The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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Barbara
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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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Rocor-MP is now incorporating a stopoff in Simferopol to 'venerate the relics of st. Luke' in their 2017 summer pilgrimage to holy sites in Russia and Crimea. Led by none other than the Rocor-MP Metropolitan himself, one can imagine that this will be a high point for many of their group after the MP's carefully managed P.R. campaign.

The only good news about that segment of the itinerary is that the pilgrims will seemingly not linger long at the sorry st Luke pseudo-shrine but go on to colorful Bakhchiserai. That destination is a great idea. If any don't care about the rich history, surely they will have heard of Pushkin's famous poem.

Meanwhile, could the promotion of 'st Luke' be aimed at turning Simferopol into a booming tourist and pilgrimage destination, thus raising much money for the region ?

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Barbara
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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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Today is the made-up "day" for Abp Luke. SADLY, it coincides with All Saints of Russia this year. MP sources are playing up to the hilt the cult of Luke.

I looked him up and found that the Wildwood CA skete of St Xenia [ near Platina ] has even published an 'akathist' to him. God forbid.

Their introductory remarks on Amazon read :

In response to the numerous prayer requests for those facing surgery, we are pleased to offer this Akathist to St. Luke, the Blessed Surgeon. St. Luke of Simferopol - the renowned surgeon and revered hierarch of the Church - was a true father, shepherd and healer for the faithful through decades of Communist persecution. His grace-filled skill as a surgeon, even in the worst conditions, brought healing to countless people wherever he was--whether in one of the great hospitals or in exile, operating on a wooden table with only a pocket knife. Miracles still abound through the grace of his intercession, and thousands flock to his holy relics."


Whether Archbishop Luke was an excellent surgeon is not the point. The question remains : was he a Saint ? What was his attitude toward the Stalin-founded organization we call today the Moscow Patriarchate ?

I would like to hear more from others who have information about why this cult is "prelest". Meanwhile, I maintain by intuition that this would be highly inadvisable to pray to such a one. Great Healers we have had through the ages. St Panteleimon has worked many miracles on or off the operating table.Image


What is wrong with staying with a known quantity rather than a recently deceased personage about whom we can not know all ?

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Barbara
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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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Curious to investigate the purported 'miracles' of Luke of Simferopol, I looked up this topic.

I noticed in nearly all cases, the miracles are never signed by an individual with their full name. Only the initials. While some wish to preserve privacy for understandable reasons, let's compare with the GENUINE Miraculous interventions wrought by St John Maximovitch's holy prayers.

In nearly all cases, Russian emigres [ usually within the ranks of Rocor ] who report miracles of healing - the same basic subject claimed for Abp Luke - furnish their full names. Only rarely when there is something truly embarrassing does the narrator of a story about St John Maximovitch decline to sign his or her name.

This is a bit suspicious to me.

Let's also notice that the stories of Luke appearing suddenly in a hospital room MIRROR those of St John Maximovitch having done the same, both in physical presence and in spirit.

Could the promoters of Luke in Russia have studied the St John miracle stories carefully and copied them with a change of detail and locale ? I certainly believe so. Those stories have been out for decades now. Many Orthodox are easy to fool, since their faith would make them believe without questioning any such story, without critical thinking. Few would analyze "Well didn't I read the same thing 20 years ago in the first collection of anecdotes attesting to St John's clairvoyance and miraculous ability, "St John the Wonderworker" ?" -

Particularly Greeks, with whom as said earlier on this thread, the Russians have been heavily promoting "St Luke the Russian" as the surgeon is often known in Greece apparently, do not in general know or have great fondness [ yet ] for St John Maximovitch.
Hence the inhabitants of Hellas would be easier to fool than Ukrainians or Russians who have heard about St John for quite some years now.

Perhaps in the Greek monasteries, particularly Mt Athos, there would be some awareness of St John. But for all we know, the EP overlords discourage his veneration. Instead, they follow the mainline World Orthodoxy's choice of Luke of Simferopol to cultivate into superstar status.
Where St John was extremely strict and Traditional, Luke is not known for such traits.

Where St John was able to win nearly all hearts by his miracles of help to his Russian flock, oftentimes by healing very serious ailments even when the patient was at death's door, Luke is only known as 'a healer'. This is suspicious right there.

I haven't read all the accounts yet, as they turn me off, frankly. But I don't think Luke was known for his display of clairvoyance. That should be a red flag.

I see Luke as the counterfeit version of St John Maximovitch.

Notice too that 'relics' of Luke have been bestowed on a Greek monastery, Sagmata, near Thebes. The word has spread among the Orthodox in Greece that there is a chapel of Luke there, which houses the supposed relics, a mitre worn by Luke and some personal effects of the Simferopol cleric's. Ill people make pilgrimages there hoping for a cure. Here is the chapel's interior :

Image

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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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The big trip mentioned above finally took place. It's irritating to see that the pilgrimage group made a beeline to Abp Luke's shrine as [ apparently ] their first church visit after arriving in Simferopol.

The PR machine grinds on to portray Abp Luke as the new marvel of the miracle-working Saint world, displacing worthy real Saints such as St John Maximovitch or St Metropolitan Philaret, the latter's sanctity being not even recognized by the MP.

Here is the account of the visit to Abp Luke's very fancy shrine. I will find a picture later ; the one I tried to copy refused to be copied ! Emphasis is mine.


"On the hundredth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution ... the First Hierarch of ROCOR, His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, is making his ninth pilgrimage to the great holy sites of Russia....

On July 19, the pilgrims arrived in the capital of Crimea. The First Hierarch and his pilgrims were greeted at the airport by His Eminence Metropolitan Lazar of Simferopol and Crimea and local clergymen.

Metropolitan Lazar thanked Vladyka Hilarion for visiting, which is a great event for all Crimeans; it was the Crimean land that is called the “cradle of Orthodox Christianity” of Russia, and to this day contains many holy sites. It was in Crimea that tradition holds Apostle Andrew the First-Called began his sojourn in the North, SS Cyril and Methodius began their mission to the Slavic nations in Crimea. Here, Holy Prince Vladimir, Illuminator of Rus, was himself baptized [ Today, July 28 ! ] .

The pilgrims were taken on an excursion of the city, and visited Holy Trinity Convent, where Metropolitan Lazar and Metropolitan Hilarion performed a moleben before the reliquary of St Luke, Confessor of Crimea.

http://synod.com/synod/eng2017/20170720_enmhcrimea.html

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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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I get a bad feeling from glancing at this picture for even a second. The one I was trying to copy showed the full sepulcher ; here it is mostly blocked.

It looks so fancy that one would think a major father of monasticism in Russia rested here, like St Sergius of Radonezh. This is just an Archbishop surgeon who reposed recently with many questionable "miracles" as well as an even MORE questionable political history of informing on his fellow people to the Soviet Communist intelligence agency, then in its MGB phase.
Still worse, this Luke reported to the Soviet authority a poor 80 year old hieromonk and beseeched the MGB to stop his activities for the Catacomb Church, as is explained on page 1 of this thread. That is merely ONE example which came to light.

We can assume this was the tip of the iceberg so that many other cases of Luke's malicious interference with the anti-Stalin-created MP Catacomb Church. Just think : had Rocor been active on Russian and Ukrainian and Crimean territory at that era, Luke would have surely turned in any Priests of Rocor to stop their winning over of clergy and people. Not only that, he probably would have scoured the countryside to flush them out !

Yet the MP is forcing its adherents and other World Orthodox churches such as the Greek one to
endorse this very doubtful personage

Image
Met. Hilarion of Rocor-MP venerates 'relics" of FAKE miracle worker of the MP, Luke of Simferopol

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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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Rocor-MP institutions are brimming with praise for Luke. The Eastern American Diocese's prominent monastery mainly aimed at American convert monks, Holy Cross in Wayne, West Virginia, advertises this triptych with raving description below the image :

Image
I am not certain whether this is a Sofrino product, but assume so.

A pioneering and world-famous surgeon, a confessor under torture, a bishop and a miracle-worker, St. Luke is truly one of the most amazing saints who suffered at the hands of the Soviets. Outspoken regarding his faith, he was exiled and tortured multiple times, yet the authorities could not deny his exceptional medical skills. He was appointed as a chief surgeon overseeing the treatment of injured soldiers during WWII, and received the Stalin award for his groundbreaking surgical work. Through the grace and boldness he has obtained before the throne of the Lord, he continues to work miracles and healings even after death, for those have undoubting recourse to his intercessions.

https://www.holycross-hermitage.com/pro ... nd-matrona

Poor St Xenia, the only true Saint in this group, having to be stuck with these 2 false ones ! If someone gave me a copy of this, I would surely detach her Icon, which is quite nice, and ditch the rest.

About the Stalin Award bestowed upon Abp Luke, one wonders whether this was only for skill in surgery. Or, as referred to in the post above, was the decoration due to the archbishop-surgeon's usefulness as an informer for the Soviet secret service at this era ? Regardless, we can be sure that the honor would never have been given to Luke had he not been a reliable intelligence asset, assisting the Communist government in tracking down Catacomb and other independent resistors of the Stalin's substitute patriarchate, the MP.

Knowing that the KGB has always used the military ranking system, one speculates on what rank Luke held. Was he known as Comrade Major at the secret intelligence meetings in which he participated ?

Last edited by Maria on Sun 26 August 2018 3:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: added quotes
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Barbara
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Re: The Pseudo-Saint Luke of the Crimea

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It's that day again. In time for the manufactured feast day of Luke of Crimea, this anecdote appeared.

Note how, in the words of the MP priest Fr Dmitry Torshin, the tale is tailored to make Abp Luke appear a real saint and the doer of miracles equivalent to the marvels of competitor Rocor's St John Maximovitch. It's an obvious marketing campaign :

"I have a friend. He’s an athlete and trainer and also a deeply religious person. His whole conscious life he has unswervingly read the morning and evening prayers and regularly had recourse to the Church Sacraments.
Once, having gone to the south, he relaxed, and his spiritual composure cracked there. One evening he and some friends had a good time at dinner and when it came time for sleep, my friend had no strength for prayer. It was very unusual for him to go to bed without prayer. Falling asleep, he thought: See, I didn’t pray and nothing bad happened, so it’s entirely possible to not pray sometimes, if I’m tired… No big deal!
When he woke up, he felt a strong pain in his back and couldn’t move. They called the ambulance, they took him to the hospital and diagnosed him with a hernia of the cervical spine, about half an inch in size. A hernia a quarter of an inch is already considered reason for an operation, and he had one so large, and in such a dangerous place.
Fearing the unprofessionalism of the local doctors, he headed to Moscow with great difficulty, where they confirmed his diagnosis in a serious capital city clinic and started to prepare for surgery. They warned him that the chances of success were 50/50, but in any case, even in the most successful outcome, he was guaranteed a disability.
In addition, his left hand began to wither and nearly stopped working. As his whole life was connected with movement, it was an even greater tragedy for him than for an ordinary person, and he was in despair.
At the same time, he immediately identified for himself the cause of his sudden misfortune, and it instilled him with hope. Spiritual causes can be corrected by spiritual action: prayer and repentance. He left the hospital himself, took, we can say, a pause, and began to repent and zealously pray, especially asking St. Luke of Crimea for help.
Then the pain suddenly retreated, but a few days later his head hurt (it later turned out it was providential). He was afraid his situation had worsened, so he immediately went to the hospital where they did an MRI. The doctor came out with the picture and asked with surprise: “Can you clarify: What is your complaint and what did you come to us with?”
When the patient started to tell about his diagnosis, given, by the way, in the same clinic, the doctor was even more surprised and said: “You don’t have a hernia! There is a scar on the vertebra you’re talking about, but it seems very old—about five years.”
When my friend showed him the pictures taken two weeks prior, the doctor gathered a consultation that ended with a shrug. One of the clinic’s most authoritative specialists stated the conclusion: “In principle, practice shows that nothing is impossible, but what happened with you is highly unlikely, and unfortunately, we have no hypotheses about it.”
http://orthochristian.com/121712.html

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