Venerable Gabriel of Lesnovo was a

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

and

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

, companion of

Saint John of Rila Saint John of Rila, a.k.a. Ivan of Rila (Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: Свети преподобни Йоан Рилски Чудотворец, Svеti prеpodobni Yoan Rilski Chudotvorеts; English language, English: Saint (monk) John of Rila ...

and

Prohor of Pčinja Venerable Prohor of Pčinja, also known as Saint Prohor Pčinjski, was a Christian monk and contemporary of St. Gavril of Lesnovo and St. John of Rila who lived in the eleventh century Bulgaria and after Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria, its conqu ...

. All three are venerated in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. St. Gabriel's feast is January 15.

Biography

According to the ''Life of Saint Gabriel of Lesnovo'', written during the twelfth century, he was a hermit in the tradition of Saint John of Rila. He was born in the latter part of the eleventh century in the village of Osiče, near

Kriva Palanka Kriva Palanka ( mk, Крива Паланка ) is a town located in the northeastern part of North Macedonia. It has 14,558 inhabitants. The town of Kriva Palanka is the seat of Kriva Palanka Municipality which has almost 21,000 inhabitants. ...

. Today it is in North Macedonia, but at that time the area was part of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, included in a province named

. According to other sources he was born in the early 11th century, when the area was still part of the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire ( cu, блъгарьско цѣсарьствиѥ, blagarysko tsesarystviye; bg, Първо българско царство) was a medieval Bulgar- Slavic and later Bulgarian state that existed in Southeastern Europ ...

. His decision to leave the world and remain pure squares well with the great religious awakening that was reverberating throughout Christian Europe in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Gabriel lived a life of

asceticism Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...

in the eleventh century Kratovo on Mt.

Osogovo Osogovo (Bulgarian/ Macedonian: ), or Osogovska Planina or Osogovski Planini (Осоговска Планина or Осоговски Планини), is a mountain range and ski resort between the south-western part of Bulgaria (Kyustendil Provi ...

, where he built a church dedicated to the Holy Archangel Michael. Several other monks joined him, and this was the advent of the Lesnovo monastery. It remains still unsolved whether Gabriel founded a monastery or whether it was founded on the spot close to his hermitage. Very little is known of this original monastery and the first and only mention of the old monastery comes only from 1330 in a chronicle by its monk Stanislav, a famous writer. During the reign of Emperor

Ivan Asen II Ivan Asen II, also known as John Asen II ( bg, Иван Асен II, ; 1190s – May/June 1241), was Emperor (Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1218 to 1241. He was still a child when his father Ivan Asen I one of the founders of the Second Bulgarian Empi ...

(r. 1218–1241) the relics of the saint were transferred from the monastery to the then capital of Bulgaria —

Tarnovo Veliko Tarnovo ( bg, Велико Търново, Veliko Tărnovo, ; "Great Tarnovo") is a town in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred as the "''City of the Tsars''", Veliko Tarnovo ...

, and placed at the Church of St. Apostles on

Trapezitsa Trapezitsa ( el, Τραπεζίτσα) is a village and a Communities and Municipalities of Greece, community of the Voio (municipality), Voio municipality in Greece. Before the 2011 local government reform, it was part of the municipality of Ne ...

. After the Ottoman invasion of Bulgaria at the end of the 14th century, the traces of the holy relics of Saint Gabriel were lost. The church located at the present-day monastery was built by Despot

Jovan Oliver Jovan Oliver Grčinić ( sr, Јован Оливер Грчинић; ca. 1310-1356) was a magnate of the Serbian Emperor Dušan the Mighty (r. 1331-1355), holding the titles of ''sebastokrator'' and ''despotes'', and the rank of "great voivode", s ...

, a nobleman under the Emperor

Stefan Dušan Stefan Uroš IV Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош IV Душан, ), known as Dušan the Mighty ( sr, / ; circa 1308 – 20 December 1355), was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Tsar (or Emperor) and autocrat of the Serbs, Gr ...

(r. 1331–1355). St. Gabriel died in the Lord toward the end of the eleventh century.

References

Sources

* {{cite book , title = The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium , last = Kazhdan , first = A. , authorlink = Alexander Kazhdan , chapter = , year = 1991 , publisher =

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, location =

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, isbn = 0-19-504652-8 Medieval Bulgarian saints Bulgarian Orthodox Church Serbian Orthodox Church 11th-century Bulgarian people 11th-century Christian monks 11th-century Byzantine monks

Biography

See also

References

Sources