Luke, the Blessed Surgeon of Simferopol

June 11

Luke was greatly influenced by his father who was a pious Roman Catholic.  He was also influenced by the Holy Bible and the monastery of the Kiev Caves.  His mother was an Orthodox Christian.  Luke had a desire to help the poor, so he attended medical school in Kiev, and finished in the early twentieth century.  During the Russo-Japonese War, her went to the Far East as a surgeon.  He met his future wife Anna, and they had four children.  The family would entertain a nun once a month, and they attended church regularly.  Luke would not operate on a patient until he had prayed before an icon of the Theotokos, and signed the patient with iodine in the sign of the cross.  When an official of the Communist Party removed the icon, Luke refused to do surgery.  He was imprisoned, tortured, and exiled for eleven years in Siberia and other locales.  He was also burdened with heretics and schismatic individuals.  Luke reopened many churches that had been closed by the Communists, wrote deeply theological works, supported the faithful, and drew many to Orthodoxy.  He also saved thousands, especially injured soldiers.  His research techniques were important to fellow surgeons fifty years later.  Luke died peacefully in 1961.  Miraculously, a huge flock of doves followed the funeral procession from the church to the cemetery.  When Luke's relics were in uncovered in 1996, forty thousand people took part.  It is said that an indescribable aroma arose from the relics.  The Patriarchate of Russia glorified Luke as a saint.  Many miracles occur throughout the world through St.  Luke's prayers.

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