Nowadays, miracles arising from religious shrines are subject to comprehensive study. Myrrh and blood are studied by mass spectrometric analysis, the phenomenon of holy water has also been given some kind of scientific explanation... But how to explain the miracles that happen from touching holy relics or a miraculous icon? There is no evidence other than the testimony of the benefited person himself, but how many people believe such stories? Those who doubt will continue to doubt, those who are indifferent will remain indifferent, but someone, perhaps, will sigh from the depths of their hearts and offer their prayers to the saint. And who knows, maybe a miracle will descend on him...
Brief Life
Read the main article about the life of St. Luke of Crimea.
Brief biography of Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky
The future Archbishop Luka (in the world Valentin Feliksovich Voino-Yasenetsky) was born on April 27, 1877 in a large family in Kerch. His father was a pharmacist who professed Catholicism, but was quite peaceful towards the Orthodox views reigning among his household.
Interesting fact
From an early age, Valentin gravitated towards painting, even studied for several years in Munich to become an artist, but suddenly suddenly changed his hobbies.
“A short hesitation ended in the decision that I do not have the right to do what I like, but I am obliged to do what is useful for suffering people,” this is how the young man explained his admission to the Faculty of Medicine at Kyiv University.
Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky
The studies went brilliantly. Students and teachers unanimously predicted a scientific career and a career as a professor for him. However, Valentin surprised everyone here: he expressed a desire to work as a simple zemstvo doctor.
Later in his memoirs, Saint Luke will write:
“I was offended that they did not understand me at all, because I studied medicine with the sole purpose of being a village, peasant doctor all my life, helping poor people.”
The feat of life of a holy doctor
Immediately after university, the young practitioner had the opportunity to take part in the Russo-Japanese War - as the head of surgery at a military hospital in Chita. Here Valentin met his future wife, sister of mercy Anna Vasilievna Lanskaya. She was a person of excellent spiritual qualities, but terribly jealous. Still, their marriage turned out to be successful. The couple lived together for 15 years, giving birth to four children.
Anna Vasilievna Voino-Yasenetskaya (Lanskaya), wife of the future saint
In those years, the Voino-Yasenetsky family often wandered from place to place - Valentin embodied the dream of serving people as a “village” doctor. In the Kursk province, a young doctor, in a sense, became a victim of his own brilliant talents. Having heard about a brilliant surgeon who restored sight to the blind and made the crippled able to work again, people flocked to him not only from other districts, but also from the neighboring province. They had to operate from nine in the morning until the evening, and often the hospital did not have enough beds, and the merciful doctor accommodated patients in his own home.
Useful materials
In 1909, Voino-Yasenetsky received the position of chief physician in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. Despite the fact that the hospital was located in the city center and not in the middle of nowhere, it was not supplied with electricity or running water. Under these unimaginable conditions, the surgeon managed to perform more than a thousand inpatient and outpatient operations per year. When the First World War began, the hospital partly turned into a military hospital: soldiers with amputations lay in the beds and nearby civilians with hernias, appendicitis and purulent fractures. At this time, Voino-Yasenetsky found his experience in performing surgical interventions under local anesthesia useful.
While still in the Kursk province, the surgeon began working on a dissertation on so-called regional anesthesia, the idea of which found a lively response among his colleagues. In those years, general anesthesia often caused the death of a patient lying under the surgeon’s knife, and therefore there was an urgent need to improve anesthesia techniques. The method developed by Voino-Yasenetsky minimized the effects of anesthesia, but required precision - with this type of anesthesia, injections are given in strictly defined areas of the body - along the nerve trunks. Later, for the development of new technology in the field of anesthesia, the archbishop will receive the degree of Candidate of Medical Sciences, and for the book published on this topic he will be awarded a prize from the University of Warsaw.
Saint Luke (left) in the operating room
Meanwhile, Valentin Feliksovich’s personal life was overshadowed by his wife’s illness. The surgeon diagnosed his wife with pulmonary tuberculosis and jumped at the opportunity to move to Tashkent. He hoped that climate change would slow down the development of the disease. Alas, this did not happen, and two years later, in 1919, Anna Vasilievna Voino-Yasenetskaya died. After her death, the future archbishop immersed himself even more in his work. Combining the position of chief administrator of a city hospital and head of the medical department of Tashkent University, Valentin Feliksovich took an active part in church congresses and meetings. Once during such a congress, an event occurred that radically changed the life of a talented surgeon. After another heated speech about the fate of the Orthodox Church, Bishop Innocent approached the surgeon and said: “Doctor, you need to be a priest!” To this Voino-Yasenetsky responded unexpectedly and simply: “Okay, Vladyko! I will be a priest if it pleases God!”
"I fell in love with suffering..."
After the first arrest. On May 6, 1930, Vladyka was arrested and on May 15, 1931, after a year in prison, he was sentenced (without trial); exile for three years in Arkhangelsk
This is the name of the autobiography of St. Luke. During his life, from his monastic tonsure to his death, he suffered a lot of physical and mental torment. Arrests, three exiles - a total of 11 years in prisons and camps. The most severe sanction is exile to the Arctic Circle. This was truly a severe test of the priest's faith. At some point, when the repression by the authorities finally stopped, Bishop Luke asked to retire. He wanted to engage exclusively in medical practice. He stopped serving in the church, began to wear civilian clothes, and even received a position as a consultant in one of the hospitals in Uzbekistan... From then on, his brilliant surgeon’s hand, which knew no mistakes, began to tremble.
He moved from place to place, operations were unsuccessful, it seemed that God's grace had abandoned him. One day the saint had a terrible dream.
“I dreamed that I was in a small empty church, in which only the altar was brightly lit. In the church, not far from the altar, against the wall there is a shrine of some saint, covered with a heavy wooden lid. In the altar, a wide board is placed on the throne, and on it lies a naked human corpse. On the sides and behind the throne stand students and doctors smoking cigarettes, and I lecture them on anatomy on a corpse. Suddenly I flinch from a heavy knock and, turning around, I see that the lid has fallen from the saint’s shrine, he sat down in the coffin and, turning, looks at me with a silent reproach... I woke up with horror..."
Subsequently, Bishop Luke combined church ministry with work in hospitals.
26
May
1946
By decree of the patriarch, Saint Luke was appointed archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea. It was in Simferopol that the last years of the surgeon and priest passed.
Saint Luke ended his earthly journey on June 11, 1961. In 1995 he was canonized as a locally revered saint, and in 2000 he was canonized among the host of new martyrs and confessors of Russia. The relics of the saint are located in the Holy Trinity Convent of the city of Simferopol.
Luke of Crimea - icon
In the holy image of Luke, he stands with his hand raised, dressed in a robe, thereby blessing the believers. Luke of Simferopol is sometimes depicted with a book sitting at a table. The icon of St. Luke is placed in hospitals so that the sick can pray for healing. Its significance for believers is very great. Luka Krymsky became a Russian miracle worker, helping in all life’s difficulties.
Healings through the prayers of the saint today
The Holy Trinity Cathedral, better known among the local population as “that temple in the center with the blue domes,” is quiet and deserted. Neither crowds of pilgrims wanting to venerate the holy relics of Luke of Crimea, nor any special excitement around his icon. The shrine of the confessor is in its place, to the left of the Royal Doors. It is decorated with silver - a gift from the Greek Orthodox Church and evidence that the saint is revered and loved throughout the Orthodox world. The church is crowded only on Sundays and holidays; it is all the more surprising how many miracles occur that were performed through the prayers of the saint and happened to residents of different countries.
Holy Trinity Cathedral. Simferopol
Nazar's grown fingers
This story happened in 2001. Nazar Stadnichenko was then in the fifth grade of a music school and already knew for sure that he wanted to enter the Conservatory and become a pianist. Once in Feodosia, where he was visiting his grandmother, the boy accidentally hit his hand on the door. The iron lock completely crushed the phalanges of two fingers - only bleeding stumps remained from them. There was nothing to sew on, and the surgeon simply sutured what was left of the fingers. For the boy and his family, the misfortune was a real blow. Later in the interview, Nazar admits that his first thought was: “How will I play the piano?” The pain in the crippled hand was terrible, and the boy’s mother, on the advice of one woman, took her son to Simferopol, to the relics of St. Luke. They bought oil infused with the relics and anointed Nazar’s fingers. On the third dressing, the boy’s doctor said in surprise:
“I don’t know and can’t understand what it is, but his bone begins to grow, a nail appears. If the nail phalanx remained, the nail could grow, but the bone cannot grow.”
Incredibly, after three weeks Nazar grew new fingers! And without any flaw! Less than a year later, the boy took second place in the “North Sea Undertakings” piano competition. The winner's diploma, medical certificates and a photograph of Nazar, in which he holds the icon with his healed hand, are kept in the Holy Trinity Convent as a sign of the greatest miracle performed at the intercession of St. Luke.
"Post-mortem operations" of St. Luke
Since during his lifetime the archbishop became famous as a talented surgeon, people who are about to undergo surgery often resort to his help and prayers. Sometimes Saint Luke is “present” at operations personally.
Polyxena P. from Nicosia, in Cyprus, always honored the memory of the Crimean saint. She prayed to him on the eve of the operation - she had to remove a polyp in her nose. Already lying on the surgeon’s table, the woman noticed that there was no doctor among those present. When asked where he was, she was told that the doctor’s mother had died. Already partially immersed in anesthesia, Polixena experienced terrible anxiety: how to trust someone unfamiliar? Yes, here is a stranger - a beard with a shovel. Just like the beloved Luke of Crimea on the icons. For some reason this circumstance calmed the woman, and she fell asleep. Waking up from anesthesia, Polixena instantly remembered the bearded doctor and began to torture the medical staff: who performed the operation? But I was able to see the doctor only after 15 days, when it was time to remove the stitches. Have you shaved? - Polixena asked first of all when the young exulap appeared before her eyes. The doctor was at first confused, and then laughed and replied that he had never worn a beard.
“Then I realized that St. Luke was with me in the operating room, I recognized him by his beard and thanked him with all my heart and glorified God.”
The appearance of a saint in a clinic
Even more incredible is the story that happened to a little resident of Athens. As it happens, the boy needed a high-tech operation that could not be performed at home. The parents were advised to go to Germany. Necessary means necessary. Together with the family, their spiritual shepherd, Father Nektarios, went to Germany, and especially prayed to St. Luke. Operation was successfully completed. However, German surgeons expressed bewilderment: why contact them if they themselves have such specialists. What are they?.. It turned out that an unknown elderly gentleman in an old-style medical gown and a long gray beard was present in the operating room. Throughout the entire operation, he gave valuable advice and instructions, amazing the German doctors with his professionalism. “Didn’t he come with you?” - they asked Father Nektary, noticing his puzzled look.
Having asked for the registration log, the priest saw that among the names of foreign specialists there was an inscription in Russian letters written in red felt-tip pen: “Archbishop Luka.”
The bone healed in a few days
The eight-year-old son of Nikolai A., a doctor from Veria, broke his arm. Very unfortunate. According to medical forecasts, he was expected to undergo surgery, long painful rehabilitation and, ultimately, disability. The bone, split along its entire length, was connected only by a tightly applied splint, but it could not completely immobilize the arm. The child suffered from severe acute pain. Nicholas and his wife were believers, and they learned about Saint Luke of Crimea from one of their friends. The whole family decided to go to Crimea, to the monastery where the relics of the saint resided. Since the boy had to undergo an emergency operation, they decided not to delay the trip. We flew to Simferopol and first of all went to the temple. While bowing, the boy suddenly felt some movement under the bandage. It seemed that something was moving there, as if someone had decided to restore order to the bones and muscles. As usual, the parents did not attach any importance to the boy’s words. However, upon returning to Greece, a shock awaited them: new X-rays showed no fracture! The doctors kept repeating only one thing: with such fractures, the bones do not recover on their own; they need to be held together with metal. But the fact was clear - treatment was no longer required.
Miraculous relief from severe disorders in cerebral palsy
Anna has cerebral palsy. With this diagnosis, they move with difficulty - on half-bent legs. In 1998, the girl stopped walking altogether. Anna's mother, Larisa, claims that this is the result of an ineptly applied plaster cast. The daughter’s “knees were very sore, they were hot and swollen,” Larisa said. And a week later, on x-rays, doctors saw loss of bone tissue - osteoporosis. The bone was collapsing, and to stop resorption, the girl was prescribed two intensive courses of therapy at the city children's hospital. The treatment was unsuccessful. Then Larisa decided to take the girl to a sanatorium in Evpatoria. There was little hope that Anna would undergo surgery on her leg muscles, and the girl would learn to move, at least with outside help. As a result of a new examination, doctors diagnosed subluxations of the hip joints. The mother’s grief knew no bounds, because in this case the girl was awaiting not a planned muscle operation, but a very complex bone operation and a year in a cast! On Palm Sunday, Larisa and her daughter took a bus to Simferopol. They knew that in the center of the city there was a temple in which the relics of St. Luke, who became famous during his lifetime as an excellent surgeon and diagnostician, rest. We ordered a prayer service, bought oil and prayed for a long time. On Monday, the mother insisted that the girl be taken again. No dislocations were found on them anymore. “Moreover, when the knees were x-rayed, it turned out that they were completely healthy! – Larisa exclaims. “You don’t have osteoporosis and, apparently, you never have,” the doctor told her confidently. And only the previous photographs proved the opposite”... The operation on the girl’s leg muscles was nevertheless carried out and quite successfully. Now Anna can walk again, but without bending her knees, on completely straight legs...
Having visited the Holy Trinity Convent and venerated the relics of St. Luke, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' said the following:
“He truly was a marvelous archpastor, combining service to the Church and service to science... It would seem that external circumstances suppressed him, but he never broke under this pressure and retained his inner strength, because this strength was in the Orthodox faith. He felt the presence of the Lord in his life and therefore was not afraid of anything, was not afraid of anything, did not shy away from anything, but courageously, with love for people and in peace, he carried out his archpastoral service. Today St. Luke is a great and bright example for many of us.”
A miracle is overcoming the usual physical laws. That's why it's so hard to believe in him. But it is precisely on faith, without seeking evidence, that religion is based, for the Savior said: “According to your faith, be it done to you.” And what is a miracle but an unpaid credit of trust in a saint of God? Of course, we can talk about the nature of a miracle for a long time, but why? It is better to once again turn to stories that testify that holy shepherds do not forget about their flock and, like St. Luke, invisibly do good among people, leaving very material evidence of their presence in this world.
Author: Galina Bocharova.
Luke Krymsky - instructions
Over the years of his life, Luka Voino-Yasenetsky wrote many works in the field of medicine and theology. They contain a lot of wisdom and instructions that are still relevant today. Here are some excerpts from them:
- This is how he wrote about humility: we must evaluate and measure ourselves by our faith. Our worth is measured only by the degree of our faith. Everything perishes, but only our faith will forever shine before God.
- About prayer, he said that a person asking God for help should be like a small child reaching out to his mother for help.
Texts in Russian
Use the following texts.
Prayers
“O all-blessed confessor, our holy saint Luke, great saint of Christ. With tenderness, we bend the knee of our hearts, and falling to the race of your honest and multi-healing relics, like the children of our father, we pray to you with all diligence: hear us sinners and bring our prayer to the merciful and humane God, to whom you now stand in the joy of the saints and with the faces of an angel. We believe that you love us with the same love that you loved all your neighbors while you were on earth. Ask Christ our God to confirm His children in the spirit of right faith and piety: to the shepherds to give holy zeal and care for the salvation of the people entrusted to them: to observe the right of believers, to strengthen the weak and infirm in the faith, to instruct the ignorant, to reprove the contrary. Give us all a gift that is useful to everyone, and everything that is useful for temporary life and eternal salvation. Strengthening our cities, fruitful lands, deliverance from famine and destruction. Comfort for the grieving, healing for the ailing, return to the path of truth for those who have gone astray, blessing from a parent, upbringing and teaching for a child in the Passion of the Lord, help and intercession for the orphaned and needy. Grant us all your archpastoral blessing, so that if we have such a prayerful intercession, we will get rid of the wiles of the evil one and avoid all enmity and disorder, heresies and schisms. Guide us on the path leading to the villages of the righteous and pray for us to the omnipotent God, in eternal life we will be worthy with you to constantly glorify the Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen".
Troparion, kontakion, magnification
“To the proclaimer of the path of salvation, / confessor and archpastor of the Crimean land, / true keeper of fatherly traditions, / unshakable pillar of Orthodoxy, teacher, / godly physician, Saint Luke, / constantly pray to Christ the Savior / to grant the unshakable faith to the Orthodox // both salvation and great mercy .
Like an all-bright star, with shining virtues, / you were a saint, / you created a soul equal to the angel, / for this sake you were honored with the rank of sainthood, / and in exile you suffered a lot from the godless / and remained unshakable in faith, / with medical wisdom you healed many . / Moreover, now your honorable body, wondrously found from the bowels of the earth, / the Lord glorify, / let all the faithful cry out to you: / Rejoice, Father Saint Luke, / praise and affirmation of the Crimean lands.”
Canon
The canon to Confessor Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea consists of nine songs.
Real examples of miracles
Simferopol St. Luke distinguished himself by performing many miracles. Among them, the famous ones are associated with:
- healing from cancer;
- rapid healing of wounds;
- salvation from chronic diseases.
Luka and many children received him. The biographies say that the guys never ran away, but carried out all the orders of the Saint.
What are they asking for?
People turn to the Saint with various requests.
Blessing for parents
Luka helps almost everyone, but his field of activity is primarily related to the medical field. If the parents are already adults and experiencing health difficulties, then the children can ask St. Luke for recovery or relief from the torment they are experiencing. Prayer to Luke:
“O all-blessed confessor and saint of God, our Father Luke. In the tenderness of our hearts, we mentally fall to your holy relics, and as our father we ask you to hear us sinners and bring our prayer to the Throne of God. Pray to him to strengthen us in faith and piety, to grant us zeal and wisdom to the shepherds who are entrusted with the salvation of human souls, and to send down to everyone what will serve him for good on the paths of this temporary and fleeting life.
We especially ask you to ask the Lord for deliverance from ailments and bitter diseases for us, our loved ones and all His other children. Having inclined His ear to your all-merciful intercession, may it send down relief to all the sick and raise them from the bed of suffering.
Oh, Saint of God, Father Luke. Give us your archpastoral blessing, and, guarded by your prayerful intercession, we will get rid of the wiles of the evil one, we will avoid mutual hostility, schisms and disturbances in life. Guide us on the path of the righteous, and pray to Almighty God for us. Yes, in eternal life we will be honored to glorify with you the Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity - the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen".
In difficult moments of life
In difficult moments of life, it would not be a bad idea to turn to Luke, especially if the problems are related to health. In this case, it is advisable to read the prayer not only to the person himself, but also to his relatives (the icon should be attached).
About children's health
The strongest protection for a child is the prayer said by his mother to Luke. In order for the prayer to begin to work faster, you need to place a candle near the sick child at the head of the bed, and place an image of a saint behind him. After this, a prayer to Luke is read every evening.
Happiness in your personal life
Happiness in personal life can be different: someone wants to get married, others want to give birth to a child, and still others want to get rid of problems with their mother-in-law. There is no difference, because Luke will help everyone. The main thing is to ask him about it correctly. First you need to go through the rite of absolution. After this, you can not only resort to bad habits, but also make your life as humble as possible. The prayer is read every day up to forty times in front of the icon of Luke.
Before surgery
There are always doubts and fears before an operation, because it is a risky situation, even if there are guarantees of success. In this situation they pray to Luke, and it is important:
- before the operation, pray, light three candles for health (if the patient cannot do this, then his closest relative does it);
- observe strict church fasting for three days, if permitted by medical practice;
- repeat the prayer to Luke three days before the operation forty times.
If the patient himself is weak and cannot say the prayer to Luke, then his relatives can do this for him.
Healing
The prayer to Luke can also be said at home. You will need to light 12 church candles and place a glass of holy water in the middle. Before each reading of the prayer, it is necessary to cross yourself and take a sip of water. Read until complete recovery from the disease.
Choice of profession
Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky dreamed of becoming an artist and, having already passed his exams brilliantly, changed his mind.
The line from the Bible “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” prompted him to think about the benefits of his chosen profession and pushed him to consciously choose to become a doctor. It seems that Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky was looking for only difficulties all his life:
- abandoned the profession of an artist (he painted only one painting - a portrait of his beloved wife, who died early from tuberculosis);
- ruined his doctor's career by refusing to live and work for big money in the capital. He went into the wilderness to work for a pittance as a zemstvo doctor, because he believed that this was the only way he could help people;
- constantly spoiled relations with the authorities;
- He was ordained a priest during the years of persecution of the church (1921), which at that time was equivalent to suicide.
Oil
Oil consecrated on the relics of St. Luke can be purchased in any Orthodox church and used as an ambulance in the treatment of absolutely any type of disease or as an addition to treatment.
Oil from the relics of St. Luke
But still, it is worth considering that oil treatment is good, but you cannot refuse examination and treatment by professionals. After all, during his lifetime, Luke treated with the cross, prayer and medical methods, since he himself was a doctor. And in some cases, unfortunately, oil alone cannot help.
