St. Luke of Crimea
A few days ago, on June 11, the Orthodox Church celebrated the feast of St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea. The Holy Hierarch departed to the Lord on June 11, 1961, on the feast of All Saints Who Have Shone Forth in the Russian Land. He led an amazing life: thousands of patients whom he operated on, scientific discoveries in the field of regional anesthesia, the Stalin Prize for his Essays on Purulent Surgery—he sent the majority of the awarded funds to orphanages, and the rest he distributed to the poor—a multitude of sermons delivered in an atheistic country, as well as exiles, arrests, hunger, cold, the tragic loss of his wife.
His extraordinary courage, amazing fortitude, great philanthropy, and deep, unwavering faith are truly amazing. Neither exiles, nor camps, nor the Second World War could stop him from offering medical assistance to people. Even in the most terrible of conditions, lacking any normal food or housing, with the hostility of those around him, St. Luke never interrupted his work, but continued to receive patients, never turning anyone away. Even at the end of his life, the completely blind saint continued to help his patients, though now with prayer. And he still helps now, after his departure to the Lord.
Here are just a few stories about miraculous help from St. Luke.
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From Irina S:
In 2018, family business took me to the Nizhny Novgorod Province. I had an accident on June 5: I fell and broke my ankle, with a torn ligament and dislocation. The ambulance took me to the emergency room where they reset the bone and put a cast on it. And that was instead of the operation I should have had to collect the fragments of broken bone first! They told me to come back for surgery in three weeks. The pain during this time was excruciating and didn’t let up at all.
I somehow made it down flour flights of stairs (there’s no elevator in my building) and got to the local polyclinic where they took an x-ray and told me they had to break everything since the bone was healing incorrectly. They said I needed a surgery. I didn’t want to go to the same place they’d taken me the first time, and they referred me to Nizhny Novgorod, to the Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics. I called them and they said there was a two week wait just to have a consultation. Seeing what was happening, I started praying to St. Luke and used my remaining energy to read an akathist to him.
Then they called from the polyclinic: “Can you come in today?” I couldn’t go, but I sent a friend with my photo. With traffic, it takes about three hours to get there, but by the prayers of St. Luke, my friend made it in forty minutes. He hit green lights the whole way and didn’t have to sit in traffic once. He drove back just as quickly and brought me a referral with some tests.
And I felt a panic again: How can I go for an analysis if I can’t even walk?! Then suddenly my neighbor from across the garden called me. She had heard about my situation and said: “Don’t worry, I’ll come get all your tests. I’m a nurse.” I called the Institute of Traumatology and told them my tests were ready. I had to get in line again, and it was another two weeks, maybe more.
I prayed to St. Luke again. The next day, they called me to come in instead of a patient whose surgery had to be postponed due to high blood sugar. So there I was in a hospital room, and as the doctor was making his rounds, he told me my case wasn’t easy, that we weren’t going to hurry, that it would be postponed till the end of the week. I continued reading the akathist to St. Luke, and they moved the operation up a couple of days. The surgery went well and everything was fine.
But my misadventures didn’t end there, it turns out. After I was discharged, when they were taking the stitches out at home, they found a bone infection. The wound was coming apart and you could see the plate they’d put in. I had to go back to the hospital, this time for a purulent surgery. A fight for my leg began there. I prayed to St. Luke with all my might. When I woke up after the surgery, the doctor told me to … go to church and light a candle. It turns out the entire plate was covered in pus, even the screws had come out, but the bone itself was fine! It was a miracle that can only be explained by the help of God through the prayers of this amazing saint!
After that, I really wanted to go venerate St. Luke’s relics in Crimea!
But then they brought some relics of St. Luke to Nizhny Novgorod not long after that. With what reverence I venerated the relics of my healer! I had had six operations altogether—that’s how much the doctors fought for my leg, and by the prayers of St. Luke, everything turned out well!
Then that summer, a friend suddenly suggested that we go to Crimea, and I didn’t have to think twice. By the grace of God, I was able to visit the relics of St. Luke and thank him for his extraordinary help!
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Another story about help from St. Luke, also involving a bone infection:
My future husband got a bone infection after suffering a leg injury. He was treated in several different hospitals in Tashkent. And the next time it was exacerbated, in 1970, they put him in the purulent department of the hospital where, as we later found out, Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky, later St. Luke, had worked. The situation was very serious but the treatment was successful, and my husband soon forgot about his sore. The Uzbek surgeons have an icon of St. Luke hanging in their office, and before surgery, they ask for his help. And we have a photo of him at our house. My cousin was a nun and she gave us the photo of St. Luke surrounded by Tashkent priests. And in various circumstances in our life, especially in times of illness, we pray to St. Luke, and he never fails to help us.
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Help from St. Luke in the case of a fracture:
My son broke his arm. It was a complex fracture-dislocation. I got a blessing and started reading the akathist to St. Luke. Within a week, the bone was in its proper place! I thank the Lord for sending us such an intercessor and man of prayer!
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Another story about how the saint healed a broken bone:
I broke my hip a few years ago. It was a complex fracture. I prayed to St. Luke of Crimea and St. Panteleimon the Healer for help, that they wouldn’t schedule me for surgery before I was able to receive Communion. The surgery went well. They put in an artificial joint and now I feel good and I’m able to work, although I’m already seventy.
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From Anastasia D.:
An ultrasound showed that my friend had a gallstone. When she got home, she put an icon of St. Luke on the spot and started asking St. Luke for help. When my friend went for an ultrasound again a week later, there was no stone. The doctors were amazed and did another ultrasound, which also showed there was no stone. My friend was also amazed at such speedy and extraordinary help.
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And another story of St. Luke’s help:
My knee was really hurting. I thought maybe it was from getting too cold. I went to church, went up to the icon of St. Luke, kissed it, and begged him to make it better, because the pain was unbearable. And the pain went away literally immediately. I sat in church for a bit and was simply amazed—my knee was completely healed! Now I know that St. Luke helps very quickly and precisely—you just have to ask with faith!
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A story of St. Luke healing a child, from Marina N.:
I wasn’t able to buy an icon of St. Luke of Crimea for a long time. And then one day we went to the famous Holy Protection Church on the Nerl River, and there I saw an icon of St. Luke, which we bought. Soon after that, my son got sick. He had a fever of nearly 104 and pills weren’t helping. I wanted to call the ambulance, but then I remembered the icon of St. Luke. I started praying for my son to recover. I prayed in my own words as best I could, asking and begging him to save my son. Then I put the icon next to him and, exhausted, I dozed off. I woke up with a jolt. I saw my son sleeping, breathing evenly. I took his temperature—98.6. I noticed that if you sincerely pray for something from your soul, even in your own words, then they will definitely hear you and help!
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When I was nearly done writing this article and I was planning to send it to the editors at Pravoslavie.ru, a believer from Moscow who prays for our entire family wrote to me that she wanted to send a piece of a scarf blessed on the relics of St. Luke to me with a friend who was coming to visit us in Tbilisi for a few days. That’s how the Holy Hierarch thanked me, by sending such a holy item!
St. Luke, pray to God for us!
