<P> The New Testament mentions Luke briefly a few times, and the Pauline epistle to the Colossians refers to him as a physician (from Greek for' one who heals'); thus he is thought to have been both a physician and a disciple of Paul . Christians since the faith's early years have regarded him as a saint . He is believed to have been a martyr, reportedly as having been hanged from an olive tree, though some believe otherwise . </P> <P> The Roman Catholic Church and other major denominations venerate him as Saint Luke the Evangelist and as a patron saint of artists, physicians, bachelors, surgeons, students and butchers; his feast day takes place on 18 October . </P> <P> Many scholars believe that Luke was a Greek physician who lived in the Greek city of Antioch in Ancient Syria, although some other scholars and theologians think Luke was a Hellenic Jew . Bart Koet stated that it was widely accepted that the theology of Luke--Acts points to a gentile Christian writing for a gentile audience . Although he concludes that it is more plausible that Luke - Acts is directed to a community made up of both Jewish and gentile Christians, because there is stress on the scriptural roots of the gentile mission (see the use of Isaiah 49, 6 in Luke - Acts). Gregory Sterling claims that he was either a Hellenistic Jew or a god - fearer . </P> <P> His earliest notice is in Paul's Epistle to Philemon--Philemon 1: 24 . He is also mentioned in Colossians 4: 14 and 2Timothy 4: 11, two works commonly ascribed to Paul . The next earliest account of Luke is in the Anti-Marcionite Prologue to the Gospel of Luke, a document once thought to date to the 2nd century, but which has more recently been dated to the later 4th century . Helmut Koester, however, claims that the following part, the only part preserved in the original Greek, may have been composed in the late 2nd century: </P>

What was luke before he became a disciple