The holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke, a native of Syrian Antioch, an apostle from among the seventy, a companion of the holy Apostle Paul (Phil. 1:24; 2 Tim. 4:10), was a physician from an educated Greek environment. Having heard about Christ, Luke came to Palestine and there warmly accepted the saving teaching from the Lord Himself. Among the seventy disciples, the holy Luke was sent by the Lord on the first preaching of the Kingdom of Heaven even during the Savior’s earthly life (Luke 10:1–3). After the Resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to the holy Luke and Cleopas as they were going to Emmaus.
The Apostle Luke took part in the Apostle Paul’s second missionary journey, and from that time they were inseparable. When all of Paul’s other companions left him, the Apostle Luke continued to share with him all the hardships of the preaching endeavor (2 Tim. 4:10). After the martyrdom of the chief apostles, the holy Luke left Rome and with preaching passed through Achaia, Libya, Egypt, and the Thebaid. In the city of Thebes he ended his earthly life as a martyr.
Tradition ascribes to him the painting of the first icons of the Mother of God. “The grace of Him Who was born of Me and My mercy shall be with these icons,” said the Most Pure Virgin when she saw the icons. The holy Luke also painted icons of the holy chief apostles Peter and Paul. The Gospel was written by him in the years 62–63 in Rome, under the guidance of the Apostle Paul. In the opening verses (Luke 1:3), the holy Luke clearly expressed the purpose of his work: to describe in full and in chronological order everything known to Christians about Jesus Christ and His teaching, and thereby to provide a firm historical foundation for the Christian hope (Luke 1:4). He carefully investigated the facts, widely used the oral tradition of the Church and the accounts of the Most Pure Virgin Mary Herself (Luke 2:19, 51).
In its theological content, the Gospel according to Luke is distinguished above all by the teaching of the universality of salvation accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ and the universal significance of the Gospel preaching. The holy apostle also wrote the Book of the Acts of the Holy Apostles in the years 62–63 in Rome. The Book of Acts, being a continuation of the Four Gospels, narrates the labors and exploits of the holy apostles after the Ascension of the Savior. At the center of the narrative stands the Apostolic Council (51 AD) as a foundational church event that served as the dogmatic basis for the separation of Christianity from Judaism and its independent spread throughout the world (Acts 15:6–29). The theological subject of the Book of Acts is primarily the Economy of the Holy Spirit, carried out in the Church founded by the Lord Jesus Christ, from the Ascension and Pentecost until the Second Coming of Christ.