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THE SECOND
MONTH IN THE NAME
OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, On this day Saint Luke the evangelist, the physician, became a
martyr. This holy man was one
of the number of the seventy-two disciples whom the Holy Gospel mentioned;
he ministered to the Apostles Peter and Paul and he wrote the histories of
them. After the death of
Peter and Paul, Luke preached in the country of Rome.
And those who worshipped idols came to an agreement with the Jews,
and they stood up before the Emperor Nero and they cried out concerning
Luke the disciple, and they made accusations against him; and said, “He
brings very many men under his teaching by means of his sorcery”; and
the Emperor Nero commanded that they should bring Luke before him.
And when the apostle knew that he was about to depart from this
world, he found an old man who was a fisherman, and he gave him the books
and the volumes which were with him, and he said unto him, “Take good
care of these books, for they will be of benefit to thee, and will make
thee to arrive on the road of God.”
And when he had come to Nero, Emperor of Rome, he stood up before
him. And the emperor said
unto him, “How much longer wilt thou lead men into error by thy
sorcery?” And Saint Luke
answered and said unto him, “I am not a magician, but an Apostle of our
Lord Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
And the emperor commanded [his soldiers] to cut off his right hand,
saying, “I cut off this hand which wrote books”; and straightway they
cut off his hand. And Saint
Luke said unto him, “Verily we do not fear the death of this world, but
behold thou shalt at this moment see the power of my God Jesus Christ, to
Whom be praise!” And the saint reached out his left hand, and took up in it
the right hand, which had been cut off, and made it to cleave to its
proper place, and it remained there firmly and became like unto the other;
then he separated it from the wrist and it remained thus.
And those who were there marveled, and the chief officer, and his
wife and very many men believed in our Lord Christ; and they were in
number two hundred and seven and seventy souls.
And the emperor commanded his soldiers to cut off their heads, and
the head of Saint Luke the apostle, and the soldiers cut them off and the
saints received crowns of martyrdom in the kingdom of the heavens.
And they placed the body of Saint Luke the apostle in a hair sack.
And they cast it into the sea, and by the Will of God the waves of the sea
brought it to an island, and a certain man who was a believer found it,
and he gave it honorable burial. This holy man wrote his Gospel for Theophilus, who was a
Gentile, and he also wrote for him the “Acts of the Apostles.” Salutation to Luke whose tongue was true, and who wrote the
Divine Gospel. Salutation to the company of martyrs who died with Saint Luke. Salutation to the old man Silas, who received Saint Luke’s
books and preserved them in purity.
Glory
be to God Who is glorified in His Saints.
Amen.
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