Hierarch · 1877–1961
Luke of Crimea
Saint Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea, the Surgeon
New Calendar June 11 Old Calendar June 24
Why they are a saint
Luke of Crimea is known as surgeon-bishop who served under Soviet persecution, wrote on purulent surgery, and is asked by physicians and the sick. The years given for this life are 1877–1961. The New Calendar feast is June 11. This memory is kept in the Russian Church.
Life
Saint Luke, born Valentin Voyno-Yasenetsky on April 14, 1877, in Kerch, graduated from an art school in Kiev but chose medicine, wishing to be a doctor for the poor. During the Russo-Japanese War he headed a Red Cross surgical department, then worked in hospitals across Russia; in 1916 he defended his doctoral dissertation. In 1919 his wife died of tuberculosis, leaving him with four children.
In Tashkent, at the wish of Bishop Innocent, he was ordained deacon and priest in 1921, and continued his medical work. He was tonsured with the name Luke and secretly consecrated bishop, and a few days later arrested for his support of Patriarch Tikhon. He was imprisoned and exiled more than once, yet even in exile he was allowed to operate and saved many.
In February 1946 he received the Stalin Prize for his work in medicine, and in May 1946 became Archbishop of Crimea and Simferopol. His eyesight failed, and from 1958 he was completely blind, yet he continued to attend the services. He reposed on May 29/June 11, 1961. In 1995 he was numbered among the saints of the Crimea, and in 1996 his relics were transferred to the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Simferopol; the Greek faithful, grateful for healings, gave silver for his reliquary.
Sources: OCA Lives of the Saints. Retold in our own words.
Traditional patronage
The cited source names no specific patronage.
Patronage / why chosen as patron
Patron of physicians, hospitals, the sick, because he healed the sick, as told in his life.
Prayer
O holy Luke of Crimea, pray to God for us.
A short general prayer to a saint, not a liturgical text. No public-domain troparion for this saint is included.
Do not confuse with Evangelist Luke (October 18).