LUKE the STYLITE, St. — Born at Attia (Anatolia) in 879. The Constantinopolitan Synaxarion records his feast on Dec. 11, the anniversary of his death (979) and of his ascent to the column at Chalcedon (935).
Earlier, from 933, he had dwelt on another pillar on his estate in Anatolia. He learned asceticism from two soldiers, disciples of a stylite, while campaigning against the Bulgars. He practiced remarkable abstinence, often depriving himself of all food for eight days. From his pillar he heard confessions and sometimes, as in the case of Count Cyrus, through a messenger. Many call him “Luke the Younger” to distinguish him from the homonymous Luke the Thaumaturge.
BIBL.: Critical text of the Life in H. Delehaye, *Les saints stylites*, Brussels-Paris 1923, pp. 195-237. See also H. Delehaye, ibid., pp. LXXXVI-CV; A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus, *Διοδόμησις εις τον βίον του δόλου Λουκάν*, in *Vizantijskij Vremennik*, 15 (1908), pp. 437-309; S. Vanderstuyf, *Etude sur le Luc le Stylite*, in *Echos d'Orient*, 12 (1909), pp. 138-44, 215-21, 271-81; 13 (1910), pp. 13-19, 140-48, 224-32; N. Festa, *Note critiche alla vita di s. Luca Stilita*, in *Bessarione*, 3rd ser., 8 (1910), pp. 136-39.