Father Gabriel ( ka, მამა გაბრიელი, 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), commonly ...

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

Mtskheta Mtskheta ( ka, მცხეთა, tr ) is a city in Mtskheta-Mtianeti province of Georgia. It is one of the oldest cities in Georgia as well as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the World. Itis located approximately north of T ...

has attracted an increasing number of pilgrims. The Georgian Orthodox Church officially canonized him as Holy Father St. Gabriel, Confessor and

Fool for Christ Foolishness for Christ ( el, διά Χριστόν σαλότητα, cu, оуродъ, юродъ) refers to behavior such as giving up all one's worldly possessions upon joining an ascetic order or religious life, or deliberately flouting socie ...

(წმ. ღირსი მამა გაბრიელი აღმსარებელი-სალოსი), on 20 December 2012.

Biography

Gabriel was born as Goderdzi Urgebadze in Tbilisi in the family of a Communist Party functionary, who was murdered in 1931. After a compulsory service in the Soviet army, he decided to join the monastic life and was tonsured a monk under the name of Gabriel in 1955. He made himself famous by setting fire to a banner depicting Vladimir Lenin during an

International Workers' Day International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on 1 May, ...

parade in downtown Tbilisi in 1965. He was arrested, tried, ruled to be psychotic, and confined to a mental hospital for seven months. An account of this incident was also published in the West, in the Orthodox zine ''

Death to the World ''Death To The World'' is an Eastern Orthodox zine published in the United States.Saint Nino Saint Nino ( ka, წმინდა ნინო, tr; hy, Սուրբ Նունե, Surb Nune; el, Αγία Νίνα, Agía Nína; sometimes ''St. Nune'' or ''St. Ninny'') ''Equal to the Apostles and the Enlightener of Georgia'' (c. 296 – c. 33 ...

, a nunnery attached to

Samtavro Monastery Samtavro Monastery ( ka, სამთავროს მონასტერი) is a Georgian Orthodox Christian monastery complex that combines Samtavro Transfiguration Church and Nunnery of St. Nino in Mtskheta, Georgia (country), Georgia. Bui ...

in Mtskheta, an ancient town north of Tbilisi. He died there in 1995 and was buried at the Samtavro churchyard.

Veneration

The monk Gabriel is believed by the Orthodox followers to have possessed powers of healing and prophecy, while his remains are considered to be

incorrupt Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern 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 ...

. The oil from a lamp which constantly burned at his tomb in Mtskheta was also considered to have been miraculous. The grave became an increasingly popular site of pilgrimage. In 2012, the Georgian Orthodox Church officially recognized him as a saint. In January 2014, rumors that Gabriel made the promise in a vision to a local nun in Mtskheta that two wishes would supposedly be granted to those who arrived at the tomb just before Orthodox Christmas on 7 January sparked mass pilgrimage to the saint's tomb so as extra police units had to be deployed to control traffic. The church officials and the nun eventually dismissed the rumors as false. The relics of Gabriel were exhumed for reburial into a special crypt within the Samtavro monastery in February 2014. Prior to the reburial, his body was rested at four major Orthodox cathedrals in Georgia, attracting thousands of pilgrims from all over the country.

References

External links

Official website: www.monkgabriel.ge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabriel 1929 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Christian saints Archimandrites Ascetics Christian monks from Georgia (country) Eastern Orthodox saints People from Tbilisi Saints of Georgia (country) Miracle workers Yurodivy

Biography

Veneration

References

Further reading

External links