Sveti apostol Luka (Heiliger Apostel Lukas) – Lučindan am 31. Oktober - svetazvezda

Sveti apostol Luka (Holy Apostle Luke) – Lučindan on October 31

On October 31 (October 18 according to the Julian calendar), the Serbian Orthodox Church commemorates Sveti apostol i jevanđelist Luka (the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke). Among the people, the day is called Lučindan. Sveti Luka wrote the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, he was a physician and, according to tradition, the first iconographer of the Church. Lučindan is a fixed feast and falls on the same date every year. Many Serbian families celebrate it as their Krsna Slava. On the same day, the Church also commemorates Sveti Petar Cetinjski.

Who Was Sveti Luka?

Sveti Luka came from Antioch in Syria. He was Greek, not a Christian before his baptism, highly educated and a physician by profession. The Church counts him among the Seventy Apostles. He accompanied the Apostle Pavle (Paul) on his second and third missionary journeys and stayed with him all the way to Rome. Pavle mentions him in his letters with great warmth:

Поздравља вас Лука, лекар љубљени.
Luke, the beloved physician, greets you.
– Колошанима 4,14

When almost all of his companions had left Pavle during his imprisonment, Luka remained at his side:

Лука је сам са мном.
Only Luke is with me.
– 2. Тимотеју 4,11

The Evangelist of the Mother of God

The Gospel according to Luka tells of the childhood of Isus Hristos in more detail than any other: of the Annunciation to the Mother of God, her visit to Jelisaveta (Elizabeth) and the birth in Bethlehem. In the Acts of the Apostles, Luka describes how the young Church grew after the descent of the Holy Spirit and how the faith spread from Jerusalem all the way to Rome.

Even in old age, Sveti Luka never stopped writing, travelling and preaching. According to tradition, he died as a martyr for the faith in Thebes at the age of 84. At the time of Emperor Konstancije (Constantius), his relics were transferred to Constantinople.

The First Iconographer

The Church venerates Sveti Luka as the founder of Christian iconography. According to tradition, he knew the Bogorodica (Mother of God) personally and painted three icons of her, which are said to come closest to her true appearance. He also painted the Apostles Petar and Pavle. A well-known depiction is the icon within the icon: Sveti Luka sits at his easel and paints the Mother of God. If you would like to learn more about what the individual depictions on icons mean, read our article Icons in the Serbian Orthodox Faith.

Sveti Luka in Smederevo

Few people know how closely Sveti Luka is connected to Serbian history. Despot Đurađ Branković ransomed the relics of the Apostle from the Ottomans for thirty thousand gold ducats. On January 12, 1453, they were brought from Rogos in Epirus to the Serbian capital Smederevo, into the newly built Blagoveštenje Church (Church of the Annunciation), and laid to the right of the altar doors. The Despot believed that the Apostle would protect Serbia in difficult times. Smederevo became known at that time as a place of many healings.

The relics rested in Smederevo for six years, until the city fell in 1459. The church in which they lay has not been found to this day. The Serbian Orthodox Church still preserves parts of the relics, among other places in the Cetinje Monastery in the reliquary of Sveti Petar Cetinjski. The hospital in Smederevo still bears the name of the saint today. In Kupinovo in Srem stands the Church of Sveti Luka, built by the Brankovići in the middle of the 15th century. It is the oldest preserved Orthodox church in Vojvodina.

Lučindan as a Slava

Lučindan is a common Krsna Slava of Serbian families, from Vojvodina to Kosovo i Metohija. In Velika Hoča, many families celebrate Sveti Luka as their Slava, and a church dedicated to him stands in the village. In Vitomirica near Peć, a church of Sveti Luka was built in 1912 because the village had been liberated on a Lučindan from centuries of Ottoman rule. On the feast day, the family gathers for the Liturgy, the slavski kolač is cut, the Slava candle burns, and the family honors its patron saint with prayer and hospitality. If the Slava falls on a Wednesday or Friday, it is a fasting day. Learn more about the Slava in our article What Is the Slava?

Sveti Luka is regarded as the protector of physicians, pharmacists and hospitals, as well as of painters and iconographers. Church educational institutions also celebrate him as their Slava, including the Academy of the Serbian Orthodox Church for Fine Arts and Conservation.

Customs and Folk Beliefs

In folk belief, winter begins with Lučindan. Well-known sayings are Ide Luka, eto vuka (Here comes Luka, here comes the wolf) and Sveti Luka, sneg do kuka (Sveti Luka, snow up to the hips). In rural areas, people wrapped threads around the sheep pens so that the wolves would not attack the livestock. In southern Serbia, people predicted from the first guest to enter the house on Lučindan what the winter and the coming year would be like. In Montenegro it is said that a rainbow in the sky is the belt of Sveti Luka and a sign that he is praying to God for us.

Above all, one should not be angry, impatient or quarrelsome on this day. Sveti Luka was a gentle and calm man who always helped people.

Lučindan in the Diaspora

For Serbs abroad, Lučindan falls on the same day as Halloween. While pumpkins and masks dominate the streets outside, in many Serbian homes in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, America and Australia the Slava candle burns that evening before the icon of the Apostle. For these families, October 31 becomes a day on which they consciously pass on their faith and their heritage.

A Feast for Body and Soul

As a physician, Sveti Luka healed the body, and as an evangelist, the soul. With his brush he gave the Church the face of the Mother of God, with his pen the Gospel that we still read today. Lučindan reminds us that every gift God gives a person can bear fruit in His service.

For the Slava and the Home

For families who celebrate Lučindan and for all who venerate Sveti Luka:

Svetazvezda Icon Sveti Luka, in five sizes, also framed
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Svetazvezda Icon Sveti apostol Luka, 15 × 11.5 cm
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Svetazvezda framed icon in DIN A4 format, variant Sveti Apostol Luka
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Icon Sveti Luka, 20 × 14.5 cm
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Icon Sveti Luka, 14 × 10.5 cm
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Icon Sveti Luka, 16 × 11.5 cm
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Diptych Presveta Bogorodica – Sveti Luka
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Modlice for the slavski kolač, 12-piece set Sveti Luka
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Modlica for the slavski kolač, single icon Sveti Luka
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Sveti Luka candle
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Beeswax Slava candle with saint image, variant Sveti Luka
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Свети апостоле и јеванђелисте Лука, моли Бога за нас.
Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luka, pray to God for us.

Срећна слава свима који славе Лучиндан!
A happy Slava to all who celebrate Lučindan!

Sources

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