founded by Luke still exists today. There, in our days, he rests with his relics, awaiting the resurrection of the dead.

4 Great in small things is one of the definitions of catholicity mentioned in the Symbol of Faith. Great in small things… This is how one can formulate the leitmotif of the life of Saint Luke. Both the origin and the life path of the saint were characterized by genuine simplicity and a desire to hide from human eyes. “Run away from people, and you will be saved” was his unattainable motto. Luke was a Catholic saint in the true non-denominational sense of the word. After all, catholicity encompasses the diverse, the all-encompassing and varied, enriching in its contradictions, combining within itself particles of the universal.

5 Amazing and beloved by those who came to him, Luke still waits to be heard in one extremely important example preserved in his life. Not being ordained to the priesthood, he always took communion himself. The Metropolitan of Corinth gave him this blessing: “The vessel with the pre-sanctified gifts should be placed on a clean table. Unfold the cloth, place the holy particles on it, and, having lit the incense, sing psalms from the liturgy of the word, the Trisagion, the Symbol of Faith, make three prostrations, and, folding your hands, take the Body of Christ and God with your lips, saying: Amen”.