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On the 11th of December we Commemorate
our Venerable Father Luke the New Stylite.
Verses
A pillar bore Luke on high,
With his nous towards God, Luke runs.
With his nous towards God, Luke runs.
He lived during the reigns of the emperors Romanos the Lekapenos and Elder and Constantine Porphyrogennetos his son-in-law, the son of Leo the Wise, at the time when Theophylaktos was Patriarch, who was the legitimate son of Romanos, in the year 919, having origins in the Eastern theme, and was the son of Christopher and Kalee. When, therefore, at that time as the war with the Bulgarians was raging, then the orders of the emperor suffered this Saint to go to war. As the war developed, a large number of men fell, but he was redeemed by divine Providence. For this reason he became a Monk. And having excelled in asceticism, he was ordained a Presbyter, and he wore heavy chains to utterly subdue his body. He fasted six days out of the week, and ate nothing else except the offering bread (prosphoron) brought to him and raw cabbage. Then he ascended a pillar, where he lived for three years. Because he heard the divine voice calling, he was persuaded by God's call and went to Olympus. And he put in his mouth a stone, like a bridle, to prevent him from speaking. From there he returned to Constantinople, and from there to Chalcedon, where he again ascended another pillar, and worked a large number of miracles. In this way he lived forty-five years on the pillar, and departed to the Lord.
