Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke

“On October 18 in the Holy Orthodox Church, we commemorate the holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke.” So the Antiochian Orthros synaxarion opens, with the verses: “Though near Emmaus I was kept from Thy vision, / Yet now, saith Luke, I see Thee, O Christ, distinctly.”

Luke was born in Antioch. In his youth he excelled in Greek philosophy, medicine, and art. During the Lord’s earthly ministry he came to Jerusalem, where, the synaxarion says, he saw the Savior face to face, heard His saving teaching, and witnessed His miraculous works. Coming to believe, he was numbered among the Seventy Apostles and sent out to preach; with Cleopas he saw the risen Lord on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24). After Pentecost he returned to Antioch, became a fellow worker of the Apostle Paul, and traveled with him to Rome, converting Jews and pagans to the Faith. At the request of Christians he wrote his Gospel, the synaxarion says, about the year 60; he also wrote the Acts of the Apostles, dedicating both works to Theophilus.

After Paul’s martyrdom, Luke preached throughout Italy, Dalmatia, Macedonia, and other regions; in old age he visited Libya and Upper Egypt, then returned to Greece, preaching with great zeal despite his years. Tradition holds that he painted three icons of the Most-holy Theotokos—one of which, the synaxarion notes, is kept by the nuns of the Antiochian Orthodox Convent of Our Lady of Saydnaya in Syria—as well as icons of the Apostles Peter and Paul; hence he is honored as the founder of Christian iconography. At eighty-four he was tortured by idolaters for Christ’s sake and hanged from an olive tree at Thebes in Boeotia. His wonderworking relics were translated to Constantinople in the reign of Constantius, son of Constantine.

Paul names him three times: “Luke the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14, in this Sunday’s Epistle), among “my fellow laborers” (Philemon 24), and, from his last imprisonment, “Only Luke is with me” (2 Timothy 4:11). Eusebius records that Luke, “of Antiochian parentage and a physician by profession,” left in his two books “proofs of that spiritual healing art which he learned” from the apostles. The Gospel appointed for his feast is his own account of the Seventy returning with joy—the company in which the Church’s synaxarion numbers him.

Saint Marinos, commemorated at Anazarbos, was an elderly Christian of Cilicia in Asia Minor who suffered in the persecution of the emperor Diocletian (284–305). Brought before the governor, he refused to deny Christ or sacrifice to idols. He was beaten with rods, loaded with chains, and thrown into a dark dungeon; at daybreak he was brought out, tied to a wooden trestle, beaten again, and finally beheaded.

The accounts name his judge differently: the Orthodox Church in America gives Lysias, governor of Tarsus, while the Greek synaxarion tradition under October 18 names Aristobulus. All agree on the essentials: an old man who confessed Christ before the governor, would not sacrifice, and was not ashamed of the Name in which, as the Seventy said, the demons are subject.

The Antiochian synaxarion commemorates on this day “Venerable Theodore, Simeon and Euphrosyne, founders of the Monastery of the Great Cave in the Peloponnesus”—the monastery of Mega Spelaion near Kalavryta. According to the life compiled by Monk Moses the Athonite, Simeon and Theodore were brothers from Thessaloniki who became ascetics and priests on Mount Athos, made pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Mount Sinai, and preached against the iconoclast heresy. Guided by a vision, they came to the Great Cave, where they met the shepherdess Euphrosyne; together they found a miraculous icon of the Theotokos, and there they built a monastery. They strengthened the faithful of the Peloponnese by their preaching, letters, and virtuous life, and after their repose their relics became a source of healing. The monastery’s traditions also place its beginnings much earlier; the accounts differ on the date.

Their feast falls on Saint Luke’s day for a reason. The monastery’s tradition holds that the wonderworking icon the three founders discovered in the cave is one of the icons of the Theotokos painted by the Apostle Luke; it is still kept at Mega Spelaion. The Evangelist who “recorded” the Mother of God “with fervent love,” as the Orthros exaposteilarion sings, is honored on the same day as the shepherdess and monks who received his icon.

• O what great honour! What incomparable dignities! O what a gift worthy of God! Though but men, the children of earth, He clothes them with a godlike glory. (Cyril of Alexandria)
• The insult does not stop at you, but ascends to God. (Theophylact)
• For to be able to work miracles is possible for no man, unless God give him the power and authority thereunto. (Cyril of Alexandria)
• He was cast down from on high to earth: from overweening pride to humiliation: from glory to contempt: from great power to utter weakness. (Cyril of Alexandria)
• Fear not the serpent; he shall not cast thee out; for he is fallen from heaven. (Cyril of Jerusalem)
• For a good life and faith in God is a great weapon. (Athanasius the Great)
• Not with ink, but by God’s remembrance and grace. The devil falls from heaven, while people living on earth are written in heaven. (Theophylact)
• For the working of signs is not ours but the Saviour’s work. (Athanasius the Great)
• Yea, for sin is a great demon, beloved; and if thou exterminate this, thou hast wrought a greater thing than they who drive out ten thousand demons. (Chrysostom)
• He instructs us throughout, to be free from pride, and to follow after simplicity. (Chrysostom)

“He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”

Saint Cyril of Alexandria (c. 444)

For consider how great was the authority He gave the holy apostles, and in what manner He declared them to be praiseworthy, and adorned with the highest honours.… “He that heareth you,” He says, “heareth Me: and he that rejecteth you, rejecteth Me: and he that rejecteth Me, rejecteth Him That sent Me.” O what great honour! What incomparable dignities! O what a gift worthy of God! Though but men, the children of earth, He clothes them with a godlike glory; He entrusts to them His words, that they may be condemned who in ought resist, or venture to reject them: for when they are rejected He assures them that He it is Who suffers this; and then again He shews that the guilt of this wickedness, as being committed against Him, mounts up to God the Father.

He gives those who love instruction the assurance, that whatsoever is said respecting Him by the holy apostles or evangelists, is to be received necessarily without any doubt.… For he who heareth them, heareth Christ.… For Christ speaketh in them by the consubstantial Spirit.

Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid (c. 1107)

Then, lest those being sent out to preach should say, “Why then do You send us if some cities will not receive us?”, He says: do not grieve; he who rejects you rejects Me and My Father; therefore the insult does not stop at you, but ascends to God. So let it be a consolation to you that the offense is directed (not at you, but) at God. Likewise, on the other hand, do not boast or exalt yourselves because some listen to you; for this is not your doing, but the work of My grace.

Titus of Bostra (c. 378)

But at the same time He herein consoles His disciples, as if He said, Say not why are we about to suffer reproach.… I give you grace, upon Me your reproaches fall.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa (c. 395)

See to what an end these wise men’s acuteness leads, how by them the word of the Lord is made good, which says, “He that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me”: for by the very arguments by which they despise the existence at any time of the Only-begotten, they also dishonour the Father, stripping off by their doctrine from the Father’s glory every good name and conception.

Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”

Saint Cyril of Alexandria (c. 444)

And in sending them, He ennobled them with the grace of the Holy Ghost, and crowned them with the power of working miracles, that they might not be disbelieved by men, nor be supposed to be self-called to the apostleship.… For to be able to work miracles is possible for no man, unless God give him the power and authority thereunto.… The authority, however, which they bore to reprove evil spirits, and the power of crushing Satan, was not given them that they might themselves so much be regarded with admiration, as that Christ might be glorified by their means.

But they seem to have rejoiced, not so much because they were ministers of His message, and had been counted worthy of apostolic honours, as because they had wrought miracles.… It would have been better, therefore, had they manifestly rejoiced on account of those rather who had been won by their means, and had made this a cause of exultation. Just as also the very wise Paul gloried in those who had been called by his means, saying, “My joy and my crown.”

Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid (c. 1107)

Previously the Evangelist said that the Lord sent seventy disciples, and now he says that they “returned with joy” because they not only healed from various other diseases, but delivered from an even greater evil—from demons. See how far they are from pride; for they say to the Lord: “in Your name” the demons are subject to us, by Your grace, and not by our own power.

Aphrahat the Persian Sage (c. 345)

Daniel besought of the king, and he gave his brethren authority over the affairs of the province of Babylon; and Jesus besought of God, and He gave His brethren, His disciples, authority over Satan and his host.

And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Saint Cyril of Alexandria (c. 444)

And this means that he was cast down from on high to earth: from overweening pride to humiliation: from glory to contempt: from great power to utter weakness. And the saying is true: for before the coming of the Saviour, he possessed the world: all was subject to him.… But because the Only-begotten Word of God has come down from heaven, he has fallen like lightning: for he who of old was bold and supercilious, and who vied with the glory of Deity; he who had as his worshippers all that were in error, is put under the feet of those that worshipped him.

Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid (c. 1107)

Do not marvel that the demons are subject to you, for their chief was cast down long ago and has no power whatsoever. Although this was not visible to men, it was visible to Me, who beholds even the invisible. Satan fell from heaven “like lightning” because he was a light, an archangel, and the morning star, though now he has become darkness. If he fell from heaven, then what shall his servants—I mean the demons—not suffer? Some understand the words “from heaven” to mean: from glory.… Before the coming of Christ he was honored as God, but now he fell from heaven, that is, they ceased to honor him as God and to think that he dwells in heaven.

Saint Athanasius the Great (c. 373)

For thus being lifted up He cleared the air of the malignity both of the devil and of demons of all kinds, as He says: “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven;” and made a new opening of the way up into heaven.

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 386)

Very rightly hath he said, were found in thee; for they were not brought in from without, but thou didst thyself beget the evil. The cause also he mentions forthwith: Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty.… In agreement with this the Lord says again in the Gospels: I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Thou seest the harmony of the Old Testament with the New.

Adam by the Tree fell away; thou by the Tree art brought into Paradise. Fear not the serpent; he shall not cast thee out; for he is fallen from heaven.

Saint Gregory the Theologian (c. 390)

He is called a Samaritan and a demoniac;—but He saves him that came down from Jerusalem and fell among thieves; the demons acknowledge Him, and He drives out demons and sinks in the sea legions of foul spirits, and sees the Prince of the demons falling like lightning.

Titus of Bostra (c. 378)

Or He says, as lightning, because by nature Satan shone as lightning, but became darkness through his affections, since what God made good he changed in himself to evil.

Saint Basil the Great (c. 379)

And as iron placed in the fire does not cease to be iron, though by the violent application of the flame both in effect and appearance, it passes into fire; so also the Powers on high, from their participation in that which is naturally holy, have a holiness implanted in them. For Satan had not fallen, if by nature he had been unsusceptible of evil.

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Saint Cyril of Alexandria (c. 444)

But it was not the act of a mere man, nor of one such as we are, to bestow on others an authority so glorious and admirable, as for them to be able to tread upon all the power of the enemy: rather it was a deed suitable to God alone.… For thus He leaves them no excuse for giving way to cowardice, but rather requires of them to be very hearty and courageous. For such ought those to be who are ministers of the divine word: not subject to timidity, nor overpowered by sloth, but preaching “with great power,” as Scripture saith.

Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid (c. 1107)

For “serpents and scorpions” are the ranks of demons, creeping along the ground, and those among them who sting in a more visible manner are “serpents,” while those who strike in a more hidden manner are “scorpions.” For example, the demon of fornication and murder is a serpent, for he incites to visible evildoings; but that demon who, under the pretext of illness, for instance, induces a person to make use of baths, fragrant ointments, and other luxuries, may be called a scorpion, since he has a hidden sting.… But thanks be to the Lord, Who has given authority to tread upon them!

Saint John Chrysostom (c. 407)

We have been taught an art, such as shall enable us to wrestle not against men, but against spirits. Nay, if we have a mind, neither shall we wrestle at all; for it is because we choose it, that there is a struggle, since so great is the power of Him that dwelleth in us, as that He said, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.” All power hath He given us, both of wrestling and of not wrestling. It is because we are slothful, that we have to wrestle with them.

For what can be baser than the devil, because he had exalted himself; what higher than the man who is willing to abase himself? For the former crawls on the ground under our heel (For, “ye tread,” He saith, “upon serpents and scorpions”), but the latter is set with the angels on high.

Saint Athanasius the Great (c. 373)

But the more they do these things the more let us intensify our discipline against them, for a good life and faith in God is a great weapon.… Wherefore they do all things that they may not have any that trample on them, knowing the grace given to the faithful against them by the Saviour, when He says, “Behold I have given to you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy.”

Titus of Bostra (c. 378)

Serpents indeed at one time under a figure were made to bite the Jews, and kill them because of their unbelief. But there came One who should destroy those serpents; even the Brazen Serpent, the Crucified, so that if any one should look on Him believing, he might be healed from his wounds and saved.

“Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

Saint Cyril of Alexandria (c. 444)

I answer, that Christ raises them to something greater, and commands them to account it their glory that their names were written in heaven.… But besides, to rejoice solely in the fact that they were able to work miracles, and crush the herds of demons, was likely to produce in them possibly the desire also of vainglory:—and the neighbour, so to speak, and kinsfellow of this passion constantly is pride. Most usefully, therefore, does the Saviour of all rebuke the first boasting, and quickly cuts away the root, so to speak, that had sprung up in them of the base love of glory, imitating good husbandmen, who, immediately that they see a thorn springing up in their pleasure grounds or gardens, tear it up with the teeth of the mattock, before it strike its root deep.

Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid (c. 1107)

However, teaching the disciples not to be high-minded, the Lord says: “nevertheless do not… rejoice in this… that the demons are subject to you” (for from this others receive benefit, namely those who receive healing), “but rather rejoice that your names are… written… in heaven” not with ink, but by God’s remembrance and grace. The devil falls from heaven, while people living on earth are written in heaven. Therefore, the true joy is in this, “that your names are written in heaven” and are not forgotten by God.

Saint Athanasius the Great (c. 373)

And it is not fitting to boast at the casting forth of the demons, nor to be uplifted by the healing of diseases: nor is it fitting that he who casts out devils should alone be highly esteemed, while he who casts them not out should be considered nought.… For the working of signs is not ours but the Saviour’s work: and so He said to His disciples: “Rejoice not that the demons are subject to you, but that your names are written in the heavens.” For the fact that our names are written in heaven is a proof of our virtuous life, but to cast out demons is a favour of the Saviour who granted it.

Saint John Chrysostom (c. 407)

But if thou wouldest work miracles also, be rid of transgressions, and thou hast quite accomplished it. Yea, for sin is a great demon, beloved; and if thou exterminate this, thou hast wrought a greater thing than they who drive out ten thousand demons.… Hearken also unto Christ, saying, “Rejoice not that the demons obey you, but that your names are written in Heaven.”

The Scripture nowhere says that they returned rejoicing because they had done miracles, but (it does say that they rejoiced), that “they were counted worthy for that Name to suffer shame.” And this they were taught of Christ, saying, “Rejoice not that the devils obey you.” For the joy indeed and without alloy is this, to suffer aught for Christ’s sake.

Titus of Bostra (c. 378)

But because the joy with which He saw them rejoice savored of vain-glory, for they rejoiced that they were as it were exalted, and were a terror to men and evil spirits, our Lord therefore adds, Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject to you.

In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.”

Saint Cyril of Alexandria (c. 444)

Christ saw therefore that many had been won by the operation of the Spirit.… He saw that wonderful signs were wrought by their hands, and that the salvation of the world by Him,—I mean by faith,—had now begun: and therefore He rejoiced in the Holy Ghost, that is, in the works and miracles wrought by means of the Holy Ghost.… For being good and loving unto men, and wishing that all should be saved, He found His cause of rejoicing in the conversion of those that were in error, in the enlightenment of those that were in darkness.

For God the Father has revealed unto us the mystery, which before the foundations of the world was hidden and reserved in silence with Him: even the Incarnation of the Only-begotten.… To those therefore who seemed to be foolish, by which is meant, men of an innocent and guileless mind, and simple as a child in wickedness, the Father hath revealed His Son.

Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid (c. 1107)

As a good father, seeing his children succeed in something worthy of praise, rejoices, so too the Savior rejoiced that the apostles were deemed worthy of such blessings. Therefore He thanks the Father that such mysteries were hidden “from the wise,” that is, the Pharisees and scribes who interpreted the Law, and from “the understanding,” that is, the disciples of these same scribes.… The Lord calls His disciples “babes” because they were not from those skilled in the Law, but were chosen for the most part from the common class of people and from fishermen. However, they could also be called babes on account of their innocence.

Saint John Chrysostom (c. 407)

Not therefore because of this does He rejoice, but because what wise men knew not, was known to these.… Wherefore neither did He say, you have revealed it to fools, but to babes; to unsophisticated, that is, to simple-minded men.… And He instructs us throughout, to be free from pride, and to follow after simplicity.

But Luke says, that at the very hour, when the seventy came telling Him about the devils, then He rejoiced and spoke these things, which, besides increasing their diligence, would also dispose them to be modest. That is, since it was natural for them to pride themselves on their driving away devils, on this among other grounds He refrains them; that it was a revelation, whatever had been done, no diligence on their part.

Clement of Alexandria (c. 215)

Jesus therefore, rejoicing in the spirit, said: “I thank Thee, O Father, God of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes;” the Master and Teacher applying the name babes to us, who are readier to embrace salvation than the wise in the world, who, thinking themselves wise, are inflated with pride.

Source: Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke, Sermons 63, 64, and 65 (trans. R. Payne Smith)

Cyril devotes a full sermon to each movement of the pericope. Sermon 63 (10:16) treats the saying as the Lord’s “missive” of appointment for the apostles and turns it against those who reject the apostolic and evangelical witness to the Word’s true divinity and Incarnation. Sermon 64 (10:17–20) explains why the Seventy were given miracles—so that they would not be thought “self-called”—and how the Lord uproots vainglory “before it strike its root deep.” Sermon 65 (10:21) reads the Lord’s rejoicing “in the Holy Ghost” as joy in the salvation of the world now begun, and answers those who would make the Son inferior because He gives thanks.

Source: Explanation of the Gospel of St. Luke, on Luke 10:16–22

Theophylact distills the Chrysostomic tradition verse by verse. He gives the preacher a double word on verse 16—consolation when rejected, humility when heard—and a sharp pastoral distinction between “serpents” (visible sins) and “scorpions” (hidden stings that come under the pretext of need). His reading of verse 20, that names are written in heaven “not with ink, but by God’s remembrance and grace,” and his image of the Savior rejoicing “as a good father” in verse 21, are both readily quotable.

Source: Homily 38 on Matthew (on Matthew 11:25–30)

Though preached on Matthew’s parallel, this homily explicitly draws in Luke 10:21: the Lord rejoices “at the very hour” of the Seventy’s return so as to make them diligent and modest at once, reminding them that their success was “a revelation… no diligence on their part.” Chrysostom insists the Lord does not rejoice that the wise were left in the dark—“His concealment from those was no more of joy but of tears”—but that babes received what the wise missed.

Source: Homilies 11 and 12 on Colossians (on Colossians 4:5–18)

On “seasoned with salt,” Chrysostom asks for speech that is “neither hard, nor yet weak,” fitted to each hearer as a physician fits a remedy to each body. On 4:14 he identifies Luke as the Evangelist and calls being “beloved of Paul” praise “great exceedingly.” His meditation on “Remember my chains” (4:18)—turning Paul’s bonds into a remedy against pride, luxury, and anger—offers a strong pastoral close drawn from the Epistle.

Source: Ecclesiastical History III.4.6–7

The early Church historian records Luke’s Antiochian origin and medical profession, his intimacy with Paul and acquaintance with the other apostles, and his two books, which he calls “proofs of that spiritual healing art which he learned from them.” The phrase joins the physician of Colossians 4:14 to the Orthros sticheron that praises Luke as adept in healing both soul and body.

Cyril calls Luke 10:16 Christ’s letter of appointment for His messengers: “Though but men, the children of earth, He clothes them with a godlike glory; He entrusts to them His words.” The word preached is received or rejected as Christ’s own word, and through Him the Father’s, because “Christ speaketh in them by the consubstantial Spirit.” Theophylact keeps both edges of the saying: when the messenger is rejected, “the insult does not stop at you, but ascends to God”; when he is heard, “this is not your doing, but the work of My grace.”

The feast gives this saying a face. Luke, numbered by the synaxarion among the Seventy, is the one through whose pen the Church still hears Christ—“the pen of Christ, the swiftly writing Scribe,” as the doxastikon of Orthros sings. The Epistle completes the thought from the side of the messenger: speech “with grace, seasoned with salt,” and Archippus’ charge to “fulfill” the ministry received in the Lord.

Cyril and Theophylact read “I saw Satan fall like lightning” two ways at once: the ancient fall of the one who “was a light, an archangel, and the morning star,” and the collapse of his dominion at the coming of the Word, when “he who had as his worshippers all that were in error, is put under the feet of those that worshipped him.” Titus of Bostra adds that Satan “by nature… shone as lightning, but became darkness through his affections,” and Basil explains why such a fall was possible: created holiness is participation, like iron glowing in the fire.

The same Fathers hear in the saying a warning. Cyril sees vainglory springing up in the Seventy’s joy over miracles and the Lord uprooting it at once, “before it strike its root deep”; Chrysostom says the timing of verse 21 was meant to make them modest. The fall of the proudest creature is set beside the first exultation of the Lord’s own messengers.

The Lord does not forbid joy; He relocates it. Cyril: Christ “raises them to something greater, and commands them to account it their glory that their names were written in heaven.” Theophylact: the names are written “not with ink, but by God’s remembrance and grace,” so that true joy is that they “are not forgotten by God.” The devil falls from heaven while those still on earth are written there.

Verse 21 shows the Lord’s own joy taking the same shape. He rejoices, Cyril says, “in the conversion of those that were in error,” and Theophylact likens Him to “a good father” glad at his children’s success. The revelation given to “babes” is, for Cyril, nothing less than the mystery of the Incarnation hidden before the ages; Chrysostom insists the word “babes” condemns pride, not intelligence—“to unsophisticated, that is, to simple-minded men.”

Paul’s “Luke the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14) runs through the hymnography of the day. The Orthros sticheron praises Luke as one who, “having studied the science of the healing of the soul more than that of the body,” was “adept in both”; the Oikos asks him to “heal with thy mystical surgery the passions of both my soul and body.” Eusebius calls his two books “proofs of that spiritual healing art which he learned” from the apostles.

The Gospel’s Seventy were sent to “heal the sick” (10:9) and returned rejoicing that demons were subject to them; the Lord turned their eyes to a deeper healing—the soul’s enrollment in heaven. Luke’s own life, as the synaxarion tells it, joined both: a physician who became an apostle, a painter whose icons were treasured by the Church, and a martyr who “reached the limit of his life” for Christ at eighty-four.

“Let the heavens rejoice; let earthly things be glad; for the Lord hath wrought might with His arm, He hath trampled upon death by death. The firstborn of the dead hath He become. From the belly of Hades hath He delivered us, and hath granted great mercy to the world.”

Sung at the Little Entrance per the Antiochian Liturgy Variables: the Lord who “hath wrought might with His arm” and trampled death is the same Lord who saw Satan fall and gave His messengers authority “over all the power of the enemy.”

“O holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke, intercede with the merciful God, to grant our souls forgiveness of sins.”

Appointed after the Resurrectional Apolytikion: the beloved physician is asked for the healing that matters most—forgiveness of sins—the gift that makes names “written in heaven.”

“O protection of Christians that cannot be put to shame, mediation unto the Creator most constant, O despise not the suppliant voices of those who have sinned; but be thou quick, O good one, to come unto our aid, who in faith cry unto thee: Hasten to intercession, and speed thou to make supplication, thou who dost ever protect, O Theotokos, them that honor thee.”

Appointed in the Antiochian Liturgy Variables for this Sunday: on the feast of the Evangelist whom tradition honors as the first iconographer of the Theotokos, the Church turns to her as protection and intercessor.

“Thou with Paul didst shine thy light upon the whole world, since thou wast a genuine disciple of the Word of God. And thou, O Luke, didst drive out the gloom far hence when thou didst write the divine Gospel of Christ God.”

“As the beloved physician and disciple, O Luke, heal with thy mystical surgery the passions of both my soul and body…”

Read at Orthros before the synaxarion: Luke as Paul’s companion and as the physician of souls, binding the Epistle’s “beloved physician” to the Gospel’s messengers who drive out darkness.

“O Luke, Apostle of Christ God, and teacher of the nations, thou knower of things past all speech, with the divine and blest Paul and the all-pure Theotokos, whose fair and godly image thou didst record with fervent love, intercede, O all-wise one and seer of God, for us who revere thy divine dormition and call thee blest in songs of praise, O thou elect initiate.”

Sung after the Ninth Eothinon exaposteilarion: Paul and the Theotokos stand with Luke—the Apostle he served and the Mother of God whose “image” he recorded.

“Having studied the science of the healing of the soul more than that of the body, O wise one, thou wast shown to be adept in both, inspired by the wisdom of God.”

From the Ainoi: the hymnographer’s own commentary on “Luke the beloved physician,” and on the Gospel’s turn from the subjection of spirits to the healing of souls.

“His voice has gone out into all the earth. The heavens declare the glory of God.”

Chanted before Colossians 4: the apostolic voice that goes out into all the earth is the word of which the Lord said, “He who hears you hears Me.”

“His sound hath gone out into all the earth; and his words to the ends of the world. Alleluia.”

The Communion hymn repeats the psalm verse of the apostles (Psalm 18 LXX), sealing the day’s theme of the Gospel carried by those whom Christ sends.