The Apostle Luke is mostly known as one of the four Evangelists. In fact, he told us more than the other three about our Lord’s childhood, as well as about His mother Mary.

It is a known fact that Saint Luke was also an artist. It is said, that he was the only person who painted a few images of the Theotokos while she was alive. This makes St Luke the first iconographer. However, some people believe that there is no proof that the icons in question have actually been painted by the Apostle.

The Bible doesn’t mention St Luke’s paintings. The only piece of information about Luke’s profession that the New Testament gives us is that the evangelist was a doctor. This is due to the fact that the Bible contains the information needed for our salvation and spiritual guidance. St Luke’s talent for icon painting doesn’t really fall under that category, though it would be great to know for sure whether he painted some of the famous icons of the Virgin Mary.

The Tradition of the Orthodox Church says that he did. First of all, multiple historical documents prove this fact. Historian Theodorus Lector mentions St Luke drawing the Virgin; Saint Andrew of Crete wrote about St Luke depicting both Mary and Christ; Saint Simeon the Metaphrast, historian and the author of many biographies of saints, mentioned one icon of the Virgin Mary holding Christ. He said that it was painted by St Luke and is “honored even to this day.”

Saint Demetrius of Rostov wrote the Life of the Apostle Luke and this brilliant gem of Russian hagiographic literature is the source that gives some more information about Saint Luke as the first iconographer.

St Demetrius used various ancient texts about Saint Luke and compiled them together into a comprehensive biography of the Apostle. He wrote, that everything started with St Luke painting Mary. The icon showed the Virgin holding baby Jesus in her arms. He got inspired and later painted three more similar images of the Theotokos. Those are the four icons of Mary, the Mother of God, that are attributed to Saint Luke. 

Excerpt of article from St. Elisabeth Convent, link to full article below…