Should I be called, I will come now.

Let's listen to some contemporary miracles of Saint Luke of Crimea (†June 11), witnessed by Father Ciprian Hangu from the Chapel of Floreasca Hospital.

- Father, how did the holy relics of Saint Luke of Crimea arrive at the Chapel of Floreasca Hospital?

- Through a good thought. I wasn't the one who handled the bringing of the holy relics; rather, the Father who was before me is the one who took all the necessary steps, and I was actually thinking that things proceeded very easily, naturally, I would say. Because, being an Emergency Hospital chapel and having no holy relics at all, they thought of bringing the relics of a saintly doctor. And the first thought was of Saint Luke of Crimea – a saint not very well known at that time, around 2012; it's true, some information had appeared, holy relics had already been brought to the chapel of Parhon Hospital...

They made inquiries to Simferopol, received an affirmative answer right from the start, and things happened very naturally. I believe this is the first of the miracles, this affirmative response from Saint Luke: “If I am called, I will come now!” Because later on, steps were taken for other saints as well, but things did not go as smoothly.

- Could you share with us some miracles that particularly impressed you?

- Indeed, a few miracles have happened here as well, at the chapel of Floreasca Hospital. I read the life of Saint Luke and was thinking about how great his availability was to help those in need ‒ and I'm sure he does that even now; he is available to all who ask for his help, and not only them.

We had a patient admitted in a very, very serious condition, following a car accident. This young man had an extreme number of fractures, he arrived almost in “pieces”. He stayed, I believe, two months in a coma, in a state bordering on death. Then he woke up, telling his mother that the Mother of God and Saint Luke were the ones who saved him ‒ even though he knew nothing about Saint Luke! He hadn't even heard of Saint Luke, he wasn't a very religious person, but these were among the first words he spoke to his mother after coming out of the coma. He then remained hospitalized for almost two years; very severe wounds, quite difficult recovery... 

- What would be the explanation?

I think his mother's prayers. In this terrible situation, his mother certainly prayed to the Mother of God and all the saints. She often came here, to the hospital chapel, to pray. But he knew nothing, absolutely nothing, about Saint Luke; before the accident, he didn't even know of his existence.

I have noticed a pattern regarding the miracles of Saint Luke: he appears and is seen. There are hospitals where he was seen entering patients' rooms as a doctor, and when they went looking for him, they couldn't find him. There are patients who concretely see him and attest that they were examined, that they were touched by him. When it comes to tumors, there are patients who say they feel him working in the problematic areas and, subsequently, when they go for a check-up, doctors find nothing. Tumors disappear ‒ or become operable from inoperable, and can be easily removed, and the person can be healed. There were also situations when he instructed the patient to speak with their attending physician, to change their treatment, because the one they were following was not good; and, by doing so, patients were healed.

“I have the impression that he is next to the patient”

Personally, I feel him every time I reach a patient's bedside, especially when they are in a very serious condition. I read the prayers of Saint Luke at the patient's bedside and sometimes I have the impression that he is there, next to the patient, taking care of them and watching over them. Consider that even during his lifetime, he showed great availability and sacrificed himself for his neighbor, putting his freedom, health, and physical integrity, even his life, at risk to help the sick.

I had a lady who asked me to give her oil from Saint Luke. Doctors told her she had cancer, they had discovered some tumors. And this lady called me one evening to tell me that she had dreamt of Saint Luke and physically felt him working on those tumors, and she told me she was almost certain they were no longer there. She called me later and confirmed that the CT scan showed nothing.

Right at the beginning of the pandemic, I had a young woman who had suffered a very severe craniocerebral accident. In such situations, people no longer remain rational; they live in a vegetative state. She had been hospitalized for about three or four months in a very serious condition in Neurosurgery. You felt pity for her... a young girl, fallen from the train – probably thrown from the train, nobody knows what happened there.

The family came to the chapel, but by then the girl had already been hospitalized for two months, and doctors weren't giving her much hope. From the moment we met, her parents started coming to the chapel almost daily to pray, and things suddenly took a favorable turn. Not long after, the girl was discharged and began her recovery – now she talks, moves, is semi-independent: she can move around by herself, can take care of herself, to some extent; she just needs someone to support her sometimes. But the change in her condition was extremely rapid: she came to us around November, for two or three months she was very, very bad, and then, in two weeks, she made remarkable progress! At the end of March, she left the hospital, and on Easter, she called me. I had managed to give her communion before she left, and back then we communicated through signs, and on Easter, she called me, and I spoke with her personally, without knowing who it was at first. I had never heard her voice!

-Do you feel that Saint Luke helps you in your daily ministry, at the bedside of the sick?

- For me, he is a support. We have our sins and our weaknesses, and we are aware of our limitations. When you know you have someone like Saint Luke beside you, you are much more confident and have much greater hope that you are bringing extra help to the patient. And you hope that this will be the divine order for them: to get well.

Interview conducted by Ioana Maxim

From 'Familia Ortodoxă', June 2022