Saint Luke the Physician who celebrates on June 11

The Saint Archbishop Lucas, according to Felix Voino-Jasenetsky, was born on April 14/27, 1877 AD. in Kerch on the Crimean peninsula.

The family environment in which he grew up was peculiar as his father was Roman Catholic while his mother, although Orthodox, was limited to good deeds without actively participating in the worship life.th Church.

They move to Kiev very early.

In Kiev, Valentin decides to study medicine. He received his degree in 1903 AD. and attends ophthalmology classes.

In 1904 AD, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, he found himself in the Far East, where he worked as a surgeon with great success.

There he also met Anna Vasilievna Lanskaya, his future wife, with whom he had four children.

After the end of the war he worked in various provincial hospitals. His successes are so many that his fame spreads quickly and patients arrive from everywhere.

At the same time he studies local anesthesia and writes scientific articles.

He excels in eye surgeries and decides to deal with the treatment of pyogenic infections.

In 1917 AD Valentin is elected professor at the University of Tashkent. The Russian Revolution had already begun and the church was targeted by the Bolsheviks.

The situation was out of control. Then Valentin was arrested for the first time. The cause was the slander of a nurse.

With God's help the truth was revealed and the doctor was set free. This adventure, however, despite its happy ending, upset Anna, who was already suffering from tuberculosis, and her health deteriorated to the point that she succumbed a few days later.

After her death, the doctor entrusted his children to Sophia Sergeevna, a faithful nurse who stood by them as a second mother for many years.

In this time of trials for the Church, the physician was actively involved in the life of the church. When Archbishop Tashkent and Turkestan Innocent were accused by schismatics, the doctor vigorously defended the normal order.

Archbishop Innocent, impressed by Valentin's parsimony, proposes that he become a priest. Indeed, he was ordained a deacon on January 26, 1921 AD. and a week later he was ordained an elder.

In the summer of 1923 AD. the "living church" attacks and displaces Bishop Innocent. The clergy and people of Tashkent, at the mercy of the schismatics, elect Fr. Valentin Voino-Jasenetsky to the position of bishop.

His haircut as a monk was done secretly in the house of the priest professor. The most appropriate name for the new bishop was that of the apostle, evangelist, hagiographer and physician Luke.

He then traveled to Punjab to be ordained a bishop.

At the age of 70 he became archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea. There his work is difficult. Poverty has reached such proportions that he is forced to feed the needy in the area every day, at home.

He turns his attention to ecclesiastical life, as he is excluded from any scientific conference. He makes superhuman efforts to open churches.

At the same time, he tries to combat the negligence and indifference of the priests, emphasizing that they themselves should be an example to be imitated by the faithful.

At the same time, he practices the work of a doctor, offering his services to the suffering person. Following the model of the Godman all his life "he passed through benefactors and healed".

With the improvement in the Church-State relations, the archbishop finds the opportunity to return to his favorite occupation, that is, preaching. "I consider it my basic priestly duty to preach Christ everywhere and always." He notes.

About 750 of his sermons were recorded, which were 12 volumes (4500 pages), and have been characterized as "an exceptional phenomenon in modern ecclesiastical life and theology."

In the spring of 1952 his vision deteriorated, while at the beginning of 1956 he became permanently blind.

In November 1995 AD was canonized by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

On March 17, 1996 AD The remains of his remains, which were placed for a popular pilgrimage to the church of the cemetery, dedicated to the memory of All Saints, were officially returned.

His remains exuded an unspoken fragrance, and many patients were miraculously healed. Three days later, on March 20, 1996 AD, his remains were transferred to the Holy Temple of St. Trinity. His memory was set to be commemorated on June 11, the anniversary of his death.