The ark with the relics of Saint Luke will arrive in Polotsk on October 28
The reliquary with the relics of Saint Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) will be in Polotsk from October 28 to November 4, BELTA was informed by the Polotsk diocese of the Belarusian Orthodox Church.
Polotsk became one of the few cities in Belarus honored to receive the holy relics of Archbishop Luke in the autumn of 2014. The reliquary with the shrine will arrive in the ancient city for the first time as part of the international project "Days of Saint Luke". The relics of the saint have already been in Brest, Grodno, and Minsk.
The shrine will be displayed for veneration by believers in the Epiphany Church of the Polotsk diocese (24 Nizhne-Pokrovskaya Street). It will be possible to venerate the relics daily from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM.
Archbishop Luke was a world-renowned surgeon and scientist. As a professor of medicine, he performed about 1,000 operations a year, while also not abandoning daily prayer and conducting services on Sundays and holidays. During his life (1877-1961), he saved a huge number of hopeless patients. He received a diploma with honors but preferred the position of a "peasant doctor" - a district doctor - over a scientific career. Sometimes, without proper instruments at hand, he used a penknife, a goose quill, or pliers, and women's hair instead of thread. On many icons, especially Greek ones, Saint Luke is depicted with surgical instruments in his hands. He authored numerous scientific works and 12 volumes of sermons.
In 1996, Archbishop Luke was canonized. The shrine with the relics of the saint is kept in the Holy Trinity Convent in Simferopol.
In Polotsk, there is a chapel named after Saint Luke, Archbishop of Crimea. The structure is located on the territory of Polotsk City Hospital No. 1.
Alena Tikhonova