I.M. Ierapytnis: The Sunday sermon - Memory of the Apostle Luketranslated

Ecumenical Patriarchate HOLY METROPOLIS

HIERAPYTNIS AND SITEIA WRITTEN SUNDAY SERMON

Memorial of the Apostle Luke (October 18, 2026)

My dear brothers, today our Orthodox Church honors the memory of the holy glorious apostle and evangelist Luke.

Saint Luke came from Antioch in Syria. He was a doctor, but he also knew the art of painting very well. In fact, the first icons of the Virgin Mary with Jesus Christ as an infant in her arms are attributed to him, as well as those of the apostles Peter and Paul.

He does not belong to the choir of the Twelve Apostles, but he was a close associate of the apostle Paul. His meeting with the apostle Paul radically changed his life. He connected with him and became his devoted disciple and follower until his martyrdom. He was indoctrinated in the Christian faith by the preacher Paul, the apostle of the nations, and since then he devoted himself to the preaching of the Gospel. He toiled and labored a lot, for the spread of the gospel of Christ. He toured Dalmatia, Italy, Boeotia and elsewhere. He wrote the third gospel of the New Testament, as well as the Acts of the Apostles, in which the first...