Gabriel of Georgia ( ka, წმიდა გაბრიელ ქართველი, tr), born Goderdzi Urgebadze (; 26 August 1929 – 2 November 1995) was a

Georgian Orthodox The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonl ...

monk venerated for his dedicated monastic life and piety. With many miracles ascribed to him, Gabriel's grave in

Mtskheta Mtskheta ( ka, მცხეთა} ) is a city in the Mkhare, region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Georgia (country), Georgia. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is locat ...

has attracted an increasing number of pilgrims. The

Georgian Orthodox Church The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonl ...

officially canonized him as Holy Father Saint Gabriel,

Confessor In a number of Christian traditions, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism, a confessor is a priest who hears the confessions of penitents and pronounces absolution. History During the Diocletianic Persecut ...

and

Fool for Christ Foolishness for Christ (; ) refers to behavior such as giving up all one's worldly possessions upon joining an ascetic order or religious life, or deliberately flouting society's conventions to serve a religious purpose—particularly of Christia ...

(წმ. ღირსი მამა გაბრიელი აღმსარებელი-სალოსი; ''Ts'm. ghirs mama gabrieli aghmsarebeli-salosi''), on 20 December 2012.

Biography

Gabriel was born as Goderdzi Urgebadze in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

to the family of a Communist Party functionary, who died under suspicious circumstances in 1931. After completing compulsory service in the

Soviet army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

, he decided to enter monastic life and was

tonsure Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice in ...

d a monk in 1955, taking the

religious name A religious name is a type of given name bestowed for religious purposes, and which is generally used in such contexts. Christianity Catholic Church Baptismal name In baptism, Catholic Church, Catholics are given a Christian name, which should n ...

Gabriel. On 1 May 1965, he first became well-known in Georgia by setting fire to a banner depicting

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

during an

International Workers' Day International Workers' Day, also called Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of Wage labour, labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every yea ...

parade in downtown Tbilisi. He was arrested, tried and ruled to be

psychotic In psychopathology, psychosis is a condition in which a person is unable to distinguish, in their experience of life, between what is and is not real. Examples of psychotic symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized or incoher ...

, then confined to a mental hospital. For seven months, he was

tortured Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions restrict torture to ac ...

there for his faith. An account of this incident was published in the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

, in the Orthodox

zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

Death to the World ''Death To The World'' is an Eastern Orthodox zine published in the United States.Saint Nino Saint Nino (sometimes St. Nune or St. Ninny; ka, წმინდა ნინო, tr; ; ; c. 296 – c. 338 or 340) was a woman who preached Christianity in the territory of the Kingdom of Iberia in what is now Georgia. Her preaching resulted in ...

, which is attached to Samtavro Monastery in the ancient town of

north of Tbilisi. He died there in 1995, and was buried in the Samtavro churchyard.

Veneration

The

hieromonk A hieromonk,; Church Slavonic, Slavonic: ''Иеромонахъ''; ; ; ; ; Albanian language, Albanian: ''Hieromurg'' also called a priestmonk, is a person who is both monk and Priest#Roman Catholic and Orthodox, priest in the Eastern Christianity ...

Gabriel is believed by Eastern Orthodox Christians to have possessed powers of healing and

clairvoyance Clairvoyance (; ) is the claimed ability to acquire information that would be considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensations, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to h ...

, while his remains are considered

incorrupt Incorruptibility is a Catholic and Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their holiness. I ...

. The oil from a lamp which constantly burned at his tomb in Mtskheta is also considered miraculous. His grave became an increasingly popular

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

site, and in 2012, the

Holy Synod In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. For instance, the Holy Synod is a ruling body of the Georgian Orthodox ...

of the Georgian Orthodox Church officially recognized him as a saint. In January 2014 rumours spread that Gabriel, in a supposed apparition to a nun in Mtskheta, had promised that two wishes will be granted to those visiting his tomb just before

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

on 7 January. This sparked several mass gatherings at Samtavro that extra police units had to be deployed to control traffic. Church officials and the alleged seer-nun later dismissed the visions as false. The

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

of Gabriel were exhumed for reburial in a special

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

within Samtavro Monastery on 22 February 2014. Prior to its reburial, his body was toured around four major Orthodox cathedrals in Georgia, attracting thousands of devotees from all over the country.

References

External links

Official website: www.monkgabriel.ge

English documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOVB-6st9TU
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabriel 1929 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Christian saints Archimandrites Christian ascetics Christian monks from Georgia (country) Christian saints from Georgia (country) Eastern Orthodox saints People from Tbilisi Christian miracle workers Yurodivy Anti-communists from Georgia (country)

Biography

Veneration

References

Further reading

External links