On the 11th of June, we honor the memory of St. Luke of Simferopol (Crimea).

Saint Luke the surgeon, or Saint Luke of Simferopol , is a Saint of our time and a doctor who performed the first organ transplant which was kept a secret because of his Christian faith.

Saint Luke, Bishop of Simferopol and Crimea, the Blessed Surgeon, was born Valentin Felixovich Voino-Yasenetsky (Валентин Феликсович Войно-Ясенецкий, polish spelling Wojno-Jasieniecki; April 14, 1877 and died June 11, 1961. Doctor of Medicine, Professor, and State Prize winner, since 1944 he was the Archbishop of Tambov and Michurinsk, and later of Simferopol and the Crimea. While he was serving the church as an Archbishop, he was also practicing as a surgeon and taught and published many books and articles on regional anesthesia and surgery. He is now known to be a world-famous pioneering surgeon.

In November of 1995 he was announced as a Saint by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and was officially glorified by the Patriarchate of Russia May 25, 1996. He is commemorated by the church June 11 n.s. / May 29 o.s. the anniversary of his falling asleep in the Lord.

Ordination and Persecution

Despite the dangers of the Lenin regime he fearlessly attended theological discussions arranged by Archpriest Mikhail Andeev. During this period when clergymen and pious people would prove their faith in blood, providence led the Archpriest to invite Valentine to the priesthood. Thus in 1921 at the age of 44 Valentine was ordained a priest. For two years, this exceptional individual was active not only in his pastoral work but in public and scientific activity.

Eventually, Fr. Valentine was arrested and put on trial, falsely accused of giving inappropriate surgical care to injured Red Army soldiers. At his trial in his characteristic fearless way, he denounced the prosecutor’s claims by explaining:

“I cut people to save them. You, Mr. Public Prosecutor, why do you cut their heads off?”

Certainly, the charges were never proven but since the Party had to be infallible Fr. Valentine was convicted to sixteen years imprisonment.

Doctor, Scientist, Bishop, Imprisonments

Noting Fr. Valentine’s spiritual gifts, prior to his departure from Tashkent (arrest and exile to Siberia), in 1923 Bishop of Ufa Andrew (Ukhtomsky) administered monastic tonsure and facilitated his consecration as Bishop.^{[note 2]} Almost immediately Saint Luke was sent to the first of his three imprisonments.

Due to his talent as a surgeon, there would always be placement at a remote medical facility where the attending colleagues would be astounded that a professor with such impeccable academic credentials would be subservient to the whims of the local civil authorities. Despite the criticisms of lesser surgeons Saint Luke would practice his medical skills. With the grace of God, he amazed his colleagues with excellent medical outcomes in ophthalmologic and surgical cases that others deemed incurable.

In 1926, Bishop Luke returned to Tashkent, but in 1930 was again arrested and sentenced to three years of exile. Upon his release, he once again returned to Tashkent, and spent his time in medical practice. As a physician and professor, he trained many students and colleagues in the art of surgery, and as a scientist, he found the time to publish many articles. A fruit of this work was the appearance in 1934 of his book “Notes on Purulent Surgery“,^{[note 3]} which laid the foundation for an entire medical specialty. For that work, Bishop Luke was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medical Science in 1936, and his work continues to be used in medicine to this day. This monograph and the subsequent revisions was the “gold standard” reference for his colleagues at the time.

As a capable hierarch he strengthened the parishes and supported priests and church councils. As Saint Luke’s surgical and pastoral popularity would increase, the communist authorities would transfer him. When blatant injustices would be committed against Christians and fellow political prisoners he would initiate hunger strikes.

In 1937, Vladyka was arrested and spent more than two difficult years undergoing tortuous interrogation and humiliation.^{[note 4]} Nonetheless, resting his hope in the Lord, he courageously endured those trials, not only refusing to agree to false accusations against him, but engaging in active protests – refusing to eat, and sending complaints to the highest authorities against the prosecutors’ illegal actions. He would say to his fellow prisoners,

“They demand that I remove my ryassa. I will never do so. It, my ryassa, will be with me to my very death… I help people as a physician, and I help them as a servant of the Church….”

The people who met him during his ordeals bore witness to his true character. As a physician he was Unmercenary and never asked for money treating all his patients with immense love. He shared his patients’ pain and anguish for he saw each person as an image of God, unique and unrepeatable.

In 1940, Bishop Luke was sentenced to five years of exile in the Krasnoyarsk area. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (World War II), Bishop Luke offered the authorities his services as a doctor, and in 1941 was appointed consultant to the hospitals of Krasnoyarsk.

In 1942, Vladyka was elevated to the rank of Archbishop and appointed to the Krasnoyarsk kathedra, which at the time did not have a single church. Through Archbishop Luke’s efforts, in 1943 a church was opened in a suburb of Krasnoyarsk. He wrote to Patriarch Sergius:

“All of Eastern Siberia, from Krasnoyarsk to the Pacific Ocean, gave no sign of church life…If churches in various parts of the Krasnoyarsk area are not opened in the near future, there is a risk that the people will lapse into religious savagery….”

In 1944, the archbishop was appointed to the kathedra in Tambov.

In 1946, for outstanding scientific work in the area of medicine, he was awarded the “Stalin Award” for all his scientific publications. He donated almost all of the money to help children who had suffered as a result of the War.

Also in 1946 Vladyka was appointed to the kathedra of Crimea, where at first he combined archpastoral service with medical assistance to the people, but later dedicated himself to Church service, zealously working to build up Christ’s vineyard, something that, under the conditions of life under Communist authorities, then demanded great courage and faith.

As a Bishop he preached incessantly not only about the need to live Orthodoxy but against the perils of the “Living Church”. The latter was a defiled heretical sect propagated by the communist regime. He is credited with 1250 sermons over 38 years of priesthood and episcopal service, of which 750 are preserved in twelve volumes. When he practiced surgery from this point on, he wore his bishop’s cassock in the operating room and refused to perform surgery without an icon.

As the regimes of Lenin, Stalin, and Khrushchev came and went, Saint Luke’s persecutions and frequent transfers only increased his popularity. Despite public slander, he was known as an unselfish, loving, physician and spiritual father. This posed a great propaganda threat to each regime and towards the end of his life Saint Luke was restricted in his travels and his medical responsibilities to remedial services. This also was in God’s plan, as towards the end of his life Saint Luke lost his vision to glaucoma. He could now devote his time exclusively to matters of faith. He performed many healing miracles and had many spiritual children.

In his wise words :

“The rose does not speak but puts forth a strong fragrance. We too, should put forth fragrance, pour forth spiritual fragrance, the fragrance of Christ. The fragrance of our deeds should be heard from far around: good, pure, and righteous deeds, full of love. Only thus can the Kingdom of God appear within our hearts, appearing not through words, but with power. Amen.”

-Humiliation Cures The Proud And Replaces Any Excess With Humility

Proud people belittle others because they have no real value and they try with this disparaging behavior of theirs to cover the impurity and the insignificance of their own soul …

Saint Luke of Crimea , the Physician (Speeches, Volume III p. 250) –

-Now we do not understand their meaning, but later we will understand them. Now we sense that we are treated unjustly and cursed. Later we will understand that from everything we would have an awesome benefit: a humble mind.

-There is no end to Repentance, because Repentance is an unending road. 

-I believe deeply in God and I have built my whole life upon His commandments.
-Take care of your children, so you might be for them an example of the true Christian life, and the Blessing of the Lord will be with all of you and your children unto the ages of ages.

-Let us always remember how the Lord behaved towards sinners…and never condemn sinners, that we not stigmatize them, but offer to them love, showing reverence to their person, even if they themselves do not honor it…let us imitate our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

-“Don’t be shocked when you hear what people say against the faith. Because those who are talking don’t understand what it really is. You just remember the basic principle that the early Christians knew very well. They felt sorry for people who knew all the sciences but didn’t know God. On the other hand, they counted those people blessed who knew God, even if they knew absolutely nothing about human affairs. Guard this knowledge as the greatest treasure in your heart, and make your way straight ahead, looking neither left nor right. We mustn’t let what we hear against religion make us lose our sense of direction.”

– I ought to tell you that what God did to me was amazing and incomprehensible ….

My pursuing surgery completely satisfied the goal I always had to serve the poor and the suffering, to dispose all my strength for the comfort of their pains, and to help them in their needs.