Saint Luke the Evangelist
Date of celebration: 18/10
Saint Luke the Evangelist came from Antioch in Syria and his nationality was Greek. He was a doctor by profession, but he knew the art of painting very well. In fact, the first images of the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus Christ in her arms are attributed to him (one exists to this day in the Monastery of the Great Cave), as well as those of the Apostles Peter and Paul.
He was indoctrinated in the Christian faith by the Apostle Paul, whom he met in Thebes and since then devoted himself to the preaching of the Gospel. He toured Dalmatia, Italy, France, Achaia, Boeotia etc. He wrote the third Gospel of the New Testament, as well as the Acts of the Apostles.
He is said to have died a martyr’s death (according to others peacefully at the age of 80), and in 357 AD, his remains were moved to Constantinople, to the Church of the Holy Apostles.
Note: As Nikolaos Malaxos recounts, according to a royal chrysobull of the Monastery of the Great Cave, the Evangelist Luke wrote his Gospel fifteen years after the Lord’s Ascension. However, Hippolytus the Thebes places the writing of the Gospel in Alexandria.
