She is a master of speech that seduces you sweetly and you enjoy the journey to the end.
The same thing happened with her new book "A new star in the sky". for St. Luke the Physician, Luke Voino-Jasenetski, (1877-1961) University professor and Bishop of Simferopol and Crimea, who, as mentioned in his Preface by the Most Venerable Metropolitan of Limassol, Mr. Athanasius,
"He has recently been registered in the hagiology of our Orthodox Church and his memory has been set to be celebrated on June 11."
Of course, I have to testify that a few years ago I first read about Saint Luke, when I was introduced to the book by Archimandrite Nektarios Antonopoulos, abbot of the Holy Monastery of Sagmatas. Since then I have loved this Saint for his martyrdom and his turbulent life. A life full of imprisonments, exiles, persecutions, provocations and humiliation of his human condition but also of his scientific prestige.
It is worth noting that St. Luke endured all the terrible martyrdoms for the love of Christ, the "pillar of the universe", and constantly confessed his faith with parsimony before the atheist state officials. These, in most cases, were helpless, mortal and selfish little people, with inner emptiness, daring adventurers, aristocrats, spokesmen and pawns of their superiors who breathed a sigh of relief against him, because the people, wherever they exiled him, loved him. to cure him.
It is a fact that in addition to the miracles performed with this scalpel by this temperate Medical teacher, he managed to persuade many atheists, in fact mentally disabled, to come to God with the warmth of his true, sincere and unwavering love. At the same time, a sacrifice was made for the suffering man, not sparing his strength day and night, to the detriment of his health. In fact, he always had the image of the Virgin Mary in his operating room and before each operation he prayed fervently. That is why his opponents were constantly removing his images, but he could not operate without the image of Our Lady in his operating room.
We can not fail to admire the quality and integrity of his life, the prayerful testimony, the untouchable patience in pain, the rich stock of spiritual powers-patience, hope, self-denial, kindness, humility, charity, composure- and the spaciousness of his love . He was a true "Servus servorum dei", a servant of God's servants, with austerity and ascetic restraint in his personal life. Reading his biography, the "Free Besieged" of D. Solomos came to my mind, because he also managed to keep his soul and spirit free in the midst of hardships.
"If the body is a slave, the mind is free" according to Sophocles.
In his case, moreover, fits the well-known: "Those who love God always cooperate in good". With his strong and charismatic personality, with his sober way of life, with his resistance to all that is unholy, untrue and unjust, but mainly with prayer, this giant of patience managed to survive, with his heart broken, from the bitter cold of Siberia that had sent him for several years. Constantly, he felt the presence of God next to him, and this was telling him a story. Let us not forget that Father Paisios also said that "for God there is no impasse".
The author Giota Paraskeva-Hatzikosta is admirable for her scientific research, the fruit of many years of work and effort. Chalkenteri and an in-depth researcher, she is also a man full of zeal and special love for Saint Luke, the famous doctor, who preceded his time. Proceeds from the sale of the book will be used for the construction of a church of St. Luke of the Crimea in the area of Laiki Lefkothea in Limassol.
The book "A new star in the sky" that is suitable for young people and not only, is read breathlessly. You can not leave it if you do not finish it. It really is one of those blessed books that fascinates you with its meticulous and brilliant style, its literary narrative, the fragrance of God and the smell of faith. It would not be, I think, an exaggeration to say that the author takes various threads and knits a canvas with messages, feelings, virtues, a multitude of ideological elements, a delectable language with intense lyricism and a romantic tone. His testimonies awe us, his self-denial admiration, the greatness of his form seduces us, as the author herself emphasizes in her introduction.
In addition, I would like to mention that at the presentation of the book in Nicosia we met the first elder, professor of medicine, Father Sergio Filimonov, who according to the author "was a wise guide in the secret field of Russian Orthodoxy."
Giota Paraskeva-Hatzikosta, "literary license", based on historical events and excerpts from his speeches and sermons, quotes a diary of the Saint, from which we draw some of his beautiful thoughts, such as:
"I loved martyrdom, which so strangely cleanses the soul."
"Surgery was for me the song, the chirping and I could not help but chirp."
Archbishop Lukasz Voino-Jasenetsky was born in Kerch, Crimea in 1877. His family had ancestors who were once lords, but then fell out. So the father, in order to support his wife and five children, decided to settle in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
"So, at the age of eight, Valentine found himself living in a beautiful city, drowned in green, built on the banks of the Dnieper River. Its large bridges traveled you over the river, which was wide and endless and dotted with verdant islands. The temples with the golden, onion-shaped domes and the magnificent trees were mirrored in the water and when the man wrinkled their surface, everything seemed to travel magically. In the summers, in the sun, holding his father's hand, he walked softly, while myriads of birds sang in the riparian trees. The little one could not get enough of looking and sucking thirstily all the impressions that life gave him. He thought that with each breath he entered, all the festive world of colors, sounds and smells, which opened brand new in front of him ".
An excellent student, he graduated with a degree in Medicine in 1903. During the Russo-Japanese War, he met Anna Vasilyevna Lanskaya, who was often called a "holy nurse" for her unusual gentleness and love for patients. "This woman with the attractive beauty that came from her soul was going to become his wife."
After wandering in various provincial cities, he ends up in Tashkent, was appointed surgeon and director of one of the largest hospitals in the city and at the same time was elected professor at the University. His wife had meanwhile contracted tuberculosis and they hoped the good climate in the area would help improve her health.
Eventually, Anna dies at the age of 38, leaving four children orphaned. Fortunately, as if from divine enlightenment, he thought of "a faithful nurse, sensitive and with a lot of kindness, Sophia Sergeyevna. She had recently lost her husband and had no children of her own. " Eventually, this woman will take over the upbringing of his children who gradually felt like a second mother.
As a Professor of Anatomy and Surgery he had become a legend, mainly for his skill. He performed even the finest surgical incisions with astonishing accuracy. When he risked his life to defend Archbishop Tashkent Innocent in court, he offered to become a priest. Insults and ironies from atheistic doctors and students left him indifferent. In a short time, because Archbishop Innocent left Tashkent, because his life was in danger, everyone's eyes turned to him. He knew that a process of martyrdom was beginning for him. He spent many years in icy Siberia, in the northern polar circle. It got to the point where the sun does not rise. His heart broke with the sufferings of his people. But he kept praying.
In the autumn of 1934 he published his famous scientific work "Essays on the Surgery of Pyogenic Infections", a work for which he worked for ten years and which was a milestone in the history of Russian medicine. Many admitted that if it were not for Archbishop Lucas, their surgery would have been fifty years back.
At the age of 59, he now enjoys warm family moments that he missed so much during all the years of exile and wandering. His children, doubly orphaned, did well. They followed an academic career, utilizing the legacy of their famous father. He had entrusted them to God, and he took care of them so well that he could never take care of them that way.
But the political situation in Russia was deteriorating. "In 1937, an estimated nine million people were in prisons, penitentiaries or psychiatric asylums, one million had been executed and two more had died of atrocities."
Archbishop Lucas did not escape arrest, although, seeing his age pass, he wanted to invent solutions in medicine to alleviate human suffering. At the age of 60 and with precarious health, he began the path of martyrdom again. It was his third exile in Siberia.
When the German attack began, he asked to be allowed to go to the hospital to treat the wounded. In 1945 he received his first award for his most important medical activity. He was awarded a medal "for his heroic work in World War II". Everyone knew that the surgeon bishop "saved lives and gave health to hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers."
He himself, asking for the floor after his award, said boldly, leaving everyone in the crowded room speechless:
"I could help many others, if you had not arrested me for no reason and dragged me for eleven whole years into exile and dungeons. How much time has been lost unjustly and how many people have lost their lives. But I do not bear any responsibility!… ".
And all this in the Stalinist Soviet Union!
His greatest honor, however, was bestowed on him in 1946. He was then awarded the Stalin Prize, the most important state prize for his scientific studies, which received the best reviews in the Soviet Union and abroad. The 200,000 thousand rubles of the prize asked to be given to help orphans, victims of the war.
His fame spread beyond the borders of his country and to America newspapers and magazines wrote articles honoring him and published photos of him. In May 1946, Bishop Lucas was offered the position of Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea, at his birthplace.
"Despite his seventies, he was determined to work for his flock, which was in dire straits. "Everywhere ruins and wounds left by the war, cities and villages destroyed, famine and misery, churches closed and a few priests who did not respond to their mission."
In Simferopol, his medical activity is declining, as he is absorbed in his pastoral duties, but also because his vision is constantly weakening. However, he continued to speak at surgical conferences, which aroused great interest in the medical world. Until, they stopped calling him to them as well, because he insisted on appearing with the raso. However, countless patients came from all over the Crimea, and many spoke of miraculous healings performed by the grace of God.
At the beginning of 1955 he could no longer see through either of his eyes. In the summer of 1959, a new wave of persecution against the church broke out, despite the "apostalization" declared by Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev.
"Archbishop Lucas was under constant surveillance. The old "shadow", who was sure that she had never left him, made her appearance more visible again. The new persecutions that had erupted, created unbearable mental pain for him, negatively affecting his already shaken health ".
Christmas 1960 last operated. On Sunday, June 11, 1961, Archbishop Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. "He took a few deep breaths and two more gently. His soul fluttered to the sky. "
Although the authorities forbade a protest on foot from the main boulevard of the city, the people became indignant and a "revolution" spontaneously broke out. The procession finally, after the authorities were frightened and retreated, "headed to the main street of Simferopol, on Kirov Avenue, and the march lasted three and a half hours, while the authorities wanted to last only three minutes."
A miraculous event happened during the performance. Countless doves appeared in the sky and circled over the Archbishop's body and then flew to the cemetery. This was repeated, until they reached the burial site, and then disappeared on the horizon.
In 1995, thirty-five years after his death, by decision of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Luke was canonized. When they recovered the bones, they noticed that while the whole body had disintegrated, some internal organs, including his heart, had not melted. "Thus, a new Saint was added to the choirs of the great thermal doctors and great confessors of the Church."
In 2005, in an apartment in Moscow, two children travel on their computer and suddenly read about a new star discovered by Russian scientists in the sky. They went crazy with joy when they read that the Russian astrophysicists chose the name of Archbishop Luke to give it to the new star. They ran to their mother, shouting with a sigh:
"Grandpa became a star in the sky"
In closing, I would like to share with anyone who reads this presentation that from the moment I started typing it on my computer, I felt an unspeakable joy and delight. I did not want to stop to do something else, so I stopped with a heavy heart. I felt something like a blessing, something like pulling me to deal only with the life of Archbishop Luke.
Let us pray for Archbishop Lucas to guard the whole world!