Luka Zhidiata

Luka Zhidiata (Russian: Лука́ Жидя́та) was the second bishop of Novgorod the Great (1035–1060) and saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. He replaced Efrem, who was not consecrated bishop, but who administered the eparchy from the death of Ioakim Korsunianin until Luka's appointment.

Little is known of Luka. He was the first Rus-born bishop of the Rus church; all previous ones had been Greek. The original Cathedral of Holy Wisdom burned down during his episcopate and was replaced by the current stone structure, possibly the oldest building still in use in Russia, which Luka consecrated on 14 September 1052.[1]

Luka opposed the Kyivan Grand Princes' appointments of Hilarion and Efrem as metropolitans of Kyiv, not simply to oppose Kyiv, but because it was the prerogative of the Patriarch of Constantinople to name the Kyivan metropolitan. He suffered slander at the hands of his slave, Dudika, and was called to Kiev and held there three years. when the slander was uncovered, slave’s nose and both hands were cut off.[2] Luka died along the Kopys River (in modern Belarus) during his return journey to Novgorod, on October 15, 1059 or 1060, and was buried in the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom.[3]