Saint Luke of Simferopol

Icon made on natural linden wood with water-gilding technique. After the thermal treatment, the wood was gilded with 22K gold leaf, in accordance with traditional Byzantine techniques. The icon has been painted with egg tempera for a higher quality and durability of the colors.

Saint Luke

A contemporary saint of the Russian Church, Luke possessed an outstanding scientific knowledge but also fortitude and patience during the times of brutal repressions to which he was subjected by the communist regime. Believers from around the world testify to the miracles he performed for his patients.

He was born in the Crimea in 1877 with the name Valentin, to a Catholic father and an Orthodox mother. He said he learned piety and prayer from his father, Felix Voyno-Yasenetsky.

Valentine had a talent for painting and drawing, but he wanted his profession to help people. Since he had some difficulty in learning the disciplines necessary for admission to medical school, he fervently prayed to the Mother of God to help him overcome them. Indeed, he was admitted to medical school and received his medical degree in 1903.

Valentine married Anna Vasilievna Lanskaya, with whom he had four children. At the same time, he acquired a brilliant reputation as a physician, especially as an eye surgeon. He was appointed professor at Tashkent University, where he became the target of Bolshevik attacks as a devout physician. At the same time, he was widowed - his wife Anna died of tuberculosis. He then entrusted his children to the nanny, Sophia Sergeyevna.

In 1921 Archbishop Innocent ordained him a deacon and then a presbyter. Two years later he was elected and ordained bishop with the name Luke, as Evangelist Luke, who was a physician by profession.

The persecution against him became even more severe because the physician-bishop posed a great threat to the atheistic regime. Luke was imprisoned for many years in a Moscow prison and then exiled to Siberia. The constant torture irreparably undermined his health, but his Christian ethics constantly surprised his fellow prisoners and jailers alike.

He was released several times, arrested again, and exiled; the main purpose of the government was to make Luke give up the priesthood. He treated patients pro bono and distributed his meager income to the poor. During this time, he tried to communicate with his children as much as possible.

At the age of 70, Luke became Archbishop of Simferopol. At the same time, he began to lose his sight.  The saint reposed on June 11, 1961; until the very end, the communist regime tried to destroy him. Despite the prohibition, a great number of people attended his funeral.

Luka was canonized by the Russian Church in 1995, and his memory is commemorated on June 11. His holy relics are kept in the Cathedral of Simferopol in Crimea in a silver shrine donated by Greek priests.