Christian tradition starting from the 8th Century states that Saint Luke was the first icon painter. He was a disciple of St Paul and accompanied him on his travels. Saint Luke lived in a cave for a while during a period of asceticism. Originally he was a physician and was widely educated, particularly in research work and Greek studies.
It was believed that Saint Luke met Mary the mother of Jesus, and it is widely questioned whether or not, Mary helped Luke compile 'The Gospel of Saint Luke ? Described as the most beautiful book in the world.
He was considered to be the first Christian Historian and the only Gentile writer of The New Testament.
It was Luke who chronicled the Christian rendition of Christmas .
St Luke was the only evangelist to provide certain information about the conception, infancy and childhood of Jesus. These events were described in the Bible by St Luke alone, including The Annunciation, (the announcement by The Archangel Gabriel that Mary had been chosen to be the mother of Christ). This links to the letter Z where I wrote about Zachariah when The Angel Gabriel appearing before him to tell him his barren wife Elizabeth would bear a child who would be called John (John the Baptist). Elizabeth was the cousin of The Virgin Mary. St Luke wrote about this in his gospel.
The words of St Luke are the basis for the 'Hail Mary' and the Angelus, ( Latin) for Angel.
Saint Luke also chronicled the only gospel account of the Visitation, which contains, what is considered to be one of the world's most beautiful prayers,
'The Magnificat'.
Going back to the meeting of Mary and Saint Luke I have a feeling that, perhaps they met outside of Ephesus at her secluded house (LINK)....We visited Mary's house on our way to Ephesus. We know he travelled there with St Paul but I cannot as yet find a (Link) to confirm this. Also John the Baptist met with Mary around this time but again that's another story!
It all (LINKS) up with my introduction on ABCW next week.
I wrote of Ephesus recently on ABCW, ( letter E ) I remember seeing the grave of Saint Luke when we visited there .... (Link)...
If it is true that Saint Luke did indeed meet Mary when he was travelling with Saint Paul, this would be almost more than likely at her secluded house near Ephesus (Link) and I truly believe he did, because only she could provide him with the vital information regarding the Visitation and the conception of Jesus also details of his childhood
This LINKS up to St Paul's visit to Ephesus where he met Mary, she lived in seclusion, at about 5 kilometres from the city.
Icon of 'The Virgin Mary' created by Saint Luke.
