18th October- Commemorating St Luke the Evangelist.

The liturgical calendar of the Indian Orthodox Church commemorates St Luke the Evangelist on 18^th October.

St Luke the evangelist was a native of Antioch, a trusted aide of St Paul, a physician, the author of the Gospel (St Luke) and Acts of the Apostles. 

The Church historian Eusebius tells us about St Luke thus:

“But Luke, who was of Antiochian parentage and a physician by profession, and who was especially intimate with Paul and well acquainted with the rest of the apostles, has left us, in two inspired books, proofs of that spiritual healing art which he learned from them. One of these books is the Gospel, …. The other book is the Acts of the Apostles which he composed not from the accounts of others, but from what he had seen himself.”- Eusebius, Church History Book III, Chapter 4, NPNF Series II, Volume I.

St Jerome states:

“Luke a physician of Antioch, as his writings indicate, was not unskilled in the Greek language. An adherent of the apostle Paul, and companion of all his journeying, he wrote a Gospel,.. He also wrote another excellent volume to which he prefixed the title Acts of the Apostles, a history which extends to the second year of Paul's sojourn at Rome, that is to the fourth year of Nero, from which we learn that the book was composed in that same city….. Some suppose that whenever Paul in his epistle says “according to my gospel” he means the book of Luke and that Luke not only was taught the gospel history by the apostle Paul who was not with the Lord in the flesh, but also by other apostles. This he too at the beginning of his work declares, saying “Even as they delivered unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. “So he wrote the gospel as he had heard it, but composed the Acts of the apostles as he himself had seen. He was buried at Constantinople to which city, in the twentieth year of Constantius, his bones together with the remains of Andrew the apostle were transferred.” – Jerome, On Illustrious Men, Chapter 7, NPNF Series II, Volume III.

St Paul addresses St Luke the evangelist as the ‘beloved physician’ (Colossians 4:14); in the same chapter (verses 7 onwards) wherein the final greetings is given- St Luke’s name is not counted among the ones who are ‘of circumcision’, so it is unlikely that St Luke was of a Jewish ancestry.

The tradition attributes that the other disciple in the road to Emmaus to be St Luke (Gospel of St Luke 24: 13 onwards) and credits St Luke with writing the first icons of St Mary-the Theotokos.St Luke accompanied St Paul on his second missionary journey, and in St Luke, St Paul found a friend who was to be with him, in happiness and troubles alike.

We first encounter St Luke in the Acts chapter 16- St Luke gives the details in the third person (‘they’) and here we see him changing to first person plural (‘we’). “Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi..” (Acts 16:11 onwards). The reference to ‘we’ continues till the group departs from Philippi. Perhaps, St Luke was asked to be in Philippi to carry on the gospel work.

St Luke forsook a promising life to be a fellow worker to St Paul in his ministry. Couple of years back, I happen to study in a Sunday School Teacher’s conference that we often wrongly use the word ‘Enthusiasm’ in our day to day conversations. If we see the etymological root of the word ‘Enthusiasm’, we learn that it focuses on ‘en-theos’ which means ‘divinely inspired’.

When you are divinely inspired to do a work- you do not worry about the ups and downs that come in your way rather you just march ahead. When we see references to St Luke by St Paul in his various letters and of course in the book of Acts of the Apostles- we see a physician, an artist, a fellow worker who is ‘enthusiastic’ about his Christian mission. He provides his unflinching support to St Paul through thick and thin of his ministry, not bothered about the problems he is facing/will face nor interested in getting any due recognition.

Such marvelous was his enthusiasm for his support to St Paul’s ministry throughout his life, that in his farewell epistle, St Paul exclaims ‘Only Luke is with me’ !(2 Timothy 4:11)

May the intercessions of St Luke help us to be faithful to our Lord no matter what the situation is and may by his prayers may we be divinely inspired in all our good works which we render unto our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

In Christ,
Rincy John