Section 07: Archbishop of Simferopol

This section covers the last and longest settled period of St. Luke’s life: the fifteen years as Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea, from his appointment in 1946 to his repose in 1961. The two files cover, first, the Crimean episcopate itself — the rebuilding of a devastated diocese, the gradual loss of his sight and his continuing to serve and preach blind, and his firmness when Khrushchev’s renewed antireligious campaign fell on the Church after 1958; and second, his vast corpus of sermons — over a thousand of them, hundreds preserved, composed by dictation after he went blind — which made him one of the great preachers of the twentieth-century Russian Church even as the state tried to silence its pulpits.

Tradition: Russian Orthodox / New Martyrs and Confessors (canonized 2000)

Contents

File Topic
Crimea (1946–1961) The 1946 appointment to Simferopol and Crimea; rebuilding a war-ravaged diocese; the progressive loss of sight and serving blind; firmness under Khrushchev’s 1958–1964 antireligious campaign; the last years
The Sermons The corpus of well over a thousand sermons across thirty-eight years, hundreds preserved in twelve volumes; preaching and composing by dictation after blindness; the character of his preaching as a great pulpit ministry under persecution

How to Use

  • Read Crimea (1946–1961) for the closing chapter of his life: the blind archbishop holding his diocese together against the last great Soviet assault on the Church.
  • Read The Sermons for the preaching ministry that ran through his whole life and crowned its end.
  • His repose and glorification are treated in Section 09; the theology behind his preaching in Section 08.

Cross-References