Venerable Luke of Hellas

Luke was born in Kastorion in Phocis, central Greece, to Stephen and Euphrosyne, whose family had come from the island of Aegina to escape Arab raids. As a child, his Life says, he already lived on bread, water and vegetables and took no food at all on Wednesdays and Fridays. He tended sheep and worked the fields, and at fourteen, with his mother's blessing, he left home to live as a hermit.

He spent the rest of his life in solitude in the mountains of Hellas and at last settled near Steiris, on the slopes of Mount Helicon. Disciples and visitors gathered around him. He died on 7 February, c. 946 (some date it to 953), and was buried in his cell, which became a church. The monastery of Hosios Loukas, famous for its mosaics, grew up around his tomb.