Saint Luke the Doctor – Engraved Lithograph – Mount Athos

Description

Engraved Lithograph with Saint Luke the Doctor

Saint Luke, canonized in May 1996 by the Russian Orthodox Church, was a Russian high priest and professor-surgeon.

Archbishop Luke was born on April 27, 1877 in Kerch, in the eastern extreme part of Crimea. id=”cite_ref-4″ class=”reference”> From an early age he showed interest in his suffering fellow human beings. That is why he chose to study medicine, the practice of which he saw as a field of social contribution. He married nurse Anna Vasilievna, with whom he had 4 children, but at the age of 38 he lost his wife to tuberculosis. She did not remarry and visited her grave frequently.

He worked tirelessly, deeply committed to his dream: to save more and more lives, relieving man from pain and evil. In this effort, he often reached overwork, but he did not give up, since he drew strength through his long prayer and prayer for Christ.

St. Luke as a physician published forty scientific works. A classic work of his, published in 1934, is the book “Essays on the Surgery of Pyogenic Infections” which laid the foundation for an entire medical specialty and his work continues to be used in medicine to this day. In 1946 he was awarded the Stalin Prize, Russia’s top distinction for all his scientific publications. He abstained from the award ceremony (a reaction unthinkable at the time) by donating the Stalin Prize money to the poor.

St. Luke was a faithful Christian. He did not miss mass and watched all the pannychides and matins, on Saturdays, Sundays and the days of Orthodox feasts. In the operating room he always had the icon of the Virgin Mary, in front of which he prayed for a few minutes before each operation. Then, with a cotton swab soaked in iodine, he made the sign of the cross on the patient’s body, where the incision would be made. Only after that did he solemnly say “the scalpel.”

Engraved Lithography: Features

The work is crafted entirely by hand, without machinery, in carved natural wood. It is the work of hagiographer Athanasios, a student of the Athonite Ecclesiastical Academy, who remains faithful to Byzantine art as he was taught it on Mount Athos. His works are covered with pure beeswax so that they remain unchanged over time.

In this particular icon, the hagiographer monk used the technique of lithography to create a work of unique beauty. Specifically, using a lithographed copy of Byzantine art, the monk created this work following the traditional method of artificial aging, as taught in the hagiography workshops of the Athonite State. In fact, the artificial aging of hagiography is handmade, a process to which the monks of Mount Athos pay particular attention.

As the image is handmade and the wood is processed entirely by hand, there may be slight variations in the dimensions of each image.

Image available upon request.

Origin: Mount Athos