On Saint Luke
In sanctum Lucam
Hesychius of Jerusalem (fl. c. 412–450) is named at the start of this eulogy for Saint Luke. It is a homily in his praise, not a commentary on the Gospel.
Eulogy for Saint Luke§1
1Hesychius, a presbyter of Jerusalem, delivers a eulogy for Saint Luke, the apostle and evangelist, despite feeling unworthy and unskilled in speech, driven by his desire to fulfill his duty.
He sees a contest of words and deeds at the present festival and considers it a greater victory to be defeated in praise of the blessed Luke, who has conquered all creation in heaven and on earth through teaching and wonders.
What is greater than an evangelist, and what is equal to his grace, which enables him to transcend all sensory motion with his mind, calm the paternal depths with his tongue, and become the thunder of the ineffable mystery?
Though weak and subject to passions and diseases, Luke has ascended to heaven in his thoughts, seen the eternal generation with faith, and beheld the Word proceeding from the paternal depths and God born of God.
He saw the coessential Trinity being worshiped on the throne, distinguished in hypostases and united in nature, without the Trinity being confined to one person or the essence being extended to a number.
The evangelist is even bolder than the seraphim, for while they hide their vision because of the lightning, he theologized the birth through grace.
Coming down from heaven to earth, Luke entered the fearful cave and, with the eyes of faith, beheld the mystery of God's change and transformation above, where he saw a virgin who was also a mother, a womb that was wider than heaven itself, and a birth that was not the beginning of God but an epiphany.
He saw the creator of all ages incarnate as an infant, God emptied of His divine form and taking on the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7).
In this cave, Luke saw the manger as the bed of mystery, the swaddling clothes as the ransom of the world, the cross as a bridge to heaven, and the tomb as the destruction of death.
He saw the wealth of the Holy Spirit, eternal and incomprehensible, and the one who holds the earth fleeing to Egypt in the flesh.
The mystery was hidden from the seraphim, but Luke theologized the wonder. Because of this, Paul, proclaiming the dignity of the evangelists, cried out: 'that now the rulers and...
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Divine Wisdom§2
2The church, situated in the heavenly realms, manifests God's manifold wisdom through its presence in the heavenly places.
God chose disciples from various backgrounds, including Peter, a fisherman, Matthew, a tax collector, Paul, a tentmaker, and Luke, a doctor, because humanity was in a state of deep error and needed guidance.
The Master's choice of disciples was not arbitrary, for humanity had fallen into the depths of error, and the devil had stolen Adam's immortality, creating a need for an evangelist who could address the issue of taxation and salvation.
Additionally, disobedience had led to humans being clothed in skin garments, necessitating a tentmaker and the grace to cut through the death of passions with the Word's sword, thereby severing the hold of sin on humanity.
As a result, the human race was afflicted with various spiritual fevers, including immorality, envy, love of money, and pleasure, as well as ignorance of idolatry and irrationality, all of which required a skilled spiritual doctor to address.
Therefore, God established Luke as a skilled doctor for humanity, and Paul acknowledges this by saying, 'Luke the doctor greets you' (Colossians 4:14), indicating that Luke is truly a spiritual doctor.
The scope of Luke's spiritual medical practice can be seen in the worldwide journey he undertook, and his pharmacy can be understood as the surgery of the Jewish languages, which he used to bring healing to those in need.
The people he visited who were sick can be seen in the neighboring heretics, who were afflicted with various spiritual diseases, and to whom Luke brought the message of salvation.
It is written, 'Do not grieve the Holy Spirit' (Ephesians 4:30), and also, 'He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father' (John 5:23), which are principles that guided Luke's ministry.
Luke's skill as a spiritual doctor is demonstrated in the divine gospel he wrote, which stands out from the narratives of the other evangelists, such as Matthew, who began his account with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, tracing his lineage back to David and Abraham, saying, 'The book of the genesis of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham' (Matthew 1:1).
In contrast, Mark preached the economy of salvation according to the flesh, saying, 'Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee' (Mark 1:9), while John proclaimed the unborn and unwitnessed birth of Jesus, emphasizing his divine nature.
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The Unattested Birth§3
3He proclaimed the co-eternal existence, and let the mouths of the slanderers be stopped, because He was born alone from alone and the heavenly birth is unattested.
Time was not present, for He is the creator of all ages.
An angel was not present, for He makes His angels spirits and His servants a flame of fire (Psalm 104:4).
Heaven was not present, for by the Word of the Lord the heavens were established (Psalm 33:6).
The sun was not present, for He is the sun of righteousness.
The moon was not present, for He established the moon and the stars.
The earth was not present, for He said, 'Let the waters be gathered and the dry land appear' (Genesis 1:9).
The heavenly birth is unattested, divine, and incomprehensible, since only the Father knows how He was born, and the Son knows how He was begotten.
John alone proclaimed the birth without beginning and the co-eternal existence.
The blessed Luke, on the other hand, narrated the whole mystery of the incarnation, from the gospel of Gabriel to the piety of the virgin, the descent of the Holy Spirit, the form of God, the passionless kenosis of the divinity, the unchangeable and unmixed incarnation, the inviolable virginity, the self-contained conception, the abundant childbirth, and the angel's announcement to the virgin, saying, 'Hail, favored one, the Lord is with you.'
This greeting is one that is fitting for no one else but the holy virgin alone.
Eve gave birth in sorrows, Sarah gave birth in labor, Rebecca gave birth in groanings, Anna gave birth in tears, and Elizabeth gave birth in corruption; all gave birth in sorrows since all conceived with corruption.
In contrast, you alone rejoice, for you are the gate of God and the cloud of mystery, the temple of the uncircumscribable.
You are the one from whom the Savior was born, who took away every tear from every face (Revelation 21:4).
You are the mother and heaven, the virgin and cloud, the virgin and throne, for you gave birth to the one who is from you and before you and with you.
As the mother of the Savior, you rejoice because your son has taken away the sorrow and pain of childbirth, as He said, 'He will wipe away every tear from their eyes' (Revelation 21:4).
You rejoice because you are the temple of the uncircumscribable, and the virgin and the throne, the one who bears the Savior and is exalted above all things.
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Incarnation of Christ§4
4You have grasped the Word and suffered the mystery, bearing in your womb one who by nature cannot be described.
The prophet Isaiah was amazed at the virgin mystery and cried out, for he had heard a voice of shouting from the city and the temple, saying, 'A voice of shouting was heard from the city, a voice of shouting was heard from the temple' (Isaiah 66:6).
This voice of shouting was heard saying that before the one in labor gave birth, before the pain of labor came, she escaped and gave birth to a male, indicating that John is called by a voice, the leaping is called a shouting, Elizabeth is named the city, and the womb is proclaimed the temple.
The mystery has all together speed and birth and virginity and wonder, because the child is not from mixture.
The holy Mary did not suffer as Eve did, for she escaped and gave birth to a male without waiting for the limits of nature, as the mystery of the economy is premature.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has opened the bosoms of hospitality, made apostles, perfected evangelists, among whom he established the blessed Luke as a rhetorician and teacher of the church.
This Luke is a thrice-blessed evangelist, a Syrian by race, a doctor by profession, a disciple of the apostles, who later followed Paul until his martyrdom and then served the Lord without distraction and preached the word.
Saint Luke, adorned with a multitude of virtues and shining with divine gifts, passed away at the age of eighty-four in Thebes, the metropolis of Boeotia, filled with the Holy Spirit.
He had written the gospel, which, through its prologue, reveals that there were earlier writings and that it was necessary to provide an accurate account of the economy for the benefit of the Greek faithful.
The holy evangelist Luke rested on October 18th, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and power, together with the immortal Father and the all-holy, life-giving Spirit, now and forever, unto the ages of ages, as we say, 'Hail, favored one, the Lord is with you' (Luke 1:28).
Amen.
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