Upon arrival at the Holy Mountain, Luke entered the Lavra of St. Athanasius. After living here for some time, he moved to the Iveron Monastery, here he declared to the Iveron elders that, out of foolishness and fear, he had denied Christ for the sake of it and that he was forcibly circumcised. The elders, having listened to Luke, sent him to the Forerunner monastery to his confessor, who, having read censorious prayers over him, anointed him with holy myrrh, and Luke, having received the seal of the Holy Spirit, was again returned to the bosom of the Orthodox Church.
Luke lived a little in the Iversky Monastery and soon moved from here to the Stavronikitsky monastery and was clothed in monastic attire. But, however, he could not get along here either and soon moved to the Zograf Monastery. The enemy of the human race did not give him peace, brought various temptations, confused his soul and did not allow him to get along for long in one place.
Finally, by God’s permission, his temptation reached the point that, not tolerating enemy attacks, he left the holy Mount Athos and returned again to the world. Arriving in Cydonia, he began to look for a sexton position at the churches there, but there was none here. From here he went to Moschonisia, and then to Mytilene and Smyrna, but did not get a place anywhere.
Thus, encountering failure everywhere and, moreover, fearing the plague that was then raging in Smyrna, he returned again to the Holy Mountain and entered the Xiropotamian monastery. He did not stay here long and from there he moved to the Kotlomush monastery, and from here, after some time, he moved to the Forerunner Skete, where in confession he told his confessor about his temptations. The confessor, after listening to Luke, advised him to enter a monastery and promised to provide him with his assistance, but since Luke was young and did not yet have a beard, then, according to the local monastery rules, he was not accepted anywhere. Finally, at the request of his confessor, he was admitted to the Gregoriate Monastery, but from here, through the machinations of an all-evil enemy who did not give him peace, he was driven out. All these temptations were inflicted on him through God's permission, for his spiritual benefit. This can be seen from the following.
Having been expelled from the Gregorian monastery, Luke began to feel embarrassed: “What does this mean, he thought, that they are persecuting me everywhere?” - and, turning over his whole life in his mind, he stopped at this:
“Holy Mount Athos is a storm-proof haven for all those seeking their salvation; many monks spend a silent and virtuous life here, and they all enjoy a peaceful, calm life; Why can’t I get along in any place and, moving from monastery to monastery, I don’t find peace for myself anywhere? Of course, there is no other reason for all this other than the fact that I bear on myself the nasty seal of the devil, which was forcibly placed on me - circumcision. Therefore, in order to pacify oneself, it is necessary to confess Christ before His enemies, to suffer for Him from those before whom I, unfortunate, for the sake of fear, rejected Him and, having shed blood for my Redeemer Jesus, be reconciled with Him.”
After this, Luke went to his elder and announced his intention to suffer for Christ. But the elder did not approve of his desire to suffer for Christ, since he saw him too young to allow him to undertake the great feat of torment; At the same time, the unknown end also frightened him. And therefore he said to him: “If no one wants to keep you in their monastery, then I agree to retire with you somewhere, and we will be inseparable throughout our lives.” But, however, nothing could sway Luke from the idea of suffering for Christ. Therefore, he left the Gregorian monastery and came to the monastery of St. Anna to his friend Hieromonk Vissarion, who received him with fatherly love and, seeing him sad, wanted to know the reason for his grief. Luke, without hiding anything, revealed to him everything about himself in detail, as well as his desire to suffer torment for Christ.
Seeing Luke’s unyielding thought, Vissarion sent him to the confessor Ananias for further admonition. But Ananias, when explaining to Luke all the horrors and torments, could not convince him not to betray himself to such a great feat, and therefore advised him to test himself and properly prepare for the martyrdom, to which Luke willingly agreed.
Having accepted the cell rule from his confessor, Luke began to strive in fasting, vigil, prayer and kneeling, constantly having in his mind the death on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the insidious devil, who hates the ascetics of Christ, did not leave him alone now. So, he armed Vissarion’s disciples against him, who began to ask their elder to let Luke move away from them.
At this time, according to God's will, a boat landed on the shores of Athos, going through Mytilene to Smyrna, and therefore Vissarion and his confessor decided to send Luke in this boat to Mytilene, to which the blessed one agreed, who wanted to accomplish his martyrdom in this city. After this, Luke began to convincingly ask Vissarion to tonsure him into the great angelic image and accompany him to torment. Vissarion bowed to Luke's request, tonsured him as a monk, and, having prepared everything necessary for the journey, on March 10 they left the Holy Mountain, and on the 13th they sailed to Tenedos.
But Vissarion, not wanting to act contrary to the blessing of the elders of the monastery, forbade him to give himself up to torture in this place, and therefore they went further and soon arrived safely in Militin, and, having landed on the shore, stopped in the house of the priest Parthenius. At this time, the devil, wanting to divert blessed Luke from suffering as a martyr for Christ, began to plant blasphemous thoughts in his heart, and armed himself with such hellish force against Luke that Vissarion was forced to read exorcism prayers over him. As soon as Luke calmed down and his heart became calm, they immediately went to the church of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, where they partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ to strengthen themselves. Coming from the church, Luke dressed in Turkish clothes and received a blessing from Elder Vissarion and the priest, and, having given them a kiss in Christ, went to the house where there was a lower judicial place. There he publicly renounced the Muslim faith, denouncing those who forced him to renounce Christ as deceit.
The judge, seeing the martyr's inflexibility, ordered him to be taken to a lower court and placed under the supervision of a Nazir. Here the holy martyr was subjected to terrible beatings from the Nazir’s merciless servants because he asked for blessings and prayers from the Metropolitan of Mytilene, who came to the Nazir on his own business. The Metropolitan, having learned about the voluntary martyr, immediately sent letters to the churches, inviting all Christians to pray for the sufferer to Christ God. Meanwhile, the Nazir, with various promises, then with affection, and finally even expressing a desire to adopt him, tried to deviate Luke from the Christian faith, but it was all in vain: the warrior of Christ stood firmly against temptation. As we see, the words spoken in the Gospel by Jesus Christ were immutably fulfilled on him: “When they betray you, do not worry about how or what to say; for at that hour it will be given to you what to say. For it is not you who will speak, but the Spirit of your Father who will speak in you” (Matthew 10:19.20). “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all who oppose you will not be able to contradict or resist” (Luke 21:15).
Three days later, the Nazir, calling the martyr to him, announced to him that if he did not renounce Christ, he would be hanged. But the saint replied that he remained unshakable in his belief. And thus the Nazir, having lost all hope of seducing blessed Luke, ordered him to be hanged.
The holy body of the Venerable Martyr Luke remained hanging at the place of execution for three days and three nights. Being preserved by the Almighty Creator, it did not suffer at all from the air changes, but, on the contrary, it was white, the eyes and lips were closed calmly, so that the martyr seemed to be sleeping in the most peaceful and tranquil sleep; at the same time, an extraordinary fragrance emanated from the suffering body to a distant space, which, seeing, Christians glorified God, who strengthened the young youth (only sixteen years old) to courageously struggle and receive the crown of martyrdom.