Icon of Saint Luke the Evangelist – S94

Description

This icon is one of the six icons that comprise a 16th century set of Russian Holy Doors that are now in the Andrei Rublev Museum in Moscow.   Saint Luke was a a well-educated Greek who grew up in Syrian Antioch.  He studied science, medicine, many languages, and was skilled in painting.  Drawn to Israel at the time of Christ, Saint Luke left everything after he heard Him speak.  He was one of the 70 Apostles, and one of the four Evangelists.

Saint Luke, along with Cleophas, met Christ on the road to Emmaus on the day of His Resurrection and his heart burned when Christ opened the Scriptures to them concerning His life.  Saint Luke preached the Gospel in Thebes, Rome, to the Colossians, to the Corinthians, and in Libya and Egypt.   He wrote his Gospel fifteen years after Christ’s Ascension.  It has many details of the early life of Christ and the Virgin Mary, as he knew her well and even painted the first icons of her from life, some of which have come down to us today.  She was pleased when she saw them.  Saint Luke died a martyr’s death in Thebes of Boeotia at the age of eighty, and healing oil flowed from his body, helpful especially for eye ailments.