According to tradition, Luke was a physician, and one of Paul’s fellow
missionaries in the early spread of Christianity throughout the Roman
world. He has been identified as the writer of both the Gospel that bears
his name, and its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles.
Luke seems to have either been a Gentile or a Hellenistic Jew
and, like the other New Testament writers, he wrote in Greek, so that
Gentiles might learn about the Lord whose life and deeds so impressed
him. In the first chapter of his Gospel, he makes clear that he is
offering authentic information about Jesus’ birth, ministry, death, and
resurrection, as it had been handed down to him from those who had
firsthand knowledge.
Only Luke provides the very familiar stories of the annunciation to
Mary, of her visit to Elizabeth, of the child in the manger, the angelic
host appearing to shepherds, and the meeting with the aged Simeon.
Luke also includes in his work six miracles and eighteen parables not
recorded in the other Gospels. In Acts he tells about the coming of
the Holy Spirit, the struggles of the apostles and their triumphs over
persecution, of their preaching of the Good News, and of the conversion
and baptism of other disciples, who would extend the church in future
years.
Luke was with Paul apparently until the latter’s martyrdom in
Rome. What happened to Luke after Paul’s death is unknown, but early
tradition has it that he wrote his Gospel in Greece, and that he died at
the age of eighty-four in Boeotia. Gregory of Nazianzus says that Luke
was martyred, but this testimony is not corroborated by other sources.
In the fourth century, the Emperor Constantius ordered the relics of
Luke to be removed from Boeotia to Constantinople, where they could
be venerated by pilgrims.
According to Orthodox Christian tradition, Luke was also the first
iconographer. He is traditionally regarded as the patron saint of artists
and physicians.