Feast Of Saint Luke
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Saint Luke is the author of both his gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, which should be read as one unit. A Greek physician from Antioch, he was converted by the preaching of Paul. The Acts are dedicated to an unknown governor of the province of Antioch. He is also said to have been the companion of Cleophas on the road to Emmaus. Another tradition claims that he was among the Seventy Disciples who followed Christ during his preaching.
His detailed Infancy narrative in chapters 1 - 2 of his Gospel is believed to have been collected through interviews he conducted with Our Lady and members of the extended family of Christ in Nazareth. As a result, Luke is also credited with creating the first icons of Mary and the Christ Child. Numerous icons, from the Middle East to Poland, are claimed as having come from his hand, however this means only that they are ancient and have a Marian theme. Various tests show that not only do the icons come from a wide range of different schools but can be anywhere from the 10th to the 13th centuries. Luke's gospel is also called the Gospel of mercy, because Luke is compassionate towards many sinful figures in his writing.
Saint Luke is often shown with an ox. This is because his gospel begins and ends in the temple, and the ox represents the many animals sacrificed there, whereas Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross supersedes those old rituals. This scheme is drawn from the work of St. Jerome, who in turn used the four images depicted in Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4. He assigned the animals shown there to the four Evangelists, with John represented by the eagle, Matthew by the man, and Mark by the lion.