Luke the Evangelist

Luke the Evangelist is one of the Four Evangelists, the traditionally ascribed authors of the canonical gospels. The Early Church Fathers credited him with authorship of both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, a two-volume work that constitutes the largest contribution by a single author to the New Testament. He is venerated as a saint in major Christian denominations and is considered a patron saint of artists, physicians, and others. The New Testament mentions Luke briefly, and the Epistle to the Colossians refers to him as a physician, from the Greek term for "one who heals," leading to the traditional view that he was both a doctor and a disciple of Paul.

Many scholars believe he was a physician from the Hellenistic city of Antioch in Syria, born to a Greek family, though some argue he may have been a Hellenic Jew. The quality of Greek in Luke–Acts indicates a highly educated author familiar with classical literary texts by figures such as Homer, Euripides, and Plato, likely from a standard Hellenistic education. Luke is first mentioned in the Epistle to Philemon, and later in Colossians and 2 Timothy, the latter noting his presence with Paul near the end of Paul’s life. Early church figures like Jerome and Eusebius reaffirmed his authorship, though near the end of the 20th century scholarly opinion on this tradition was roughly evenly divided.

Christians have regarded him as a saint since early times, and he is believed to have been a martyr, reportedly hanged from an olive tree. His feast day is 18 October. The author of Luke–Acts uses the first-person plural "we" in describing certain Pauline missions, indicating his personal presence, such as in Troas, Philippi, and the journey to Rome. Luke died at age 84 in Boeotia, according to a fairly early tradition, and his relics were reportedly transferred to Constantinople in 357.