Saint Luke the Younger

 

Feast February 7

Born on the Greek island of Aegina, Luke belonged to a family of farmers. Saracen raiders forced his family to leave their homeland for Thessaly, where Luke worked in the fields and tended sheep. He was a dutiful child, but his charity towards the poor often frustrated his parents: Luke would often give his own food and clothing to those less fortunate.

He was so charitable that God blessed him, and his family’s crops flourished, but his parents still did not approve.

After his father's death, Luke decided to become a hermit. The decision angered his mother, who wanted her son at home.

He left Thessaly to find a monastery, but was captured by soldiers who mistook him for a runaway slave. Imprisoned for a short time, he then returned to his mother after he convinced his captors of his true identity.

Later, two monks on their way to the Holy Land persuaded Luke's mother to allow him to join a monastery in Athens.

After only a short time, Luke’s superior claimed that his mother had appeared to him in a vision calling for help, and Luke was sent home. Eventually, Luke's mother understood her son's call to religious life and no longer opposed him.

Luke built his hermitage on Mount Joannitsa, near Corinth when he was only eighteen.

At times, Luke was seen suspended above the ground in prayer. After his death, his cell was transformed into an oratory and named the Place of Healing.