Martyrdom Luke the Evangelist

The martyrdom of the holy Luke the Evangelist, the saint, in peace of God. Amen. Luke was with Paul, being his disciple and secretary, writing all his acts and all the good works concerning his preaching. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When they came to the city of Rome, a great captivity fell upon them from Satan into the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Caesar the emperor learned of these things, he became greatly enraged against Paul and Luke. As for Paul, he had his head cut off. But Luke fled before the emperor and went about preaching in every city and every village throughout the whole province of Rome the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthening the faith of Christ in the soul of many. And great signs and wonders he performed among the sick: the blind he made to see, the lame he made to walk, the leprous he cleansed, the deaf he made to hear, and many other kinds of sicknesses. In this manner he healed them in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many cities and villages believed, eager for the holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, seeing the signs that his servant Luke performed. Churches and monasteries they built in every place. All those who believed were ready for the service of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching of the holy Luke. But when the priests saw this,

of the idols, Satan filled their hearts, and they took counsel with the Jews who were in that whole region, to gather together into the temple which was in their metropolis until the end of the month of Thoth. And it happened that a great multitude of the Greeks and the Jews gathered together, and they went into the temple at the same time, and they sat down. And the great priest came into their midst, and he said, "O men, our brethren, do you not know that the good work of beneficence has come to us through the providence of the gods? And it is fitting for us to fulfill all the services for them, and we should not hinder anyone who would oppose. They did not cease, and behold, we have drawn upon ourselves a great accusation through the gods, that they might be angry with us and turn away from us, because we have allowed this man, this magician named Luke, to lead astray the whole multitude of this region from the service of the gods who give life, into the service of a man called Jesus, and the temple of the great god Apollo. They seized him, but a certain Jew stood up, whose name was Isaac, an archisynagogos of the Jews in that region, and he said, "It happened to me when I was young, that I came to this region, and I was at the feet of a lawyer in Jerusalem, whose name was Gamaliel. And Annas and Caiaphas, who were high priests of the people, accused this one who is called Jesus, and they judged him, they condemned him, they crucified him, they killed him, and they placed him in a tomb.

He arose from among the dead after three days. This is the one, that is, this man named Luke, who was hung. He showed himself to us. The multitudes cried out with a great voice, marveling, saying, "What manner of man is this, that he has arisen from among the dead?

this? He who was dead, but it happened when the name of Jesus was uttered, all the idols fell down and were shattered like potsherds. When the servants of the idols saw the destruction of their gods, they became angry with great grief, tore their garments, and shaved the hair from their heads. They went to Rome and said to the king, "O king, may you live forever! A man came to our country and stirred up the multitudes in the name of the Galilean, and he has shattered our gods, who give you the victory." Caesar Nero said to them, "Many men who have borne this name in my country I have killed, until only one, Luke, escaped from my hands." The multitude answered, "This is the very man who is stirring up our country, and behold, he is in the city of Proconnesus, and he is teaching the multitudes to abandon the gods who give life, and almost your power has ceased to help our country, for all of it has gone astray through his deception." When the king heard these things, he became angry and gnashed his teeth. Then he sent two centurions with sixty soldiers to bring him. When Luke heard, he gathered the multitude who had believed and taught them in the word of God, that they might be steadfast in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that nothing should separate them from him, neither death nor life nor the attack of the magistrates nor any tribulation. "For I," he said, "will go my way according to what has been appointed for me by God." And after he said these things, he dismissed them, saying, "The peace of God be with you.

Immediately they heard that they had become angry.

The soldiers of the king entered the city, all of them rushed out and left him in fear. But when the holy Luke had sailed upon the sea, he found an old man who was plowing, preparing the land. He said to him, "I have found you, the man who prepares the land. Come to me so that I may show you what is worthy of your labor." When he approached him and saw the grace upon his face, he worshipped him. The holy evangelist said, "Behold, the king has sent soldiers after me, and I know that he will pass judgment on me. For this is the will of God. Take these books, then, and place them in a clean place in your house, and they will guide you to eternal life." The man understood a little reading, for he had taken the books and read from them. He became amazed at the word of God in every place. The name of the man was Silas, for he also became a chosen one of God. While the holy Luke was speaking with him, the two decurions and their soldiers came into the city. The proconsul arrested the holy Luke, bound him, and sent him to the king. But the blessed one blessed God, saying, "I receive grace from you, my Lord Jesus Christ, and I bless your holy name, for you have made me a companion to your fellow laborers who bring life." And he stood bound before the king, and the king said to him in anger, "Are you Luke, the one who disturbs all of Rome and has destroyed the gods through the magic you taught them?

Paul this one, I have destroyed him according to his deserving. He answered,

The saint said, "You are foolish, O you whose eyes are blind. If they should break you and speak evil of you, all the things of the scribe Paul are straight and true. And those whom he taught me about them are words of life. For I know nothing of magic except my Lord Jesus Christ, who will destroy you in the spirit of his anger." When he said the name of Jesus, the engraved images fell down before the king, and they were shattered. When the king and the multitude saw the shattering of their gods, they cried out, saying, "Let this be removed from our land, lest he shatter all our gods." Then the king Nero commanded that he be stretched out and that they throw stones at him, until his blood poured onto the ground, saying to him, "Now the gods will take vengeance on you, because you have shamed them, and it is they who have brought this punishment upon you." The holy Luke answered, "O you who are blind-hearted, and without grace and godless kings, if I have shamed your gods in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, and they did not help themselves, how will they take vengeance on men? For even now, you yourself bear witness that they did not tell you at all that they brought this punishment upon me, because they are blind and deaf, those who have no spirit in them." When the king heard these things, he became angry with great wrath and said, "You have greatly insulted us, for you have called us godless and graceless.

and the gods who give us life, you have called them blind in spirit. Therefore, I command that they torture your body with great suffering until you confess that the gods are givers of life. Then they dragged him to the praetorium and bound him until his bones were exposed, and they cast him down. His body was not yet completely tortured. King Nero said, "This man is a magician scribe. Therefore, the wound of the thorns made his body appear." The evangelist said, "I have already said that I know no magic except my Lord Jesus Christ, who gives me strength and heals me." Then the king commanded to cut off his right hand, saying, "I will cut off the hand that wrote the deceptions, and let them see that Jesus will not heal you." He stretched out his hand. A speculator came and gave him a blow on his hand and cut it off. The saint Luke said, "Since you say that my God is nothing, I will show you his power." And he prayed, saying, "My Lord Jesus Christ, who has done all things for us, we follow you, for you are the savior of every soul. Do not be concerned about the negligence I have committed. For those who know and those who do not know, do not judge them for it, but for your holy name, so that the nations may not say that their god has failed." He stretched out his hand again.

He stood firm, his right hand which they had stretched out, hanging down. He placed it at his side, resuming his former posture. When the king saw this, he said before the council, "Did I not tell you that this man is a great magician?" The saint answered, saying, "It will not be for me to become a magician, but rather that you may know the power of my Lord Jesus, and that I do not fear death from this world." He stood firm, his hand, and placed it down at his side again. When the crowds saw this, they cried out, saying, "One is the God of the holy Luke!" And many men and women, along with the prefect of Rome and his entire household, believed in Christ. The king then ordered them to be cast out of the city, to be beheaded by the sword. And thus it was carried out in one day, the twenty-second of Paopi, in peace. Amen. When the king wished to bring other tortures upon the holy evangelist, the council did not allow him, saying, "No, his sentence against him, otherwise the entire city will be in uproar." Then the king commanded that they take his head and place it on a hook that was sharp as a reed, and place it by the sea. The centurions then dragged him to the place to do to him according to the king's command. When the holy Luke spread out his hands, he prayed thus, saying, "My Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me all my transgressions, and pray also for my father Paul.

up in your kingdom. These things he said, and the demon approached him, taking his head, which was split. The prayer was with him. The right eye of the demon opened, for he had one eye. He drew his sword and worshipped the apostle, saying, "I have sinned, O man of God. I believe in Christ, that

He himself is God in truth. Then the tortures took the first official of the city, and after him, the holy Luke on that same day also. And in this manner, they cast him into the prison, and they threw him into the sea, for by the economy of God, the waves cast him up onto an island. And when some God-fearing men found him, they wrapped him in linen cloths and placed him for themselves as a phylactery, saying, "Truly, this body is the servant of Christ." And many signs and wonders occurred through his holy body among those who were sick in every way. However, they did not recognize him as the evangelist Luke because of the unclean spirits that he had cast out of them. But when the holy evangelist and martyr Luke completed his course, along with the multitude with him, on the twenty-second of Paopi, in the kingdom of the eternal ages, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is king of all times, for his is the glory forever and ever. Amen.