Luke the Evangelist

Life events

1. Born

   Luke was born in the Hellenistic city of Antioch in Ancient Syria, of a Greek family — or, according to some scholars, of a Hellenized Jewish background. His Greek education followed the standard Hellenistic curriculum (ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία, enkyklios paideia), giving him literary familiarity with Homer, Thucydides, and Plato.

2. Other

   Luke is identified in Colossians 4:14 as 'our dear friend Luke, the doctor', distinguishing him from Paul's Jewish co-workers and indicating he was a physician and a gentile (or non-observant) Christian. His earliest mention is in the Epistle to Philemon 1:24.

3. Pilgrimage — 50

   According to inferences from the 'we' passages in Acts, Luke joined Paul at Troas (Acts 16:10) for the crossing into Macedonia, was left for a time in Philippi, and rejoined Paul there around 52 AD before accompanying him on the return journey to Syria and Jerusalem.

4. Wrote

   Luke composed both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles — a two-volume work scholars call Luke–Acts. Together these account for 27.5% of the New Testament, the largest contribution attributed to a single author. The earliest manuscript ascribing the gospel to Luke (Papyrus 75, c. AD 200) and the witness of Irenaeus (c. AD 180) establish the tradition.

5. Other

   Luke was present with Paul in Rome near the end of Paul's life, attested by 2 Timothy 4:11 ('Only Luke is with me') and by the first-person plural of Acts 28:16 ('And when we came to Rome…'). He accompanied Paul on the perilous third missionary journey to Italy (Acts 27:1).

6. Died — 84

   Luke died at age 84 in Boeotia, according to a 'fairly early and widespread tradition' cited in Butler 1991. His tomb was located in Thebes, according to the 14th-century Greek historian Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos. He is traditionally held to have been martyred — hanged from an olive tree — though some accounts dispute this.

7. Translated — 357

   Luke's relics were transferred from his tomb in Thebes to Constantinople in 357. A 1992 scientific investigation of the relics held in Padua — including carbon-14 dating and genetic analysis — found they belonged to an individual of Syrian descent who died between AD 72 and AD 416, compatible with a Syrian origin.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Colossians 4:14 names Luke 'the doctor' and distinguishes him from Paul's Jewish co-workers, making him the only New Testament author clearly identifiable as a gentile — or at minimum, a non-observant one. (likely)
• Christian tradition from the 8th century credits Luke as the first icon painter. He is said to have painted the Hodegetria image of the Virgin and Child in Constantinople (now lost); later images claimed as his autograph works include the Black Madonna of Częstochowa and Our Lady of Vladimir. (legendary)
• Archaeologist William Mitchell Ramsay described Luke as 'a historian of the first rank', citing his accurate descriptions of towns, islands, and official titles. Edward Musgrave Blaiklock placed Luke alongside Thucydides for accuracy of detail and evocation of atmosphere. (likely)
• In traditional iconography, Luke is depicted with a winged ox or bull — a symbol drawn from Ezekiel 1:10 and Revelation 4:7 — representing the sacrificial character of Christ's ministry as narrated in his gospel, which opens with Zechariah performing priestly duties at the temple. (likely)
• Luke's relics are distributed across three sites: the body is held at the Abbey of Santa Giustina in Padua, the skull at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, and a rib at his tomb at the Holy Church of Luke the Evangelist in Thebes, returned from Padua in 1992 following a formal request by the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Thebes. (likely)