Luke

Luke, Saint, the evangelist and supposed author of the Acts of the Apostles, was, according to a tradition recorded by Eusebius, Jerome, and others, a native of Antioch in Syria. He accompanied St. Paul in his missionary journeys, and is described by him as his "companion" (2 Tim. iv. 11), his "fellow-worker" (Philem. 24), and the "beloved physician" (Col. iv. 14). The earliest authority which expressly ascribes the authorship of the third Gospel to St. Luke is the Muratorian Canon (circa 170). The statement of Irenaeus that St. Luke committed to writing what St. Paul preached to the Gentiles, has been taken to mean that the real author was St. Paul; Eusebius mentions that some put this interpretation on the expression "my gospel" in Rom. xvi. 25, 2 Tim. ii. 8; others think that St. Luke was assisted by St. Paul in its composition. The Acts of the Apostles was accepted as the work of St. Luke by

Irenams, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Jerome, and the other Fathers by whom it is mentioned. Their testimony was never called in question till within a recent period. The similarity of the Gospel and Acts in language and style is strongly in favour of the ancient tradition. Even those who regard the book as a compilation suppose St.

Luke to be the author who writes in the first person in Acts xvi. 10, and thus this passage affords a glimpse into his personal history. Jerome states that he lived to be over eighty, and died at Paine in Achaia; but, according to Gregory Nazianzen, he suffered martyrdom.