Saint Luke Metropolitan of Simferopol as physician, surgeon and academic professor

Born in Kertz in 1877, St Luke (Valentine Felixovich Voino-Yassenetski), Metropolitan of Simferopol and Crimea, was a surgeon, professor, author, theologian, philosopher, confessor, martyr, and bishop. He studied Medicine at Kiev’s University and graduated in 1903 at the age of 26. Vladimir Felixovich initially worked as a local district physician. He offered his medical services as member of the Kiev Medical Hospital of the Red Cross during the Russian-Japanese war in 1904–1905 in the city of Chita. In 1915, Valentin Felixovich published his first important scientific work, his thesis entitled ‘Regional anesthesia’, for which he was awarded Chojnacki prize by the Warsaw University. In 1917, Valentin Felixovich went to Tashkent in order to oversee the Department of Surgery as head surgeon of the Tashkent Municipal Hospital. In 1919, his wife Anna, who suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, died in Tashkent, leaving four orphans. In 1921, Valentin Felixovich was ordained a deacon and priest and, in 1923, he was consecrated as a bishop. He was also appointed full professor of Topographic Anatomy and Surgery at Tashkent’s University. His lectures at the university attracted a large number of medical students and surgeons as well as students of various faculties and disciplines. In 1923, Bishop Luke was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment and exile to Siberia. That was the first of three times that Bishop Luke was arrested and exiled without cause, which he endured for 11 years. In 1924, at the hospital of Yeniseisk, Bishop Luke successfully performed the world’s first kidney transplant from animal (calf) to man. During the Great Patriotic War, He was called to serve as chief surgeon at the army hospital in Krasnoyarsk. He successfully established ‘the battlefield surgery’ and saved the lives of numerous soldiers transferred to hospital from various battlefields. For his medical services during the war, he was awarded a medal ‘For valiant effort in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945’. After the war, he finished the book ‘Late Resection of Infected Wounds of the Large Joints’, which was submitted together with his large memorable handbook entitled ‘Notes on the Surgical Treatment of Purulent Wounds’, which was awarded the Stalin Prize in the first order in 1946. In May 1946, the Holy Synod elevated Bishop Luke to the rank of Archbishop and he was elected Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea. At the same time, Bishop Luke continued to practice surgery and give consultations in the Army Hospital and Hospital of the Veterans of the Great Patriotic War in Simferopol. He proceeded to the most serious surgical operations on severe and unusual cases. He released also lectured on surgery and scientific research at Crimea’s Medical Institute. On 11 June 1961, St Luke passed to eternity. His extensive scientific knowledge, desire for research, endeavour to open new horizons in surgery, unique surgical capacity, courage, perseveration, continuous hard work, devotion to pedagogy, ethical principles and values, and mostly his genuine and pure Christo-centric life, all contribute to St Luke’s unique academic profile. He strongly believed that academic communication and the transmission of knowledge is the ultimate duty of a professor. This duty is not limited to the amphitheater, the teaching hall and the wards, but it should be constantly practiced with patients anywhere, at any time, and in any conditions. St Luke used to say that healing means an essential existential restoration of the person who suffers and a radical amelioration of his quality of life. The doctor must communicate with the patient in order to enter in the altar of his soul and treat the interior dimension of the pain, which is usually more severe than the physical pain. The physician must sacrifice himself for the benefit of the patients. In the last years of his life the harmonization of medicine and surgery with his pastoral work of charity and mercy was a special gift. St Luke’s scientific contributions in the field of medicine includes hundreds of papers written over a long period of time, from 1908 to 1956. The publications cover new surgical methods, unusual cases, regional anesthesia, the treatment of pyogenic infections, surgical treatment of infected and septic wounds, treatment of osteomyelitis, on hematogenous osteomyelitis, surgical treatment of the diseases of the spinal cord, excision of the tumors of the central nervous system, and surgical treatment of the disorders of the cranial and spinal nerves. St Luke’s texts are very clear, precise, analytical, instructive, written with eloquence and linguistic perfection, enriched with hand drawings by the author and based on extensive references.

Introduction

‘You people, who may not have much of a relationship with science and do not know much about philosophy, remember always the most basic beginning, which was well known by the early Christians. They considered poor, the person who knew all the sciences yet he knew not God. On the other hand, they considered blessed the person who knew God, even if he knew absolutely nothing about the worldly things. Guard this truth like the best treasure of the heart, walk straight without looking right or left’.

With this simple, profound, instructive, and moving proclamation, Metropolitan Luke summarizes his philosophy, his principles, and underlines the spiritual axis of his life. The Metropolitan of Simferopol Luke, whose full name was Valentine Felixovich Voino-Yassenetski (Войно-Ясенецкий Валентин Феликсович) was a physician, surgeon, academic professor, author of textbooks on surgery, medical dissertations, research articles, priest, theologian, philosopher, confessor, martyr of the truth, author of many books of theology, catechism, and philosophy. The truth was the centre of his life, the axis of his medical practice, science, thought, medical research, teaching activities, social life, his communication with people and the interior light in any aspect of his personal life. St Luke was born in Kertz (Керчи), on 27 April 1877. He was the third son of his parents,^[1] who were descendants of a princely Russian family. His mother, Mariya Dmitriyevna, was Orthodox, and his father, Felix Stanislavovitch Voino Yassenesco, a pharmacist, was a pious practicing Catholic.

During his childhood he was spiritually influenced by the Orthodox Monastery of the Holy Lavra of the Kiev Caves (Киево-Печерская Лавра)^[2] and the Holy Bible, a copy of which he received as the most valuable gift upon graduating high school. He was a very gifted pupil with an inclination to the arts^[3] but decided to study medicine at the Great Prince St Vladimir Medical School at the University of Kiev,^[4] famous for its excellence in education. He graduated as extraordinary student with high achievements and was awarded a medical degree cum laude in 1903 at the age of 26.

Saint Luke as Physician

Vladimir Felixovitch initially worked as a local district physician after his graduation ‘healing the ailments of peasants and workers and finding deep satisfaction in this and proceeded’.^[5] Then he proceeded to qualify in surgery and ophthalmology at Kiev University.

In 1904, at the declaration of the Russian-Japanese war,^[6] Valentine Felixovitch offered his medical services as a member of the Kiev Medical Hospital of the Red Cross. He went to Red Cross Hospital in the city of Chita (Читá),^[7] where he obtained considerable surgical experience, proceeding to major surgery on the skeletal system and the skull. At the same time, he worked continuously on the treatment of pyogenic infections, which was a serious problem in medical and surgical practice. He worked extensively in that field for thirteen years, even as provincial doctor in Siberia and other areas (Simbirsk, Kursk, Saratov)—where he faced death caused by bacterial and fungal infections on a daily basis—especially in children, the elderly, and those living without basic hygiene measures. In 1910, working in the city of Pereslav Zalesky (Переславль-Залесский),^[8] where he spent six and a half years, he started writing the initial chapter of his textbook on surgical treatment of pyogenic (purulent) infections under the light of a petrol lamp.

Valentine married Anna Vasilievna Lanskaya (Анна Васильевна Ланская), a sister of mercy who had previously worked in the Kiev Military Hospital serving in Russian-Japanese war. She was characterized by exceptional kindness, gentleness, high morality and virtue, so that everyone called her ‘holy sister’. They were blessed with four children.^[9]

Anna, who suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis^[10], died from cold and hunger in 1919. Valentine grieved profoundly after the death of his beloved wife; however, he submitted himself peacefully to will of God he devoted himself totally to science, medical and surgical practice, and the education of his children, finding real consolation only in the Faith. The family was under the spiritual guidance of Abbess Yevyeniya of the Holy Convent of Theodorofski (Феодоровской монастыр).

Valentin Felixovich was continuously working scientifically. He performed numerous surgical procedures, after fervent long prayer inside the operation room in front of the icon of the All Holy Theotokos, beginning each surgical procedure by making the sign of the Cross on the body of the patient at the site of the surgical incision. At that time, he published his first couple of case reports entitled ‘Elephantiasis of the face, due to plexiform neurinoma’ and ‘Retrograde strangulated inguinal hernia’.

In 1915, Valentin Felixovich published his first important scientific work, ‘Regional anaesthesia’ (Регионарная анестезия), in the form of a dissertation.^[11] For this contribution, he was awarded Chojnacki prize by the Warsaw University in the form of 900 gold rubles granted to the best original scientific research ‘blazing new trails in the field of medicine’. Valentin Felixovich worked for many years in the field of regional anaesthesia and he was the first who attempted to treat the trigeminal nerve neuralgia by injecting a local anaesthetic into second branch of the nerve at the place where it exits from the foramen rotundum.^[12]

In 1917, Valentin Felixovich went to Tashkent^[13] in order to oversee the Department of Surgery as head surgeon of the Tashkent Municipal Hospital. He was selected among many other candidates in an atmosphere of stiff competition during a period of economic and social crisis just before the war between the garrison of the city and the Turkic inhabitants, which had tragic consequences on the quality of life of the citizens. At the same time, he was appointed as a professor in the college of Medicine and played a key role in the opening of the University in Tashkent.

In the middle of the atrocities^[14], revolts and campaign against Orthodox faith, Valentin Felixovich was arrested under the pretence of a personal contradiction with one of the members of the hospital’s personnel.^[15] He was released in a miraculous way at the time that his wife was at the end of her life.

Saint Luke as Doctor and Priest

‘I see clearly how from my earliest years the Lord—unknown to me—was leading me to the priesthood, which I myself had never even contemplated, for I greatly loved surgery and was wholly: devoted to it’.

On 7 February1921, Valentin Felixovich Voino-Yasenetsky was ordained deacon and the following week he was ordained to the priesthood by Diocesan Bishop Innokenty (Pustynsky) of Tashkent, in a period during which the persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church reached a climax. Fr Luc took up daily duties in Tashkent’s cathedral^[16] and preached God’s word on every possible occasion, expressing strong criticism of materialism and coming in vertical confrontation with the priest Lopakin, who denied Orthodoxy and undertook the anti-Christian atheist campaign in Central Asia. In addition, he peacefully endured the ironic comments and mockery of his colleagues and students for his status as clergyman.

However, Fr Luc continued to perform surgical operations on a daily basis, also heading the Department of Surgery in Tashkent’s main hospital. In addition, he was elected full professor of Topographic Anatomy and Surgery at Tashkent’s University. He worked diligently towards improving the university and the department of Anatomy and Surgery, with particular application of his pedagogical skills.^[17]

His lectures at the university attracted large number of medical students and surgeons as well as students of various faculties and disciplines. He taught topographic anatomy on corpses,^[18] making valuable observations on pyogenic inflammation, which he incorporated into his textbook ‘Notes on the Surgical Treatment of Purulent Wounds’, which was published in 60,000 copies. Fr Valentine was awarded for his scientific work with the First Order Stalin Prize.^[19]

During this tragic period of Fr Valentin’s life in Tashkent, a schism occurred in the Russian Orthodox Church,^[20] which caused great turbulence in the religious circles of the country in that critical period of rapid propagation of dialectic materialism. During the time of the merciless persecution of Orthodoxy, when numerous clerics and monks were executed in Russia, Bishop Innocent of Tashkent was exiled. Fr Valentin was elected as the new bishop. He accepted God’s will, knowing clearly all the terrible dangers that he would shortly face. Initially he was tonsured a monk in secret, in his children’s bedroom, with the name Luke, ‘the beloved physician’, and then he was consecrated as a bishop by two exiled bishops in Penjikent, in St Nikolai’s Church on 31 May 1923.^[21]

The Way to Martyrdom

‘I loved Martyrdom, which so Strangely Cleanses the Soul’.

The following month on 9 June 1923, Bishop Luke was arrested by ΓΠУ (Государственное Политическое Управление) and led to Tashkent’s prison, where he remained for two months before being sent to Moscow.^[22] A week later, St Luke was taken to Lubianca, where he was mercilessly interrogated and sentenced to imprisonment and exile to Siberia. Initially, he was transported as a detainee to Moscow’s worst prison, Butyrka, and from there two months later to the prison of Taganka. Bishop Luke peacefully endured disease, incredible ceaseless humiliation, repeated interrogations, extreme hunger, and innumerable tortures for the glory of God.

In December of 1923, he was sent into exile. This was the first of three times that the bishop Luke was arrested without cause and sent into exile, which he endured for eleven years. The first place of exile was Omsk, then Novosibirsk, and then the town of Krasnoyarsk in the centre of Siberia. Later he was transferred 430 kilometres northwards to the city of Yeniseisk.^[23]

His prison became a chapel and an outpatient clinic. Very soon he was asked to operate at the hospital of Yeniseisk, where in 1924 he successfully performed the world’s first kidney transplantation from animal (calf) to man. In addition, he performed ophthalmological surgical operations, gynaecological, child- surgical and neurosurgical ones, while at the same time endlessly examining and treating large number of outpatients at the hospital and at his prison. At the same time, he used to teach new surgical techniques to his colleagues and young doctors, who accepted him with great respect, veneration and gratitude for his precious contribution to their medical and surgical practice. The inhabitants loved and adored him exceedingly.

Later on, he was transported to the remote village of Khaya on the river Chunya, a tributary of the Angara,^[24] the final destination of his exile, where he continued to practice surgery, despite the lack of medical and surgical equipment, performing, among others, ophthalmological operations.^[25] However, in the summer, he was taken back to Yeniseisk where he was able to operate at the hospital and to serve the liturgy in an old monastery.

Due to his ecclesiastical activities, the authorities decided to transfer him further north than Yeniseisk to the city of Turukhansk^[26] under unbearable conditions. Bishop Luke continued to practice surgery at the small local hospital without any instruments apart from a small pocketknife. Patients gathered at Turukhansk from every district of Siberia looking for the physician of the soul and body, the good shepherd, the real bishop in type of Christ. His preaching activities, as well as his spiritual and moral support of the patients again pushed the local political authorities to transport him even further north to the frozen village of Plahin. In Turukhansk, the people unanimously demanded that their shepherd and doctor be returned. Thus, the authorities were obliged under public pressure to bring him back in the hospital of Turukhansk, where he worked with all his heart for eight months, treating Russians and Tungusic patients.^[27]

Finally, he was allowed to establish himself in Krasnoyarsk.^[28] In the hospital of this city, Bishop Luke started from the first day to proceed in surgical operations and to treat people with various diseases and injuries. He performed iridectomy, removed the lacrimal sac under local anaesthesia, and proceeded to resection of the upper jaw; he performed large laparotomies, gynaecological operations and many other surgical procedures within the spectrum of the general surgery. Since his sentence was at the end, he was allowed to return to Tashkent by train. He performed his duties as bishop of the Orthodox Church under incredible difficulties, ironies, and functional problems caused by the authorities. He continued to treat patients in his episcopal residency, since he was not given a position in the university of Tashkent at that time.

In April 1930, Bishop Luke was arrested again on an alleged charge of incitement to murder and, following a long and very tough interrogation demanding a full renunciation of his priestly orders, he was transferred to Samara,^[29] to Moscow, then to Kotlas^[30] on the Northern Dvina, in a camp that had acquired the name ‘Makarikha’. Then he was transferred to the city hospital to serve as surgeon and later on he was transported to Archangel^[31] by steamer.

Upon arriving in Archangel, he realized that was practically homeless. Nevertheless, he performed surgical operations at the local hospital in a large outpatient clinic. He operated on a breast cancer patient, undertaking a radical operation despite the serious hesitations of the other doctors.

Bishop Luke gradually started having serious health problems due to the unbearable conditions of his life in exile. He suffered from myoskeletal disorders and developed myocarditis, causing heart insufficiency. In addition, he developed a benign tumour, which was excised by professor Petrov in Leningrad. Later bishop Luke had a retinal detachment in his left eye.^[32] He returned once more to his place of exile in Archangel and refused to accept a professional chair in Moscow as he refused to resign from the clergy.^[33] He remained in Archangel for six more months, treating patients and performing serious surgical operations. He was eventually released at the end of 1933.

Bishop Luke spent some years looking for appropriate places for scientific work and beneficial surgical practice for the suffering people of Russia. Finally, he established himself in Tashkent, where he worked with great enthusiasm, writing his textbook entitled ‘Notes on the Surgical Treatment of Purulent Wounds’.

In 1937, a terrible persecution started against the Orthodox Church by Yezhov^[34] who was appointed as head of the Moscow GPU. Bishop Luke was arrested once more and subjected to undescribed humiliation and tortures for thirteen days, among which the ‘conveyer belt’ was considered potent method of efficient interrogation. He went on a hunger strike for many days and experienced multiple tactile and visual hallucinations. Although the bishop was drained of all strength by the hunger strike and the conveyer belt, he continued to resist and to honour his faith and his principles with strength, courage and perseverance. It seems incredible, but he even continued to treat patients and to help people physically and psychologically, having unextinguished mercy of them.

In 1939, they charged him again with another three years of exile to town of Great Murta. After the invasion of Nazi German troops in Russia in 1941, Bishop Luke sent a telegram to Kalinin, Director of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR writing:

I, Bishop Luke, Professor Voino-Yasenetsky, am serving an exile under article such-and-such in the settlement of Bolshaya Murta in the area of Krasnoyarsk. As a specialist in purulent surgery, I could be of use to the troops at the front or in the rear, wherever I am entrusted to serve. I ask that my exile be interrupted and I be sent to a hospital. At the end of the war, I will be ready to return to exile. Bishop Luke.

His request was granted. Bishop Luke was called to serve as chief surgeon at the army hospital 1515^[35] in Krasnoyarsk, 5,000 km from Moscow, which included ten surgical departments, and he was appointed as advisor to all military hospitals of the area. St Luke offered his services in that hospital for two years. He used to perform about five or six major operations a day, the most serious ones, undertaking the most severely wounded patients^[36] and continuously teaching young doctors. Today, the city’s general hospital bears his name.

Bishop Luke successfully developed ‘the battlefield surgery’, saving the lives of numerous soldiers who were transferred to hospital from various battlefields. After the war, he finished a book entitled ‘Late Resection of Infected Wounds of the Large Joints’, which was submitted together with the large memorable work ‘Notes on the Surgical Treatment of Purulent Wounds’ to be considered for the Stalin Prize.

In January 1944, Bishop Luke was appointed Archbishop of Tambov and Michurinsk. He continued his medical practice in the hospitals and completed his essay on the memorable work ‘The spirit, soul and body’. The Holy Synod, under the Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Sergius, elevated Bishop Luke to the rank of Archbishop and in May 1946 he was elected Archbishop of Simferopol^[37] and Crimea. At the same time, St Luke continued to practice surgery and give consultations in the Army Hospital and Hospital of the Veterans of the Great Patriotic War. He performed the most serious surgical operations on severe and unusual cases and gave lectures on surgery and scientific research at Crimea’s Medical Institute. Unfortunately, in 1956, St Luke lost his sight; however, he worked continuously preaching and serving the Liturgy.

During Chruchstschow’s merciless persecution of the Orthodox Church, St Luke suffered tremendously. He wrote: ‘It’s a martyrdom. I cannot bear it at my age of 80. But with the Lord’s help I will continue my difficult work’.

At the end of his earthly life St Luke gave his last sermon on Lent Sunday. He was very bright, clear, and full of wisdom and grace. In the morning, on Sunday of All Saints, on 11 June 1961, St Luke passed to eternity. He was buried in the All Saints cemetery. On the white marble cross of his grave is simply written: ‘Archbishop Luka Voino-Yasenetsky, Doctor of Medical Science, Professor of Surgery’.^[38]

By a decision of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 1995, Archbishop Luke was glorified as a locally venerated saint. In 1996, St Luke’s relics were transferred to the Holy Trinity Cathedral. In 2000, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church canonized St Luke as a saint throughout the Church. He is commemorated on the 11 June.

St Luke as Professor of Medicine and Surgery

His extensive scientific knowledge, desire for research, endeavour to open new horizons in surgery, unique surgical capacity, courage, perseveration, continuous hard work, devotion to pedagogy, ethical principles and values, and mostly his genuine and pure Christo-centric life, all contribute to St Luke’s unique academic profile. He was sincerely respected and venerated by his medical students, who, following his example, pursued a medical practice full of sacrificial love to suffering human beings. St Luke’s participation in the pain, anxiety, agony, troubles, poverty, sadness, and social rejection of his patients was a source of spiritual power for his students, who realized that the sacred task of medicine consisted in the treatment of the body and soul and the restoration of the homeostasis of the patient.^[39]

St Luke was an exceptionally hard worker, who inspired his students and showed the value of continuous effort and the exploitation of every moment in pursuit of knowledge and the assistance of suffering people, students, young scientists, and generally speaking human society. The medical students as well as the surgeons used to watch him with great respect and attention operating on a large number of serious surgical cases for many hours, endeavouring to achieve perfect surgical results. During eleven years in exile, St Luke continuously taught all the local doctors, focusing his lessons on the theory and practice of surgery as well as on medical ethics. He instructed them practically in the operation room, examining patients and performing surgical operations^[40].

St Luke strongly believed that academic communication and the transmission of knowledge is the ultimate duty of a professor. This duty is not limited to the amphitheater, the teaching hall and the wards, but it should be constantly practiced with patients anywhere, at any time, and in any condition. St Luke’s spiritual and scientific influence on the students and doctors who attended his lectures or studied his textbooks and scientific works was instrumental for their way of life and scientific course. The doctors realized the holiness of the human personhood, the solid and compact psychosomatic entity of the human being, who always suffers both physically and mentally. For this reason, it is essential for the doctor to heal the patient as soul and body, with much compassion and respect. И больному нужно об этом напомнить.Значит, такому человеку дается шанс остановиться у этой черты, оглянуться вокруг и спросить себя: «Что я делаю не так?»

St Luke said that healing means an essential existential restoration of the person who suffers and a radical amelioration of the quality of life of the patient.^[41] Medicine is the science and the discipline that is applied and practiced on the basis of knowledge, wisdom, experience, erudition, and spiritual background of the physician—which are much more important than the laboratory investigation and Архиепископ Лука для меня не только выдающийся хирург, но и личность, пример того, как профессионализм врача сочетается с небывалыми человеческими и духовными качествами.technological equipment.^[42] He taught that the doctor must participate in the pain of the patients with much compassion, communicating with the patient in order to enter the altar of his soul and treat the interior dimension of the pain, which is usually more severe than the physical pain.^[43] Но главное не в этом.He taught his disciples that the doctor must sacrifice himself for the benefit of the patients. He must have sacrificial love and compassion as symbol of knowledge, mercy and benefaction. He must trace new original ways in order to proceed to a successful treatment of the patient and ignore the criticism and irony of his environment. He taught, by his own behaviour and attitude, the value of dignity, self-control, self-knowledge, gratitude, remorse, interior peace, truth, mental strength, kindness, politeness, the spirit of Christian love and the superb value of Orthodox spirituality at any aspect of the life and at any place: at the hospital, amphitheatre, interrogation offices, tribunals, prison, and exile.

St Luke’s beneficial contributions were acknowledged^[44]. In the last years of his life the harmonization of medicine and surgery with his pastoral work of charity and mercy was a special gift, granted by Lord. Another special gift was the love of martyrdom, spiritual transfiguration, and the capacity of healing the psychosomatic entity of his patients. St Luke as Metropolitan of Simferopol received thousands of letters of appreciation and profound gratitude from patients, citizens of Simferopol, clergy, medical students, professionals, and lay people, all extending their respect, gratitude, and veneration for his medical and pastoral contributions. The Archbishop was a real healer of body and soul for all of them.

St Luke as Author

St Luke, in the field of medical science, was the author of textbooks, dissertations, scientific papers on research, original papers on new surgical techniques, reports of unusual cases, and large number of commentaries. His scientific contributions are highly valued up to our present era. His contributions to the field of theology include his unique harmonization of his biological background with biblical and patristic theology^[45].

Medical Works

St Luke’s scientific publications in the field of medicine include hundreds of papers, from 1908 to 1956. He started publishing articles in Russian medical journals and abroad from the very beginning of his career. The majority of the publications are on new surgical methods, unusual cases, regional anaesthesia, the treatment of pyogenic infections, the surgical treatment of infected and septic wounds, the treatment of osteomyelitis, the hematogenous osteomyelitis, the surgical treatment of the diseases of the spinal cord, the excision of tumours of the central nervous system, and the surgical treatment of the disorders of the cranial and spinal nerves.

St Luke’s texts are very clear, precise, analytical, instructive, written with eloquence and linguistic perfection and enriched with hand drawings by the author and extensive references. In his writings, the wisdom, intelligence, knowledge, methodical and systematic mind of the author as well as his high moral principles are clearly apparent. St Luke’s textbook on Pyogenic infections, awarded the Stalin Prize in 1946, was first published in 1934 and then followed by three further editions, the last of which appeared in 1956, five years prior to his death.^[46]

During a period in which the use of antibiotics in Russia was either extremely rare or non-existent, the proper surgical treatment of the pyogenic infections was the only available therapeutic method to ensure the survival of patients who suffered from purulent collections, focal infections, and septic wounds. The unique value of the textbook on pyogenic infections was proved during the great patriotic war in Russia by the application of the surgical methods clearly and instructively described by the author, enabling the treatment and the survival of thousands of wounded soldiers in the army hospitals or on the battlefields during the continuous bloody battles against the German aggressors.

Even today, a time during which the overuse of antibiotics has lead to resistant microbial and fungal infections in intensive care units, wards, and even in operation theatres, the value of St Luke’s textbook remains of profound importance, a fact which is underlined by the many editions and translations in various languages and by the continued application of his medical methods in many surgical departments in East and West^[47].

Works on Theology

His work as theologian, includes his memorable book entitled ‘Дух, душа, тело’ (‘The Spirit, the Soul and the Body’), which might be considered his supreme achievement in science, theology, and philosophy. St Luke began to write that unique work in 1946, when he was already famous,^[48] and he finished it in 1947. In this work, he tried to prove that the human being consists of non-material spirit and soul as well as body. Soul motivates and controls the behaviour and the activities of the human person. His statements were based on detailed extensive literature on physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, psychiatry, philosophy, and biblical and patristic theology. The work reveals Bishop Luke’s extensive scientific knowledge, his philosophical mind, wisdom, and deep Orthodox spiritual background.

In Russia at the beginning of the 20^th century—following the ideological crisis from 1905 to 1917 and the influx of numerous materialistic doctrines and dialectic materialism from Western Europe and the continuous merciless persecution of religion—the young generation felt that it had lost its spiritual background and existential support^[49]. St Luke suffered profoundly from the ideological crisis of his country and the political authority’s tendencies to suppress all spiritual values and principles in society^[50]. He claimed that the spiritual world cannot be investigated using the same methods as the material world; there are phenomena that science will never be able to explain because it does not use the appropriate methods.

His work entitled ‘Science and Religion’ is of unique validity and importance for its confrontation of atheist and materialistic philosophy,^[51] written in clear, elegant language, perfectly expressing the precious ideas and the scientific arguments. This work is the fruit of the harmonious amalgamation of profound and concrete scientific knowledge with the life in Christ and purity of heart in the context of the experience of martyrdom^[52].

St Luke is a unique example of a scientist, doctor, surgeon, professor, mentor, multi-dimensional thinker, intellectual, author, theologian, clergyman, archbishop, man of continuous spiritual elevation, compassion and genuine sacrificial love for others, a martyr who has incorporated all the spiritual beauty of the Orthodox faith, and a man of truth and infinitive interior light.^[53]

Toward the end of his life, on 15 February 1954, celebrating the 30th anniversary of his ordination to diaconate, St Luke wrote :

My thirty-year long journey was difficult and thorny, but at the same time it was also a remarkably blessed one. God’s grace was with me along the way, and my path was illumined by the light of Christ. And it is a joy for me, a very great joy, to have travelled that path. It was a great act of kindness done by God for me. I consider the difficult years of priesthood, soon followed by my service as a bishop, not as burdensome, but as the most blessed, best, happiest, years of my life. I could tell you more still of the wonderful guidance of God’s hand in my life, but ‘I think I have said enough for you to cry out’ with me ‘Glory to our God for ever and ever. Amen.’

 

^[1]  Felix Stanislavovitch Voino Yassenesco (Феликс Станиславович Войно-Ясенецко), a pharmacist, was his father, and Mariya Dmitriyevna was his mother (Мария Дмитриевна). His family included five siblings: Pavel (Павел), Olga (Ольга), Valentin (Валентин), Vladimir (Владимир) and Victoriya (Виктория). (Архиепископ Лука (Войно-Ясенецкий) «Я полюбил страдание…» Автобиография, 1947.

 

^[2]  According to the Primary Chronicle (Nestor’s Chronicle or Nestor’s manuscript), the monastery was founded by an Orthodox monk named Anthony from the Esphigmenou monastery on Mount Athos in the early eleventh century. Antony was settled in Kiev in a cave at the Berestov Mount, called the Cave of Theodosius, and gradually organized a monastic community under the protection of Prince Iziaslav I of Kiev, who ceded the whole mount to the monks. In 1051, Antony called architects from Constantinople in order to build a monastery based on Byzantine architectural style. Among the first disciples were Theodosius and Barlaam. Theodosius was elected abbot (1062–1074) and decided to base the rules of the monastic community on the statute of the Studion Monastery in Constantinople. Gradually, the Lavra of the Kiev Caves (Киево-Печерская Лавра) became the spiritual centre of Kiev’s Russians. During the invasions by the hordes of the Tartars, led by Baty-Khan in the thirteenth century and the subsequent occupation of Kiev, Pertseskaya Lavra was destroyed and evacuated. Most monks took refuge in small caves and in catacombs. In the sixteenth century the monastery was reconstructed and was granted stavropegial status by the Patriarch of Constantinople. In the following years, the monastery flourished greatly and acquired much wealth. Before the Bolsheviks’ assumption of power in 1917, the monastery was home to over one thousand monks and exercised strong spiritual influence on the Russian people. During the Great Patriotic War (World War II), the Russian army decided to mine the Holy Dormition Cathedral, before the advancing German army. In 1961 the monastery was repopulated and functioned again, now home to only one hundred monks. The reconstruction and restoration of the monastery, based on the previous shape and embellishment, started in 1988 and was accomplished during the years 1998–2000. The Lavra is also the site of the Kiev Theological Academy and Seminary. See also Nora Kershaw Chadwick, The Beginnings of Russian History: An Enquiry into Sources (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1946).

 

^[3]  He wrote in his Spiritual Will in 1956: ‘The Lord God has blessed me with different talents. In high school, I finished my studies in the School of Fine Arts in Kiev. I was very talented in arts and I decided to enter the Academy of Fine Arts in Leningrad. But in the middle of exams I abandoned this effort because I thought that I should serve God and His people, in work that is more beneficial than art’. Archbishop Luke, To my three sons, my daughter, my grandchildren and my great grandchildren. My spiritual will, trans. Fr. Constantine J. Simones (Waterford, CT): https://www.impantokratoros.gr/st-luke-spiritual-testament.en.aspx 12/02/20.

 

^[4] In 1898 Valentin was enrolled in the Medical School of Kiev’s University. He was an excellent student, and most enthusiastic from the very beginning of his studies. He was distinguished with excellency in anatomy and surgery. His classmates, who adored and respected him greatly, had been foreseeing with certitude, that he would become professor of Anatomy after graduation shortly. His personality was decorated by an exceptional kindness, genuine politeness and high moral standards. He was characterized by profound orthodox spirit, which motivated his medical ethics, the collaboration with his tutors and classmates and the relationship with people, based always on respect, veneration, compassion, and pure help to every human being, without any social, ethnic, religious or political discrimination. [Νεκτάριος Αντωνόπουλος, Μητρ. Αργολίδος, Αρχιεπίσκοπος Λουκάς, (Νέα Σμύρνη: Ακρίτας, 2008)].

 

^[5]  He wrote in his Spiritual Will: ‘As a rural doctor, I worked for thirteen years twelve to fourteen hours a day. I was thinking seriously of abandoning the rural hospital in order travel to distant villages where the people were poor and dying because of the lack of medical help’.

 

^[6]  The Russo-Japanese War was the final result of a long rivalry between Russia and Japan for the dominance in Far East, and particularly in Korea and Manchuria. Japan, in a previous war with China from 1894–1895, succeeded to grant Korea’s independence. In addition, the Treaty of Shimonoseki, between Japan and China, ceded the Liaodong Peninsula and the island of Taiwan to Japan. In 1898, China, after long negotiations, leased Port Arthur (Lόshun), a seaport of strategic value, to Russia. On 8 February 1904, the Japanese Imperial Navy, under Admiral Togo Heihachiro, attacked the Russian Fleet at Port Arthur, without any formal war declaration, which was only issued three hours later. Numerous sea and land battles occurred between Russian and Japanese forces from February 1904 to late May 1905; the majority of them resulted in Japanese victory (Port Arthur 1904, Chemulpo Bay 1904 ,Yalu River 1904, Nanshan 1904, Telissu 1904, Motien Pass 1904, Ta-shih-chiao 1904, Hsimucheng 1904, Yellow Sea 1904, Ulsan 1904, Port Arthur 1905, Liaoyang 1904, Shaho 1904, Sandepu 1905, Mukden 1905, Tsushima 1905). During the war, Russians suffered disproportionate casualties by the continuous Japanese attacks. The naval Battle in the Tsushima Strait on May 27–29 1905 gave Japan the final decisive victory and brought the Russian government to peace negotiations. During the peace conference at Portsmouth NH, USA (Aug. 9–Sept. 5, 1905), President Roosevelt served as mediator and earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his effort. In the resulting Treaty signed on 5 September 1905, at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, Japan gained control of the Liaotung Peninsula and Port Arthur, the South Manchurian railroad, and half of Sakhalin Island and Russia recognized Korea as part of the Japanese sphere of influence. Estimates of Russian Army casualties range from around 40,000 to around 70,000 men. The financial and political consequences for Russia were tragic. See also Gary P. Cox, ‘Review of the Russo-Japanese War in Global Perspective: World War Zero’, Journal of Military History 70.1, (2006): 250–251. See also ‘Text of the Treaty; Signed by the Emperor of Japan and Czar of Russia’. New York Times. Oct. 17, 1905.

 

^[7]  The city of Chita (Читá) is the administrative centre of Zabaykalsky Krai, located at the confluence of the Chita and Ingoda Rivers and on the Trans-Siberian Railway, 900 kilometers east of Irkutsk. Today Chita has a population of 324,444 inhabitants mostly of Chinese, Mongolian and Turkic origin. At the time that Valentin offered his medical services, the city used to have a population of 11,000 inhabitants and was a remote place of exile. Chita was occupied by the Japanese between 1918 and 1920. In 1945, Puyi, the last Emperor of China, and some of his associates were held prisoner in the city. The Red Cross Hospital in 1904 included two departments of Surgery, one of which was under Valentin’s direction, who practiced emergent surgery and at the same time also operated on chronic surgical cases. Following his service in Chita, Valentin worked in various provincial hospitals in Siberia under difficult conditions without any laboratory diagnostic support from 1905 to 1910. It is really astonishing that St Luke was able to effectively run a medical practice in those remote areas of Siberia using the most updated textbooks of Medicine and Surgery and applying his original therapeutic methods and innovative surgical techniques. He successfully performed many surgical operations on the brain, eyes, heart, gastrointestinal system, bile ducts, kidneys, spinal vertebrae, joints, and bones. His contributions as physician and surgeon were extensively recognized. Hundreds of patients every day from any region of Russia traveled to him, imploring for his medical help and therapeutic contribution in chronic and incurable diseases. St Luke was very successful on ophthalmological operations. Many blind people regained their vision after surgical intervention by St Luke, a fact which increased his reputation and propagated his fame all over Siberia.

 

^[8]  Pereslavl-Zalessky is a city located in south of Yaroslavl Oblast, 140 km northeast of Moscow at the mouth of the Trubezh River. Today it has a population 41,925 inhabitants. In the past, the city was devastated numerous times by the Mongols between the mid-thirteenth century and the early fifteenth century. At the time that Saint Luke worked as surgeon, the working conditions were dire. The operational equipment of the hospital was primitive, with no electricity, no running water, and no X-ray machine.

 

^[9] Michael, the first child of the family, was born in 1907, the second, Helen, was born on year later.

 

^[10]  Anna passed away at the age of 38 in October of 1919, when the family lived in Tasked. She left four orphans aged six to twelve. She was buried in Tashkent’s cemetery. On her grave, her husband wrote ‘Anna Vasilevna, 38 years old. A pure heart, which passionately sought truth’. Valentine chose Sophia Sergeyevna, one of the faithful nurses, who had been widowed and was without children, to help in raising his children. She treated the children with affection, love, respect and responsibility, offering them an excellent education in the spirit of Orthodoxy. All of them studied at the University. Michael and Valentine studied Medicine with MD and PhD degrees. Alexios studied biological sciences, with postdoctoral qualifications and PhD. Helen studied Medicine and Epidemiology. St Luke wrote about Sophia Sergeyevna to his children in 1956: ‘With a great deal of self-sacrifice and love, she lifted the heavy cross for your care, during those years of the plague. She raised you successfully and gave you a good education’ (Spiritual Will).

 

^[11]  St Luke wrote the dissertation during his stay in Moscow, when he worked under the supervision of Profs Dyakonov and Rain, as an external surgeon in the clinic of Professor Dyakonov. The dissertation, published in 1915 in Petrograd, summarized the results of his extensive surgical experience. He also described the technique of the first regional anesthesia in the lower limbs, performed in Russia, by the infiltration of the sciatic nerve by local anesthetic, therefore interrupting the nerve conduction. In the upper limbs, he applied regional anesthesia by infiltration of the medial nerve by local anesthetic. A year later, in 1916, he defended his thesis and received his medical degree. His knowledge of the anatomy of the nervous system and particularly on the course of peripheral nerves and the distribution of sensation on the human body enabled him to apply regional anesthesia very accurately and successfully. His lectures on regional anesthesia in the Surgical Association of Moscow deeply impressed his colleagues. Martynov a famous surgeon said: ‘When I read your book, I got the impression of singing birds, which can’t help but sing, and I was very impressed’. [Vasily Marushchak, Archdeacon, The Blessed Surgeon: The Life of Saint Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol, (Divine Ascent Press, 2008)].

 

^[12]  He explained that he had studied more than three hundred skulls in order to find the most efficient way to inject the local anesthetic into foramen rotundum in the base of the skull.

 

^[13]  Tashkent (Ташкент, stone city) is the capital of Uzbekistan in Central Asia, located on the Great Silk Road from China to Europe and with an officially registered poly-ethnic population of about 2.5 million inhabitants, the majority being Uzbeks. The name of the city comes from the Kara-Khanid rule in the tenth century. According to an ancient tradition, the city was founded by Alexander the Great (Iskander Bicorn in the Koran) after his victorious expedition against Scythians in 328 BC. In the ninth century Tashkent was a part of the Samanid state. In the tenth–thirteenth centuries, it was under the rule of the Kara-Khanids and the Kara-Khitans. In 1219, Tashkent was captured and destroyed by Genghis Khan and in the fourteenth century the city was conquered by Amir Temur (Tamerlane). In the second half of the sixteenth century, Tashkent was a part of the Bukhara Khanate, and in 1809 it was annexed to the Khanate of Kokand. In 1865, Tashkent was taken by Russian troops led by Chernyayev and annexed to Russia under the crown of Tsar Alexander ΙΙ. In April 1918, Tashkent was declared the capital of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. During the Great Patriotic War, Tashkent became one of the evacuation centres. The Soviet government relocated factories from Western Russia and Ukraine to Tashkent, a fact which led to a great increase in industry. During the war, the city attracted hundreds of thousands of people, providing them with food and work, leading to its being called the ‘City of Bread’. After gaining independence in 1991, Tashkent remained the capital of the Republic of Uzbekistan and in 2007 it gained the title of ‘Cultural capital of the Islamic world’.

 

^[14]  Stavros J. Baloyannis, ‘The psychological background of the behavioral disorders of the man of our times’, Gregory Palamas 76 (1996): 41–651.

 

^[15]  The member of the personnel was a certain Andrey, a hospital morgue attendant who had a personal grudge against Valentine.

 

^[16]  Holy Assumption Cathedral Church (Uspensky Cathedral) of Tashkent was built in 1871 and is the first Orthodox Church in Central Asia. During the early Soviet period, the cathedral was closed and used as a storehouse and garage. After World War II, in December 1945, the church was returned to believers. Although 87% of Uzbekistan’s citizens follow the Sunni Islamic tradition, 5% of the total population are Orthodox. As such, Tashkent has four Orthodox Churches: St Uspensky Sobor Assumption Cathedral, Cathedral of Saint Blessed Prince Aleksandr Nevsky, The Cathedral of Equal-to-the-Apostles Great Prince Vladimir, and Holy Martyr Patriarch Ermogen Cathedral. The Orthodox Church of Tashkent was established in 1871 and with Dushanbe (2011) and Bishkek (2011) belong today to the Central Asian metropolitan district of the Russian Orthodox Church.

 

^[17]  The history of Surgery in Russia runs parallel with that of the other European Countries. The first Hospital in Moscow was founded in 1682 and was affiliated with the School of Medicine in 1706. Medical and surgical schools were founded in St Petersburg in 1798, in Kharkov, in Kazan in 1804 and in Kiev in 1841. The first Russian professor of surgery was I. F. Bush, who wrote the first textbook of Surgery in Russian in 1807. The most famous Russian professor of Surgery was N. I. Pirogov (1810–1881), who separated chairs of topographical anatomy, histology, and surgery. He applied ether anaesthesia for the first time in 1847 and introduced antisepsis in Russia. He also invented the plaster cast, thus saving thousands of soldiers from amputation during the Crimean war. Pirogov honoured the principle of ‘living on Earth not just for yourself but also for others’. In addition, he was the father of osteoplastic and plastic surgery in Russia. The Moscow Surgical Society was created in 1873. During the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) Russian surgeons contributed greatly in operating on soldiers at the battlefields and treating millions of wounded people. In the field of neurosurgery, Burdenko, Graschenko Lena Stern are renowned for their pioneer research and diagnostic methods.

 

^[18]  The corpses were brought to Tashkent’s University every day from the district of Volga due to numerous deaths caused by inflammation, bacterial infections, and starvation, factors which practically devastated the local population.

 

^[19]  The State Stalin Prize (Государственная Сталинская премия), called the Stalin Prize, existed from 1941 to 1954, when it changed to that of USSR State Prize. The Stalin Prize (with first, second, and third order) was awarded annually to distinguished authors in the fields of science, mathematics, literature, arts, and architecture to honour the most prominent achievements that advanced civilization and honoured the Soviet Union. The award ceremonies for the Stalin Prize were held twice a year in January and June. The Stalin Prize was also awarded to the neurosurgeons Nikolai Bourdenko (Николáй Нилович Бурдéнко), Alexandr Vishnyevski (Вишневский), and Nikolai Bernshtyein (Николай Александрович Бернштейн). Bishop Luke was awarded the Stalin Prize in the first order in 1946 for his scientific contribution entitled ‘Notes on the Surgical Treatment of Purulent Wounds’ and ‘Sketches on the Contaminated Surgery’. In 1946, Stalin himself ordered the publication of the second edition of his book. On 27 January 1946, ‘Pravda’ published the names of the scientists who were awarded with the Stalin Prize, which were included in an article entitled ‘Glory to those who are awarded with Stalin’s Prize, the pioneers of the popular soviet doctrines’. The sum of the prize raised to 200,000 rubles. In a telegram to Stalin, Bishop Luke asked that 130,000 rubles should be offered to orphans, victims of Nazi invasion. Stalin accepted the proposals and extended all his gratitude to Bishop Luke for his benefaction and solidarity to orphans. Bishop Luke received the Prize in Crimea in December 1946.

 

^[20]  The schism of Renovations started when priests from Moscow and Petrograd led by archpriest Alexander Vedensky rose up against Patriach Tikhon. Then the clergy in Russia was divided into two parties: those who were faithful to the Orthodox Church and Patriarch Tikhon and those who became part of the ‘living’ church, led by Vedensky. Archbishop Innocent insisted fervently that it was essential to remain faithful to the Orthodox Church and Patriarch Tikhon. Bishop Luke always remained faithful and devoted to Patriarch Tikhon and the Russian Orthodox Church (Поспеловский ДВ. Русская православная церковь в XX веке. М., 1995. С. 197–198).

 

^[21]  The city of Panjakent is close to Samarkand. Two bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church participated in the consecration of Archbishop Luke, Bishop Daniel Troitsky of Volkhovo, and the Bishop of Suzdal, With the title Bishop of Barnaul, Patriarch Tikhon declared the consecration valid immediately.

 

^[22]  In Moscow, Bishop Luke visited Patriarch Tikhon, who suggested he continue his medical mission and help the suffering people in those dark days of persecution, prophesying that ‘The night will be very long and very dark’. Patriarch Tikhon passed to eternity on 25 May 1925. (Marushchak, The Blessed Surgeon).

 

^[23]  Yeniseysk (Енисейск) is a small city in Krasnoyarsk Krai in Central Siberia on the Yenisei River with a population of 19,000 inhabitants. Yeniseyk, founded in 1619, and played an important role in the Russian colonization of Siberia. The climate of the city is subarctic, with very long and extremely cold winters.

 

^[24] The Angara River (Ангарá) is the river that drains Lake Baikal. The length of the river is 1,779 km. Angara, passing the cities of Irkutsk, Angarsk, Bratsk, enters the Krasnoyarsk Krai and flows into the Yenisei river.

 

^[25]  In Khaya, Bishop Luke successfully carried out an operation on an elderly man with a cataract in an abandoned hut on a narrow bench under the window.

 

^[26]  Turukhansk (Турухáнск) is a small city in Turukhansky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, with a population of 4,700 inhabitants, located 1,474 km north of Krasnoyarsk at the confluence of the Yenisey and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The town was founded in 1607 by Cossacks. In Tsarist Russia, as well as in the Soviet period, Turukhansk was recognized as a destination for political exile.

 

^[27]  Tungusic peoples, Evenks (Эвенки) or Tungus, are inhabitants of Eastern Siberia speaking Tungusic languages and leading a nomadic style of life. They are distinct from Mongols and Turkic peoples. The largest group of Tungusic peoples are the Manchu people, originated from Manchuria. Evenks live mostly in Russia in the Baikal region. 2–3% of Tungusic people have Mitochondrial DNA of Y origin. See also Alan Wood and R.A. French, Development of Siberia: People and Resources (New York: St. Martin’s, 1989).

 

^[28] The city of Krasnoyarsk (Красноярск) is the administrative centre of Krasnoyarsk Krais on the Yenisei River. The population today is more than one million. According to Anton Chekhov Krasnoyarsk, the third largest city in Siberia is also the most beautiful city. The city was founded in 1628 by Russians as a fortress. In the nineteenth century, Krasnoyarsk was the center of the Siberian Cossack movement. In Tsarist Russia, the city was a place of political exile. Krasnoyarsk has the fifth largest hydroelectric power station in the world and the second largest in Russia. Today the city is a prominent scientific and educational centre of Siberia. The climate is continental with long and very cold winters. See also Anton Chekhov, The Crooked Mirror and Other Stories (Zebra Book, 1995), 200.

 

^[29]  Samara (Самара), the previous Kuybyshev (Куйбышев), is the administrative, social, political, economic, industrial, and cultural centre of Samara Oblast. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers on the east bank of the Volga. Samara is the sixth largest city in Russia, with a total population of 1,165,000 inhabitants.

 

^[30]  Kotlas (Кoтлас) is a town in Arkhangelsk Oblast, situated located at the confluence of the Northern Dvina and Vychegda Rivers. The population of the town is 60,500 inhabitants. From 1930 to 1953, Kotlas was among the places of exile with labour camps for criminals and political detainees.

 

^[31]  Archangel (Архaнгельск), is the administrative centre of Arkhangelsk Oblast, in the north of European Russia, situated on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near the White Sea. The population of the city is 350,000 inhabitants. For years, the area of Arkhangelsk has been the subject of rivalry between Norwegian and Russian interests in the northern seas. The city resisted Bolshevik rule from 1918 to 1920 Arkhangelsk has a typical subarctic climate.

 

^[32]  For the retinal detachment, Bishop Luke was operated on by professor Odintsov in Moscow. Odintsov at that time applied the surgical method of the Swiss ophthalmologist Prof. Gopen.

 

^[33]  He wrote: ‘They demand that I remove my ryassa. I will never do so. It, my ryassa, will be with me to my very death… I help people as a physician, and I help them as a servant of the Church….’

 

^[34]  Bishop Luke wrote ‘…The Yezhov regime was truly horrifying. At the interrogations, those under arrest were even subjected to torture. They invented something they called “conveyor interrogation,” which I had to endure twice… The Cheka interrogators took turns [working in shifts], and the person being interrogated was not allowed to sleep, day or night…’ Nikolai Yezhov or Ezhov (Николáй Иванович Ежóв, 1895–1940) was a secret police official during the most severe period of Stalin’s Great Purge. He was very powerful but gradually he plunged into alcoholism and was replaced from his post by Beria. On February 2, 1940, Yezhov was tried by the Military Collegium as being spy, terrorist and conspirator and he had been condemned to death. He was shot on 4 February 1940. (M. Jansen, N. Petrov, Stalin’s Loyal Executioner: People’s Commissar Nikolai Ezhov, 1895–1940, (Hoover Institution Press, 2002); A. Kudrinskikh, Nikolai Yezhov: Bloody dwarf, (Moscow, 2006).

 

^[35] The hospital, which had been previously intended for use as a school, occupied three floors of a large building. The hospital included 1,000 beds and many departments with 20 doctors. Bishop Luke organized a new department of 100 beds for traumatic surgery and orthopedics.

 

^[36] After the war, he was awarded a medal ‘For valiant effort in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945’ (За доблестный труд в Великой Отечественной войне 1941–1945 гг.). The bishop, upon receiving the medal, in his response speech, underlined: ‘I brought back to life and health hundreds, perhaps thousands injured men. I would have helped many more, if you had not grabbed me for no reason at all, and not dragged to eleven years of prison. How much time has been lost and how many people are not saved. But that is not my fault’ (Я вернул жизнь и здоровье сотням, а может, и тысячам раненых и наверняка помог бы еще многим, ес ли бы вы не схватили меня ни за что ни про что и не таскали бы одиннадцать лет по острогам и ссылкам. Вот сколько времени потеряно и сколько людей не спасено отнюдь не по моей вине). The Bishop used to teach his colleagues that for a surgeon, there is not an ‘instance’ but only a living, suffering person. He told patients after a successful treatment: ‘It was God Who healed you through my hands. Pray to Him’.

 

^[37] Simferopol and Crimea (Taurida) Eparchy was founded in 1859. For Russians Crimea is the cradle of Orthodoxy, since this is where the Apostle Andrew used to preach the Gospel and, in 988, Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Prince Vladimir accepted holy baptism. Simferopol (Симферополь), located in the south-central portion of the Crimean Peninsula, is the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. It is an important political, economic, and cultural center, with a population of 340,000. It was raised on an ancient Scythian city at the Scythian Neapolis that was under continuous Greek cultural influence. After the annexation of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian Empire, the city’s name was changed from the Tatarian Aqmescit to Simferopol. The hospital of the city was founded during the Crimean war (Восточная война, 1854–1856). During World War II, Simferopol was occupied by Nazi Germans (November 1941 to April 1944). Germans in that period killed over 22,000 locals (Jews, Russians, Krymchaks, and Gypsies) in Simferopol. On 16 March 2014 the Crimea peninsula was annexed to Russia. Simferopol is the seat of the largest university in Simferopol and Crimea, the Taurida V. Vernadsky National University, founded in 1917. Crimea State Medical University named after S. I. Georgievsky is also one of the most prominent medical schools of Ukraine.

 

^[38]  АРХИЕПИСКОП ЛУКА ВОЙНО-ЯСЕНЕЦКИЙ

27/IV 1877—11/VI 1961

Доктор медицинских наук, профессор хирургии

^[39]  Stavros J. Baloyannis, ‘Human Enhancement from the Orthodox point of view’ in Theo Boer and Richard Fischer, eds, Scientific, Ethical and Theological Aspects from a European Perspective (Strasbourg: CEC, 2015), 119–128. Stavros J. Baloyannis, ‘The philosophy of Dementia’, Encephalos 47(2010): 109–130.

 

^[40]  Варшавский С, Змойро И. Архиепископ Лука Войно-Ясенецкий Доктор медицины, профессор хирургии,лауреат.Журнал “Звезда Востока”, № 4, 1989 г. 18 (27).

 

^[41]  Elisabeth Vladimirov (Елизавета ВЛАДИМИРОВА) wrote in July 2011 ‘Archbishop Luke was not for me just an outstanding surgeon, but he was also an outstanding personality, an example of how the physician professionalism, combined with unprecedented human and spiritual qualities is much beneficial to patients. His modus operandi is well known to patients, he formulated his “shining one, burning myself.” Patients really stood for him in the first place among all—family, friends … and it defines it all. Why did he leave a deep mark in the history of surgery? Because he pursued a gradual path of development. He started from the position of an ordinary Zemsky doctor. For many hours he operated patients. A parallel pursuit was engaged in science—he studied anatomy, physiology, pain management issues. And when a person studies all those fields and has a real scientific background he plots an ideal profile of physician. I am convinced that this is Medicine primarily…And in addition to scientific background there is another face of his personality—the Orthodox faith…And faith allowed him to look at the patient much broader… One of his books is called “Spirit, soul, body.” He was actually the first scientist and physician who wrote in terms of Medicine, that the spirit of man is his life giving force… and that this spirit must not be ignored by a doctor, when he is dealing with patients…Behind these beautiful words is one simple thing—we should not treat the disease, but the patient…The older generation of doctors are accustomed to communicate with patients. We have sensory perception of the patient. It is impossible to work without compassion and without attempts to cure, but also to understand the patient. Is it possible today to live and work according to St Luke paradigm? …St Luke wrote that faith helped him to overcome all the difficulties… He lived in a crude hut, where it was so cold that froze the water in the bucket. He writes that he constantly prayed, “If it were not for the prayer – I would not have survived”’. See also Елизавета ВЛАДИМИРОВА, ведущий научный сотрудник отделения торако-абдоминальной хирургии НИИ скорой помощи им. Н. В. Склифосовского: УРОКИ СВЯТИТЕЛЯ ЛУКИ Архив статей журнала ФОМА №7(99), июль2011.И вот на фоне медицинских знаний особую важность приобретает еще одна грань его личности—православная вера.А еще вера позволяла ему смотреть на пациента намного шире многих его коллег: видеть в больном не только больное тело, но и различать болезнь духа.За этими красивыми словами стоит одна простая вещь—мы должны лечить не болезнь, а больного.

 

^[42]  St Luke, at the age of eighty and totally blind, could still diagnose the cause of the continuous deterioration of the physical condition of a child only by listening to the case history, treating him subsequently with great success [(Shevchenko Priest Georgi, Greetings from Holy Hierarch St. Luke, Beloved Physician, (St Petersburg: Nauka, 2009)].

 

^[43]  He wrote to his children in 1956: ‘In your scientific endeavors and in your efforts to study the mysteries of nature, you should not look for your own glory but only to lessen the pain of your sick and helpless fellow human beings’.(Архиепископ Лука (Войно-Ясенецкий) «Я полюбил страдание».” Автобиография, Издательство сестричества во имя Святителя Игнатия Ставропольского 2011)

 

^[44]  Kimmer E. Archiepiscop Luka Vojno-Jaseneckij. K 100-letiju so dnja rozdenija, in: ZMP 1977, 4, 55–63.

 

^[45]  Ветелев А. “Архиепископ Лука”. Некролог и фото. «ЖМП» 1961, № 8, с. 35–38.

 

^[46]  Among the many scientific publications, the following are of great importance: (i) ‘Elephantiasis of the face to neurofibromatosis’, published in Surgery in 1908 (‘Невроматозный элефантиаз лица, плексиформная неврома’, Хирургия [1908]), (ii) ‘The proper methods of anesthesia for the surgical operations in rural areas’ medical Journal 1908 (‘О способах анестезии, наиболее удобных в земской практике’, Врачебная газета [1908]), (iii) ‘The application of regional anesthesia in the cervical, mandibular and tongue’s ‘surgical operations’ Proceedings of Moscow’s Surgical Association, 1909 (‘Регионарная анестезия при операциях шеи, языка и верхней челюсти’, Труды Московского хирургического общества [1909]), (iv) ‘Regional anesthesia’, Proceedings of Tabov’s Society of Medical Physiology 1909, (‘Регионарная анестезия’, Труды Тамбовского физиологического медицинского общества [1909]), (v) ‘Hematogenous pleural sarcoma’ Surgery 1910 (‘Кровяная саркома ребра’, Хирургия [1910]), (vi) ‘On surgical operation of the fractures of the spinal column’ Surgery 1910 (‘Об оперативном лечении переломов позвоночника’, Хирургия [1910]), (vii) ‘A review of the surgical contribution in the Hospital of the district Romanov during 1909–1910’, (Отчет о хирургической работе Романовской земской больницы за 1909–1910), (viii) ‘On the primary osteomyelitis of the spinal column’ Surgery 1911 (‘О первом остром остеомиелите позвоночника’, Хирургия [1911]), (ix) ‘Bilateral lesion of Vagus nerve’, Surgery 1911 (‘Двустороннее повреждение блуждающего нерва’, Хирургия [1911]), (x) ‘Zweiter Fall von vorubergehender Erblindung nach Novocain Adrenalininjektion in Augenhohle’, Zentrablatt fur Chirurgie (1911), (xi) ‘A review of the surgical contribution in the Hospital of the Pereyaslavl district’, 1911 (Отчет о хирургической работе Переяславльской земской больницы. 1911), (xii) ‘Litungsanasthesie des nervus ischiaticus’, Zentralblatt fur Chirurgie (1912), (xiii) ‘A review of the surgical contribution in the Hospital of the Pereyaslavl district during the years 1912–1913’ (Отчет о хирургической работе Переяславльской земской больницы. 1912–1913гг), (xiv) ‘Regional anaestesia of the sciatic and medial nerves’, Proceedings of the twefth Congress of Russian Surgeons, in 1912, (‘Регионарная анестезия седалищного и срединного нервов’, Труды XII съезда русских хирургов [1912 г].), (xv) ‘A review of the surgical contribution in the Hospital of the Pereyaslavl district in 1914’ (Отчет о хирургической работе Переяславльской земской больницы 1914), (xvi) ‘O surgical excision of brain tumors’ Proceedings of Kiev’s Surgical Society in 1914 (‘К казуистике оперативного лечения опухолей мозга’, Труды Киевского хирургического общества [1914 г]), (xvii) ‘Regional anesthesia in the surgical treatment of hand cysts’. Medical Journal 1915 (‘Регионарная анестезия кисти руки’, Врачебная газета [1915]), (xviii) Regional anesthesia. Doctoral Dissertation, (‘Регионарная анестезия’ Докторская диссертация), (xix) ‘Treatment of the alteration of the pleural cartilages’ Surgical Messenger 1923 (‘Кариозные процессы в реберных хрящах и их оперативное лечение’, Вестник хирургии за [1923 г]), (xx) ‘Uber das Unterbinden der Gefae bei Extirpation der Milz’, Zeitschift fur Chirurgie (1923), (xxi) ‘Surgical treatment of the pyogenic infections of the large joints’ Surgical Messenger, 1924, (‘Артротомии при гнойных воспалениях больших суставов’, Вестник хирургии [1924]) (xxii) ‘Topographic anatomy of inguinal and exterior loin lymph nodes and the method of their surgical excision’ Tourkmenic Medical Journal, Volume I, (2) (‘Топография паховых и наружных подвздошных лимфатических желез и техника оперативного удаления их’, Туркмен. медицин. журнал 1.2 (xxiii) ‘The dangers of Mamburg’s method’, Tourkmenic Medical Journal, Volume I (7). (‘Опасности способа Мамбурга’, Туркмен. медицин. журнал 1.7, (xxiv) ‘The treatment of purulent collections by Balnev’s cataplasms’, Surgery 1957: 127–135, (‘Лечение гнойных воспалений катаплазмами Вальневой’, Хирургия 8 [1957]: 127–135), (xxv) ‘Essays on the surgery of purulent collections’ 1^st Edition 1934, 2^nd Edition 1943 (Очерки гнойной хирургии”. I-е издание, 1934,2-е издание, 1943), (xxvii) ‘Our experience on the treatment of osteomyelitis, due to wounds from guns, in the advanced army hospitals’ 1943, (Наш опыт лечения огнестрельного остеомиелита в госпиталях глубокого тыла. 1943), (xxviii) ‘Late excisions of the joints in cases of purulent wounds from guns’, Moscow 1944 (Поздние резекции при инфицированных огнестрельных ранениях суставов. Москва, 1944),(xxix) ‘On the septic wounds’ Proceedings of the Voronez’ army hospital 1945 (О раневом сепсисе. Сборник трудов Воронежского военного округа, 1945, (xxx) ‘On hematogenous osteomyelitis’ 1946–1947 (О гематогенном остеомиелите. 1946–1947), (xxxi) ‘On the treatment of chronic purulent collections caused by guns’, 1947 (О лечении хронических эмпием плевры после огнестрельных ранений. 1947), (xxxii) ‘On pathogenesis and treatment of callus’, Soviet Medicine 1953, 1 (‘Патогенез и терапия мозолей’, Советская медицина 1 [1953]), (xxxiii) ‘Essays on surgery of pyogenic infections’. 3^rd Edition 1956 (Очерки гнойной хирургии“. 3-е издание, 1956).

 

^[47]  Кузионов Пётр Васильевич: Выдающийся хирург ХХ века архиепископ Лука, профессор В.Ф. Войно-Ясенецкий Газета Санкт-Петербургской государственной медицинской академии им. И.И. Мечникова № 86 17 июня 2005 г.

 

^[48]  At that time, his bust stood in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, and the New York Times published his exceptional biography.

 

^[49]  Shevchenko, Greetings from Holy Hierarch St. Luke, (St Petersburg: Nauka, 2009).

 

^[50]  Kimmer E. Archiepiscop Luka Vojno-Jaseneckij. K 100-letiju so dnja rozdenija, in: ZMP 1977, 4, 55–63.

 

^[51]  St Luke decided to write a book with the crucial subject ‘Science and Religion’ during his studies at the University of Kiev. He accomplished his task later in his life, as priest and bishop. As medical student he noticed the major contradictions among students on the relation between religion and scientific knowledge. He knew also the fervent search for the truth by the students who were confused by all new concepts nourished by the works of Darwin, Haeckel, His, Mendeleev, the theory of relativity by Einstein as well as the recent technological achievements. Haeckel (1834–1919), whose ideas exercised a strong influence on young scientists in Russia, wrote: ‘When we examine contemporary science as it was developed by scientists such as Lamark and Darwin, we realize the existent antithesis or rather the complete disagreement between science and religion, on topics concerning the more basic questions of existence and knowledge. For this reason, an enlightened mind cannot accept in association both of them and must make his choice between religion and science’. St Luke accepted the validity of the science and insisted that there is no contradiction between science and religion. Many very famous scientists were at the same time great believers, such as Copernicus, Newton, Pasteur, Pavlov and others. He wrote ‘We cannot pose limitation of the human mind in searching the nature. But we know, that today science knows only a small part of the phenomena of the nature. We also understand the great potentiality of science’. However, St Luke underlined that apart from the nature and the material world, there is an infinite superior spiritual world and above the spiritual world there is the Great and Almighty God. The spiritual world cannot be investigated with the methodology of research for the material world. Such methods are totally inappropriate to approach and analyze the spiritual world. In the spiritual world, only faith can understand many miraculous phenomena. For a further understanding of the spiritual phenomena, the human mind and heart have to be enlightened by grace in faith, light, and mental purity. Otherwise, outside the faith the thinker cannot understand anything. St Luke emphasized ‘Don’t become scandalized when you hear what some scientist say about religion, since they themselves cannot understand its essence… Guard this truth like the best treasure of the heart, walk straight without looking right or left’. Первое произведение выдержало в 90-е годы XX века более десятка изданий. После падения коммунистической доктрины образовался вакуум государственной идеологии. Об этом – труд святителя Луки “Наука и религия” – уникальное произведение, не имеющее аналогов ни в отечественной, ни в зарубежной литературе.У отца Валентина (доктора медицинских наук, профессора, хирурга) всегда находились весомые, яркие контраргументы.”Религия потому движет науку, что в религиозном опыте мы вступаем в контакт с вечным Разумом, Голосом мира. Кто любит Бога, тому дано знание от Него. Не потому ли часть великих открытий и изобретений принадлежит тем, которые были и великими учеными, и великими христианами… Самые качества упорного исследования – самоотверженный труд, вера в конечный результат, смирение – являются более всего продуктами религии. … Наука без религии – небо без солнца. А наука,облеченная светом религии, – это вдохновенная мысль, пронизывающая ярким светом тьму этого мира. Я свет миру. Кто последует за Мной, тот не будет ходить во тьме, но будет иметь свет жизни ~ так говорит Христос. И теперь понятно, почему в жизни ученых религия играла такую выдающуюся роль. Профессор Деннерт пересмотрел взгляды 262 известных естествоиспытателей, включая великих ученых этой категории, и оказалось, что из них 2% было людей нерелигиозных, 6% равнодушных и 92% горячо верующих (среди них Роберт Майер, К.Э. Бэр, Гауе, Эйлер и другие)”.В 1949 году святитель на Пасху приехал в Москву в командировку и две недели очень интенсивно работал в научной библиотеке, о чем в конце мая пишет сыну Алексею: “За две недели, работая в медицинской библиотеке по шесть часов в день, я с отличным успехом проделал огромную работу: просмотрел и прочитал 450 литературных источников по регионарной анестезии и все на иностранных языках. Теперь остается прочитать в Симферополе статьи в русских журналах, часть английской книги на 200 страниц… остается написать 75-100 страниц, и будет новая книга…”Через три года, в 1952 году, весной святитель снова приезжает в Москву и проводит в научных библиотеках несколько чрезвычайно напряженных и плодотворных недель.Сверхнапряженная работа в библиотеках окончательно подорвала зрение единственного зрячего глаза.Это ускорило наступление слепоты.А осенью 1952 года в письме сыну Алексею сообщает, что учится писать на ощупь.Развернувшаяся в СССР в 1950-1952 годах борьба с космополитизмом и антипатриотизмом задела и Церковь.А кому как не святителю Луке, перенесшему пытки и муки в тюрьмах, ссылках и лагерях, лучше всех известны были политические обвинения властей?

 

^[52]  Vladimir Gluschenkov, Holy Hierarch St. Luke – A Look into the Future / With the Blessing of Most-holy Patriarch Alexey II of Moscow and All Russia, (Poltava Diocese: Holy Transfiguration Mgara Monastery, 2002). Лисичкин В.А. Лука врач возлюбленный. Жизнеописание святителя и хирурга Луки (Войно-Ясенецкого). Издательство Московской Патриархии 2009.

 

^[53]  He wrote in 1956: ‘The nine volumes of my sermons have been recognized by the Spiritual Academy of Moscow as unique in contemporary ecclesiastical theology and a treasure of commentary on the Holy Bible’.