Secondary Level

Saint Luke The Evangelist - October 18

The New Testament, which consists of twenty-seven books which begin with the coming of Jesus Christ and end with the “revelations” of things to come, begins with four Gospels written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  These four great writers of the Church were called Evangelists (taken from the Greek which means “one who proclaims the Good News”) who wrote about the coming of Christ and his mission among men   In the last book of Scriptures, the Book of Revelation, the four Evangelists have been symbolically referred to as follows:  St. Matthew... the man; St. Mark... the lion; St. Luke...the calf; St. John...the eagle.  St. Matthew writes as a preacher, St. Mark as a chronicler, St. Luke as a historian and St. John as a theologian.  On October 18th we honor the memory of St. Luke.

 According to the Church historians, Luke was from the ancient city of Antioch in Syria.  Of all the countless followers of Christ during the first years of Christianity, Luke was by far the most talented.  Luke was educated in Athens and Alexandria.  He was a skilled physician and a master artist.  Luke spoke many languages and was considered one of the greatest scholars of his day.  He became very friendly with St. Paul, and he accompanied him on many of his journeys into Asia Minor, Greece and Rome.  It was while in Rome that Luke wrote his famous Gospel.  He is also the author of the Book of Acts.  St. Paul refers to Luke as “the glorious physician” (Colossians 4, 14).  Luke could also be called the Church’s first “iconographer”  According to Holy Tradition, Luke had painted three Icons of the Blessed Mother and the Christ Child.  One of these three masterpieces was given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Jerusalem when  Luke was visiting the city.  One of these Icons is now located within the Church of the Holy Greek Patriarchate in the city of Constantinople.  St. Luke lived to the ripe old age of 80 years and his last days were spent in the city of Thebes.