St. Luke the Confessor’s (Voyno-Yasenetsky) years of ministration in Tambov land in recorded documents and witnesses’ memories

We discuss the years of ministration of St. Luke (Voyno-Yasenetsky), who was Archbishop of Tambov and Michurinsk and ruled the Tambov Eparchy from February 1944 to May 1946. We present the number of memories of witnesses who spoke with Archbishop Luke, attended his sacred services, helped in the restoration of the Pokrovsky parish, were his patients or worked together with His Grace in the evacuation hospitals of Tambov, where he was the chief surgeon-consultant and conducted his famous operations. We recorded memories of a senior cleric of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour of the city of Tambov, Mitred Archpriest Boris Zhabin, who at the age of seven first saw the Archbishop Luka, Lyubov Petrovna Abramova, who witnessed the revival of the Pokrovsky Cathedral of the city of Tambov during the ministration of St. Luke, the participant of the Great Patriotic War, captain 1st rank Nikolay Stefanovich Chaplygin, as well as graduates of Tambov Medical School and nurses of the Tambov evacuation hospital Vera Ivanovna Levashova, Nina Nikolaevna Zayko and Claudia Timofeevna Chaplygina. Each of the witnesses reveals his story of meeting and communicating with Archbishop Luke, who left an indelible impression on their souls. From these memories and testimonies one can feel the atmosphere in which St. Luke’s years of ministration were held, it is even possible to reconstruct the way of life and the situation of that wartime. The vernacular language of each witness adds its own unique sound and at the same time reveals different traits of St. Luke’s personality. The collection of witnesses’ memories creates a kind of public portrait of the personality of the great scientist and hierarch and now the famous saint - St. Luke the Confessor (born Valentin Feliksovich Voyno-Yasenetsky).

Tambov Eparchy, Great Patriotic War, St. Luke, archbishop, memories, witnesses, evacuation hospital, ministration