The "Ignorant and Boorish Saint" Luke of Steirion (Photios Kontoglou)

 By Photios Kontoglou

On February 7, the memory of Saint Luke of Steirion is celebrated. The monastery that honors his name is located near the village of Steiri and hence he is called Saint Luke of Steirion or the New, to set him apart from Luke the Evangelist, who lived 890 years earlier. This monastery is famous and its church is the largest of those that have survived from that time, decorated with mosaics and colored marbles. One goes to the monastery from Distomo. It is built in a beautiful place, near the mountain that was called in ancient times Elikonas and today is called Paliovouna.

The Incorrupt Relics of Venerable Luke of Steirion (Hosios Loukas)

According to the tradition of the Monastery of Hosios Loukas, it was said that the relics of Venerable Luke had been taken from his monastery during the 13th century by the Crusaders and were brought to the Vatican. They later surfaced in Venice accompanied by the following legend: when the Turks conquered Boeotia in 1460, a group of monks, carrying the relics of the Saint, found refuge on the island of Lefkada. After the island fell to the Turks, the relics were transported to Bosnia. In July 1463, Bosnia also fell to the Turks and Franciscan monks transported the holy relics to Venice.

Translation of the Sacred Relics of Saint Luke of Steirion

Translation of the Relic of Hosios Loukas (Feast Day - May 3)

Our Venerable Father Luke of Steirion (Hosios Loukas) reposed in his cell at Mount Steirion in Thebes of Boeotia in 953, and his primary feast is celebrated on February 7th. Due to the numerous miracles at his grave following his repose, the caretakers decided to build other cells and a church over it, making his cell its crypt. The Saint's remains were placed in a new church replacing this original one built by an abbot named Philotheos.

Hosios Loukas Resource Page

St. Luke the Wonderworker (Feast Day - February 7)

Verses

Luke filled, Greece with miracles,
As dead in no wise, did he cease his miracles.

 

Saint Luke the New of Mount Steirion (+ 953) 

 

The "Ignorant and Boorish Saint" Luke of Steirion (Photios Kontoglou)

  

Saint Luke of Mount Steirion as a Model for our Lives 

 

February: Day 7: Venerable Luke of Greece

 

The Childhood Fasting of Hosios Loukas

 

Translation of the Sacred Relics of Saint Luke of Steirion 

 

History of the Return of the Relics of Hosios Loukas from Venice to His Monastery in 1986

The Incorrupt Relics of Venerable Luke of Steirion (Hosios Loukas) 

 

Documentaries of the Monastery of Hosios Loukas in Boeotia 

 

Hosios Loukas as a Victory Church 

 

Synaxis of All Saints of Boeotia

Documentaries of the Monastery of Hosios Loukas in Boeotia

Hosios Loukas as a Victory Church

Hosios Loukas as a Victory Church

Carolyn L. Connor

(Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 33:3, 1992, Fall)

OVER THE PAST CENTURY the Byzantine monastery of Hosios Loukas near Delphi in central Greece has fascinated and perplexed scholars, who have recognized in it the outstanding preserved examples of middle-Byzantine architecture and monumental decoration. The great Katholikon of the monastery, sheltering the tomb of Saint Loukas in the crypt at the center of the complex, is joined at its northeast corner to another smaller church, the Theotokos. Other surviving structures include cells, towers, a warming house, and refectory, recently restored by the Greek Archaeological Service. The monastery is probably best known for the program of mosaics and frescoes in the Katholikon, unsurpassed in their quality, quantity, and fine state of preservation. Wall surfaces gleam with some 160 portraits of saints, twenty narrative and hieratic compositions, and a proliferation of polychrome marble ornament. Hosios Loukas represents the most complete and therefore, one could claim, the most important monastic ensemble of medieval Byzantium.

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