{"id":32325,"date":"2020-11-02T16:48:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T16:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/?p=32325"},"modified":"2022-10-05T08:57:04","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T08:57:04","slug":"saint-luke-apostle-evangelist-and-provider-of-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/saint-luke-apostle-evangelist-and-provider-of-songs","title":{"rendered":"Saint Luke, Apostle, Evangelist and Provider of Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Icon of Holy Apostle Luke<\/span><\/a> painted at our Convent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On October 18, Christians in both East and West\u00a0\"\"commemorate the holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke.<\/p>\n

But \u201cProvider of Songs\u201d, as above? I made that up, because from Luke\u2019s Gospel come so many beautiful texts as if intended for singing. Christians indeed later set them to music, and use them regularly in worship. This Post will therefore contain fewer words than usual (hooray! they all cried) but\u2026you want music? Have we got music!<\/p>\n

Luke\u2019s Gospel<\/h3>\n

All we know of Saint Luke\u2019s background is that he was from Antioch in Syria, then the Great City of the East. He is listed among the Seventy Apostles mentioned in the Gospel for his feast day.\u00a0Luke\u00a010:16-21\u00a0<\/span><\/em>\u00a0Luke wrote the third Gospel account in the Scriptures and so is titled Evangelist, \u201cGospeler\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his Gospel alone we hear the story of the two men who on Pascha night walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, but did not recognize him. You remember how they invited him to stay and eat with them. As he blessed the\u00a0\"\"bread, they suddenly knew him and he \u201cvanished from their sight\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>He calls the two men \u201cCleopas and the other disciple\u201d, which was a conventional way of referring to oneself. So Luke had seen the risen Lord. He is mentioned often in the New Testament as a companion of Saint Paul. In the\u00a0<\/span>Epistle for Luke\u2019s feast day\u00a0Colossians 4:5-11, 14-18<\/em>\u00a0Paul says \u201cLuke the beloved physician greets you\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>So he was a doctor. This likely explains why his Gospel account has so many stories of Christ\u2019s healing miracles. I won\u2019t try to list them all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the beginning of his Gospel account \u00a0Luke explains why he wrote it: \u201cInasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me, also having had perfect understanding of all things from the first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilos, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.\u201d\u00a0Luke 1:1-4<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time Luke wrote, many accounts of the life of Jesus Christ were making the rounds, some only partial or even inaccurate \u2013 perhaps even some of the spurious ones that have had much publicity in recent times, the so-called Gospels of Thomas and Mary Magdalene and the like, which were only imaginative speculations, no doubt driving\u00a0those who had known Jesus personally \u201cup the wall\u201d. So Luke intended to fill in information missing in previous writings and otherwise set things straight.<\/p>\n

So how to do it? In the obvious way. As he says, he went back to the original sources, people had been eyewitnesses of Jesus and the events of his life. Luke himself\u00a0\"\"had followed Christ and been one of the Seventy \u201clesser\u201d Apostles.\u00a0If you can find Saint Luke here, God bless you!\u00a0<\/em>He had seen Christ\u2019s Crucifixion and Resurrection. He also knew those who had been there \u201cfrom the beginning\u201d. That gave him the knowledge and connections he needed to write his \u00a0\u201corderly account\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Who was Theophilos? \u00a0The Greek word\u00a0\u0398\u03b5\u03bf\u03c6\u03b9\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2<\/span>\u00a0means \u201clover of God\u201d. It is possible this meant Luke was addressing his Gospel account to all who loved God, but tradition says Theophilos was an individual, a prominent Gentile convert, who possibly funded Luke\u2019s efforts .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Christ\u2019s Birth Narratives in Luke<\/h3>\n

Luke gives special attention to all the events that surrounded this Greatest of All Events.<\/p>\n

Only Luke reports, and in great detail:<\/p>\n

1 The story of the Conception and Birth of John the Baptist<\/strong>\u00a0to Zachariah and Elizabeth in their old age. I\u2019ve wondered if he got some of this account by interviewing old people of their village, for he says, \u201c<\/span>All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things\u201d.\u00a0Luke 1:1-65\u00a0<\/em><\/span>Just guessing.<\/p>\n

From this account comes the proclamation of Zachariah when his tongue was loosed: \u201cBlessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed his people\u2026\u00a0And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;\u00a0For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins,\u00a0Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;\u00a0To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.\u201d\u00a0Luke 1:68-19\u00a0<\/em>This is sung by both Roman Catholics and Anglicans in their morning \u201coffices\u201d. I wish we Orthodox did the same.\u00a0\u00a0Below: classic Gregorian chant<\/em><\/p>\n