Inseparable from the liturgical tradition, religious art is seen by Orthodox Christians as a form of pictorial confession of faith and a channel of religious experience. Because the icons provide a direct personal contact with the holy persons represented on them, these images should be objects of veneration, in either a public or private setting, and were even believed to have the ability to heal.

Saint Luke is patron saint of physicians, artist, butchers, and brewers. A doctor himself, he was fabled for having painted the first portrait of the Virgin Mary. Author of the Gospels According to St. Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, he was a lifelong companion of Saint Paul and stayed with him until his last imprisonment. In this round icon, we see a bearded Luke holding the edges of a book with his right hand. No doubt an allusion to his vital accounts of the life of Christ. He wears a golden yellow robe over a bluish garment, looking off to one side in a concentrated gaze. A thin gold halo encircles his head and reinforces his sainthood. The icon is painted with a thick impasto allowing us to pinpoint actual brushstroke. This is a beautiful representation of a central figure in Christianity and one of four Gospel writers.