Venerable Gabriel (Urgebadze) of Samtavria, Archimandrite
Elder's Diadem. Memories of the Georgian ascetic Father Gabriel
The secular name of Father Gabriel is Goderdzi Urgebadze. He was born on August 26, 1929 in Tbilisi, in the family of a convinced communist. His father died early, and his relatives called the boy by his father's name - Vasiko.
Believed in God as a child. One day the neighbors were arguing, and one of them said: “You crucified me like Christ.” The boy became interested in what it means to “crucify” and who Christ is. The adults sent the child to church, where the watchman advised him to read the Gospel. He saved up money, bought the Gospel and after a few years knew the text practically by heart.
The desire for monasticism arose in him in his youth. Later the elder said: “There is no greater heroism than monasticism.” For a long time, his mother was against her son’s desire for monasticism, but at the end of her life she came to terms with his choice, and then she herself took monastic vows and was buried in the Samtavro Monastery.
He took monastic vows at the age of 26, receiving the name of St. Gabriel of Athos, an elder who walked on the water and brought the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, which had sailed across the sea, to the Athos shore. Father Gabriel especially revered the miraculous list of Iverskaya, kept in the Samtavro monastery.
In the courtyard of his house on Tbilisi Tetritskaroy street, Father Gabriel built a multi-domed church. He built it with his own hands and finished it around 1962. Father Gabriel found icons for this church in city dumps, where in those years numerous holy objects were taken and thrown away along with garbage. Sometimes he wandered around the dumps for days on end. He had a small workshop where he cleaned icons and made frames for them from various materials. The walls of his church were completely covered with images. He even framed photographs and images of icons from secular magazines.
On May 1, 1965, during a demonstration, Hieromonk Gabriel burned a 12-meter portrait of Lenin, hung on the building of the Supreme Council of the Georgian SSR, and began to preach Christ to the gathered people. For this he was severely beaten and put in the Georgian KGB detention center. During interrogation, Father Gabriel said: he did this because “you cannot idolize a person. There, in place of the portrait of Lenin, the Crucifixion of Christ should hang. Man doesn't need fame. We must write: “Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.” In August of that year he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for examination. There he was declared insane. The elder was diagnosed: “a psychopathic personality, believes in God and angels.” He was given a “white ticket”. Subsequently, the church hierarchy, to please the secular authorities, did not allow him to enter the church, did not allow him to attend services, and drove him away. The priest did not have the opportunity to receive communion, but he wanted this with all his soul. He could go without food for several days, without sleeping for a long time, but he had a very hard time bearing the impossibility of being alienated from the church. The elder often cried from powerlessness, opening his soul to his sisters.
In the 1980s he settled in the Samtavro monastery. Recently he lived in a round tower. The nuns were surprised for some time at the priest’s eccentricities, until they saw in them a special feat. At first it seemed strange to them that for some time he lived in a chicken coop, where there were large gaps, and walked barefoot in winter. Then the sisters began to feel that extraordinary love was coming from him: he loved everyone. Often the elder shouted at the sisters, demanded obedience from them, forced them to do something, or could force them to eat from dirty dishes. But it was impossible to be offended by him - tender love shone in his eyes.
He took Abbess Theodora with him to Tbilisi when she was still a nun and forced her to beg. The two of them begged for alms, and then the elder gave everything to the poor. If they returned by taxi, he could yell at the taxi driver and not give any money at all, or he could pay many times more.
During Holy Week, constant crying was heard from his cell. Some saw how during prayer he rose 40–50 centimeters above the ground and light emanated from him. Believers revered Father Gabriel as a great ascetic; they came to him as to a living saint.
Otar Nikolaishvili was the priest’s spiritual child and often spent time in his cell. One day, Father Gabriel unexpectedly told him that he needed to immediately, urgently go to the monastery of St. Anthony of Martkop. Otar was confused: the car was not running, there were problems with it. Father insisted, and somehow they drove off. The road began to climb uphill, the car “coughed and sneezed,” but the elder suddenly said: “Son, don’t worry, the Monk Anthony of Martkop himself is riding with us in the back seat, but don’t turn around.” And the car suddenly jerked forward so much that the driver had to slam on the brakes. When they drove into the monastery gates, the car immediately stalled. At the same time, several armed people entered there, aggressively inclined. The elder immediately came forward and said: “Shoot me.” This confused and sobered up the bandits, and they left the monastery.
Father Gabriel died on November 2, 1995 from dropsy. According to the elder’s will, his body was wrapped in a mat and interred in the place where Saint Nina labored.
On December 24, 2012, by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Elder Gabriel was canonized as a saint. This happened in an incredibly short time after his death - 17 years later.
On February 22, 2014, the incorruptible relics of the saint were found.
On December 25, 2014, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to “include in the calendar and the Russian Orthodox Church the name of St. Gabriel of Samtavria with the establishment of the celebration of his memory on November 2, as established in the Georgian Orthodox Church.”
Memories of St. Gabriel (Urgebadze) (from the book “The Elder’s Diadem”)
Once I had a dream that I was appointed cell attendant to Father Gabriel: I was caring for him, and he was teaching me a godly life. The next day, Bishop Daniel called me to his place and, on the recommendation of Mother Superior Ketevani, entrusted me with caring for the sick elder. I immediately ran with joy to Father Gabriel and told him about my dream and the blessing.
At that time I knew very little about monastic life. My knowledge was limited to just a few spiritual books I read. Therefore, I watched Father Gabriel with great interest and compared his life with the lives of the saints.
I remember such an incident. The meal was brought. It was rice porridge. I really wanted to eat. The elder, who at that time was cleaning the frames of the icons, raised his head and said: “Eat if you want,” then, taking a small bowl, cleaned it with a rag and gave it to me. I tried the porridge - it smelled strongly of kerosene, but I silently, through force, ate it all. The elder took the bowl from me, smelled it and, smiling, asked: “It seems that the rag was in kerosene, how did you eat?” Then he asked if I wanted to study. I said what I want. “But then remember well that you yourself want to learn,” said the elder and once again asked me to clearly repeat my answer.
Previously, in the monastery, the fathers gave the newcomer such a test: they spoke harsh words, testing him. If he patiently endured the reproaches, he was left in the monastery, and the one who did not want to endure and was angry was sent back to the world.
The elder began his “study”. Sometimes he kicked me out of my cell. Then I remembered that I myself agreed to study, and I came back, repented, asked for forgiveness, and he accepted me with great joy. Sometimes he deliberately made me angry so that the weak points of my sinful soul would be exposed. Father Gabriel said in advance: “Today they will quarrel with you, let’s see how you endure it.” I experienced slander, insults, and insults. It happened that I could not tolerate this, and he, feeling everything in advance, admonished me with tears: “Daughter, I want you to grow up faster. When you remember me, remember how angry I made you. The more I tempted you, the more I loved you.”
One day I was standing at the elder’s cell in the courtyard of the monastery. Pilgrims came to me and asked for water. I was too lazy to go get water, so I sent them to the refectory. When I entered the elder’s cell, he asked sternly: “How did it happen that you didn’t do a good deed? Go quickly, give people water so that no one gets ahead of you. And remember that even one glass of water given to your neighbor will not be lost before God.”
Elder Gabriel, attracting everyone to himself with Christian love, humility and obedience, led to the Kingdom of Heaven. “Every test will pass by and not touch the humble. The Lord gives grace to the humble; without humility, no one will see the Kingdom of Heaven,” the elder taught. He conducted “exams” on humility and obedience; we often understood the meaning of his “exams” only after some time.
One day they brought apples to the elder. He instructed us to make jam from these apples, only with the seeds. I decided that it would turn sour, so I cooked it without seeds - and all the jam turned sour. On this occasion, the elder said the following: “Once Abba gave his novice cabbage seedlings and blessed him to plant them with their roots up. The novice thought that his father was old and did not understand what he was saying. He planted it with its roots in the ground - and all the seedlings died. “This is the fruit of disobedience,” said the abba. The novice asked for forgiveness and planted the seedlings as the mentor blessed, and the seedlings took root. “This is the fruit of obedience,” said Abba this time.”
Once they brought thirty eggs to Elder Gabriel, he blessed that fifteen of them should be taken back, but the people did not listen and left them. All fifteen of these eggs were rotten and were thrown away. They were the fruit of disobedience and should not be eaten.
One monk asked the elder what fasting was. “I’ll explain now,” he answered and told the monk about all the sins he had committed. Out of shame, the monk did not know what to do. Falling to his knees, he cried. And the old man said with a smile: “Now go eat lunch.” “No, father, thank you, I don’t want to,” answered the monk. “This is fasting, when you remember your sins, repent and no longer think about food.”
…One day there were many foreign tourists in the Samtavri monastery. The elder looked at them and said: “They have mirrors behind them where their sins are visible.”
When he was sick and lying in his cell, he asked one parishioner to go to the temple and look for the icon of the Savior there. Which one and where, he explained exactly. They actually found this icon in the temple, dusty and with a damaged frame. They cleaned it, repaired the frame and placed the icon in the altar. The priest told her to stay there. When the parishioner returned to Father Gabriel and told him everything, he was very pleased and said: “This is what I wanted.”
Before Great Lent, on Forgiveness Sunday, he always knelt from the pulpit and asked everyone for forgiveness. If it happened that the person who had offended the elder did not come to him to ask for forgiveness, Father Gabriel himself went to him.
When I was the elder’s cell attendant and looked after him, all my passions disappeared somewhere and my rational thoughts intensified. Sometimes I felt very light, as if I was flying on wings, then the elder tried to sober me up. When I fell into despondency and my soul was heavy, he consoled me: “Be patient, be patient!”
I remember one day I had to leave the monastery on business. The elder warned: “Remember that your confessor is next to you all the time!” And indeed, I had the feeling that he knew my every step, and, despite the fact that I really wanted to see my family, I immediately returned to the monastery as soon as I finished my business.
It was a clear sunny day. The elder was talking to a parishioner at his cell. The sun blinded her eyes, and she asked permission to enter the cell. The elder asked in surprise: “Is it really so difficult to look at the sun?!”
Often at sunrise he asked to be taken out of his cell and said: “You know that we have friendship with the sun.”
One morning a young woman came to him and said that she was going to his birthday today, but she didn’t have a gift, and asked the elder for an icon. I thought: “How dare this woman turn to the elder with such a request.” The elder did not like to give icons, but he immediately gave it to her, and then he also gave the cross. The woman, falling to her knees, said: “It’s as if you read my thoughts!”
...A guest from Mount Athos was brought to the elder. Father Gabriel immediately presented him with an icon of the saint whose name he bore, before the guest could be introduced to the elder. Surprised, the guest fell to his knees in front of the elder and asked him to come to Athos, but Father Gabriel replied that he would not leave Georgia. This guest was the abbot of the Xenophon Monastery.
One day I was sitting in the elder’s cell. Suddenly he asked to be left alone immediately. I was very surprised and hurried to the exit, and looking back, I saw that his face was shining like the sun.
...Once a woman came to the elder and said that he saved her life and she wanted to thank him. She said: “I live in an old house next to the cemetery. One day, robbers broke into my house. Out of fear, I began to pray intensely and ask Father Gabriel for help. And suddenly I saw a miracle - an old man appeared from somewhere and, threatening the robbers with a large stick, drove them out of the house. As soon as the robbers ran away, the old man disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared.”
I remember how Father Gabriel, already ill, asked to be taken to church. There he knelt before the icon of the Mother of God and begged: “Accept me as a sacrifice, and save Georgia!”
...All the pain of the Georgian people passed through his heart. “Woe to such a monk or nun who is not touched by the pain of his people,” said the elder.
When they insulted him, mocked him, scolded him, I asked in surprise: “Do you really love them after all?” And he answered sadly: “Now I feel sorry for them even more and love them even more.”
The elder did not make those who came to him wait: “How can I be calm when someone is waiting for me? A good monk must have a sensitive heart, like a woman.” His small cell accommodated many visitors, he gathered them all together and gave spiritual advice and instructions. “Do not worry about the body, think about the soul, about the salvation of the soul. He who has conquered his tongue and belly is already on the right path. First of all, seek the Kingdom of Heaven, and the rest will follow itself,”7 he recalled the words of Holy Scripture.
“Is it possible to lie in order to save a person?” - they asked the old man. He replied: “Sometimes you hide something so as not to harm another person” - and told the following story: “One robber, who was being chased, ran to the hermit and asked him to hide him. He covered it up. When the persecutors burst in and asked if anyone had come to see him, the monk calmly replied that he had not seen anyone.”
When you lie out of fear, it’s bad. When you don’t tell the truth out of love for a person, then the lie, of course, will be counted as a sin, but love will cover everything.
One day he asked: “Who will explain to me what it means: counting prayer as a sin?”
“Probably, I prayed incorrectly,” was the answer.
“No, I prayed correctly,” said the elder.
- He probably prayed heartlessly.
- No, I prayed heartily.
“He probably prayed inattentively and absent-mindedly.”
“No, now I’ll explain to you,” said the elder. At this time, one parishioner came to him for a blessing. The elder asked her to do something, and she replied that she couldn’t do it now, but would look later. “Now she will go and pray for five hours. But how will God hear her prayer - she didn’t help the one asking? If you do not fulfill God’s commandments, do not bother God with many prayers, He will not hear, and your prayer will be a sin for you. Good deeds open the doors of Heaven. Humility will lead you there, and love will show God. If prayer is not followed by good deeds, prayer is dead,” said the elder...
...Once a young man came to the elder. The elder looked at him sternly and said: “Go and take communion, the grace of Communion will save you.” The young man received communion that same day. Then he said: “Immediately after Communion, a friend came to see me and invited me to go visit him. But I refused because I took communion. A friend went alone. He had an accident and died."
One day Father Gabriel said to a young man he knew: “Be careful: a misfortune may happen to you.” A few days later, someone shot him, but the bullet only singed his hair, causing no harm.
The elder said: “Once in Tbilisi on the street I preached about Christ. Two guys attacked me, tore off my cross and reliquary and ran away. What could I do? He shouted for them to come back. They are back. I tell them: “Come here.” They came up. “Give me a reliquary” - they gave it. “Let the cross remain with you and judge you itself,” I told them.
Soon they came to me with a request to perform a funeral service for a person. They said about him that a week ago he tore the cross off the priest and he said to him: “The cross will condemn you.” And then the guy, who had previously been absolutely healthy, suddenly fell seriously ill and died. “Father Gabriel, will he probably go to hell?” - “I will pray that he rises from hell to Heaven.”
Father Gabriel sometimes instructed people in strange ways. He left the cell, sat down on a chair, called someone to him and ordered them to go to the cell and bring a saucepan. The man could not find her. The elder began to shout at him - then the weak points of that person were immediately revealed. Over time, a person who, thanks to the elder, recognized his weaknesses and was “trained” by him in humility, could easily defend himself from the machinations of the demon.
The elder loved to sit near his cell. One day a priest passed by. Father Gabriel quietly asked me: “Do you want me to shake this priest?” I was scared and froze in anticipation. The elder cursed him rudely. The priest, after listening calmly, said that he was even worse and deserved even greater anger. Then the elder hugged him with love and called him his brother.
Father Gabriel often took a jug out of his cell, set it down and covered it with a rag on top, as if he was hiding it. In fact, the jug was very clearly visible. He pretended to drink so that everyone would think he was a drunkard.
One day, several people leaving the temple threw stones at a stray dog. Father Gabriel saw this and said with pain: “It would be better if you did not attend the liturgy at all.”
One novice was brought to Father Gabriel, who was being prepared for monastic tonsure. The elder looked at him for a long time, then hugged him and blessed him. From the life of Simeon the Fool, we know that he hugged people, thereby wanting to imprint the grace of God on them.
It happened that during the tonsure of those who faced great trials, Father Gabriel sobbed in front of the icons...
One day, important officials came to Father Gabriel. The elder brought them all to their knees. One young man looked at this with bewilderment. The elder, having guessed his thoughts, blessed him to kneel down. He did not know what obedience was and disobeyed, but when the elder repeated his words a second time, the man, against his will, fell to his knees and could no longer rise without a blessing...
The elder was a preacher of love. He often spoke about love in the same way as the Apostle Paul: “True love is generous, not conceited, not arrogant, does not do evil, is not envious, is not proud, is not angry, endures everything and is trusting. But love is resisted by egoism. The egoist gives nothing, acquires everything for himself. But he will never be satisfied, even though he acquires all the riches of the world. If you have everything, but do not have love, consider that you have nothing.”
The elder asked one parishioner: “Do you know what it means to love your neighbor?” - “I don’t know! - was the answer. If someone dies, and you cover him with your body and die in his place...” - "Yes. And I will tell you what it means to love your neighbor. If someone is sick and needs medicine, but it must be brought from afar, perhaps at night; and walk through the forest where wolves roam - and you, without hesitation, set off on a journey to save your neighbor - this is love.”
The elder said: “Love can be learned, and you must do it. If you see your neighbor’s misfortune, pray for him. This is how you learn to love. Whatever happens, do not lose hope in God. Whoever maintains faith in himself to the end will not starve and will not suffer from a natural disaster.”
Another time, Father Gabriel taught: “Pray. You can move mountains with prayer. Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven.” - “And while eating, how can you seek the Kingdom of Heaven?” - they asked him. “When you eat food, remember the hungry, the thirsty and the suffering.”
...Father Gabriel knew in advance where he would be buried. Then they thought that he was joking, because there was a lot of garbage and construction waste lying around in that place. But everything happened as the elder predicted.
The elder often visited the Shio-Mgvim Monastery. While in the monastery, he always bore obedience. One day the abbot blessed him to help clean the temple. The novice was washing the floor. Father Gabriel took out a toothbrush and a scraper, knelt down and cleaned the entire floor and even the cracks between the tiles.
The elder told how one day, closing his eyes, he saw Queen Tamara. She showed him the place of her grave, saying: “Here is my grave, Gabriel.”
Once on the territory of the monastery, film director Giuli Chokhonelidze was filming a film about Antimoz Iverieli10. The elder was seriously ill at that time. A hieromonk came to him to administer unction to him. Seeing the elder on his feet after Unction, Giuli Chokhonelidze was very surprised and asked permission to film him as he walked around the temple. The elder gave his blessing, and we got the following shots: Elder Gabriel walks ahead of the religious procession and sprinkles holy water all around, and Abbess Ketevan and nuns follow him with icons and chanting. The film director said: “I want to make a film about the arrival of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God from Athos to Georgia, could you take part?” “Why not,” the elder answered, “only there should be seven real monks next to me,” and, continuing to act like a fool, he asked with a smile: “What if I become drunk and fall when I walk on water?” - “Don’t be afraid, we’ll lay wooden boards downstairs. They won’t be visible, and you will walk through them,” the director replied. Then the elder stood up and, frowning, said: “What kind of monk am I if I can’t walk on the water myself and they will lay down boards for me.”
One day a hieromonk approached Father Gabriel and said that he did not believe in his miracles. “Get on your knees,” Father Gabriel blessed, and the monk humbly knelt down. “Until I bless you, you won’t be able to get up from your knees.” And indeed, he could not get up.
The elder taught: “In the last times, people will be saved by love, humility and kindness. Kindness will open the gates of Paradise, humility will lead you there, and love will show God..."
The elder said: “It is difficult for a person to penetrate into the Providence of God. There is permission, will and Providence of God. Permission is when God gives a person freedom. The person then does what he wishes. When the will of God acts, a person does what God commands. The will of God always brings good. God's providence rules: sometimes it allows permission, sometimes it allows will. When you can’t solve a problem and don’t know what to do, then trust in God’s Providence and don’t think about it anymore.”
The elder was asked if fate exists. “No,” he answered, “some people say: “it was written in the destiny.” But, if a person was destined to do so, then why does God judge? We create our own “destiny”. If a person recklessly exposes his life to danger and dies, he commits a sin, and fate has nothing to do with it.
The soul consists of three parts: thought, feeling and desire. The thought is in the mind, the feeling is in the heart, and the desire is in the whole body. When some desire appears, the whole flesh is excited.
The immortal spirit has three properties: fear of God, conscience and desire for God, which birds and animals do not have. The immortal spirit is in the blood, but it is not blood.
Previously, before the Fall, both soul and flesh were subject to the spirit. After the Fall, the connection with the spirit was broken, and the soul remained under the rule of the flesh. Whatever the flesh desires, the soul does. The soul moves, but the spirit understands. For the salvation of man, God put conscience in him. The spirit is intelligent and knows everything about conscience. Understands what is good and what is bad. It is no coincidence that when a stranger passes by you, you either rejoice or flinch.
“Will everyone be saved?” - they asked the old man. “No,” he answered with tears. “God will not have mercy and I will not be able to help you if you don’t make an effort yourself, if you don’t care about your salvation.” He who saves his soul and helps another in word or deed is the fulfiller of the commandments of Christ.”
Holy relics of St. Gabriel (Urgebadze)
Shortly before his death, the elder said: “There, in the corner, my death stands and awaits me. I am leaving to be your intercessor with God. I will convey your prayer to the Lord.” Two weeks before his death, he was given an icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, on which the Lord is depicted wearing a crown of thorns. I said that when they gave him the icon of the Mother of God, he was half healed, and now he will be completely healed. He shook his head and replied that just as the Savior suffered with the crown of thorns, so the time had come for him to suffer and die. “In three days you will know when I die,” said the elder. Three days before, I read a prayer service to the Mother of God, asking for the elder’s recovery. At night I dreamed of the Most Holy Theotokos and said that in three days she would come and completely heal the old man. When I woke up, I told him everything. He looked at me sadly and only asked me to stay awake at night and talk to him. I tried my best to stay awake, but I finally fell asleep. I don’t know how long I slept, but when I woke up, I saw that the elder was not sleeping. “You promised that you wouldn’t fall asleep,” he reproached me. I felt ashamed. It was four o’clock in the morning when he called: “Mother, mother...”, and then: “Sister, sister...” I approached: tears were rolling from his eyes. I bowed and he blessed me. He blessed and crossed Georgia on all four sides, looked around with love and began to pray, looking at the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The next day, when it got dark, Bishop Daniel and the confessor of the Samtavria Monastery, Father Mikhail, arrived. The Bishop read the Canon on the Exodus of the Soul. The elder smiled and calmly walked away.
It was incredible, but his death left no heaviness or grief in his soul, but only extraordinary joy and lightness.
/Abbreviated/
Orthodox prayer to Gabriel Zyryanov for excess weight
Excess weight is not only dissatisfaction with one's own appearance and difficulty in choosing clothes, the worst thing is that with obesity, the load on the heart and joints increases, it is difficult for a person to walk, it is difficult to breathe, it happens that those who are obese stop walking altogether - excess weight interferes. It is known that special help in healing illnesses is provided by those saints who, during their lifetime, either themselves suffered from a similar illness or healed it. People who are overweight should ask Gabriel Zyryanov with sincere prayer for weight loss. It is this saint who helps to get rid of obesity.
Strong prayer to Elder Gabriel Zyryanov for weight loss
Many believe that excess weight is not a reason to bother God, mistakenly believing that one can only turn to God for very serious problems: wars, natural disasters, fatal diseases. This assumption is fundamentally wrong; if a person admits such thoughts, this indicates that he does not know God at all and measures him on a human scale, fearing to exhaust his limit of appeals to the Almighty. God is not a man, His thoughts and actions are much higher than human ones, we are His children, and He is always happy to communicate with us in prayer. People who are afraid to bother God over little things need to talk more with God through prayer, study the Holy Scriptures, and then they will understand how loving, kind and wonderful He is. You can not only turn your prayers to God; according to church traditions, you can ask any saint for help in any problem. The help of the saint will consist in intercession for us before the Lord. In this regard, the prayer to Gabriel Zyryanov for losing weight and getting rid of excess weight is very strong - during his life, he himself suffered from excessive obesity and worried a lot about this.
Healing prayer to Saint Gabriel Zyryanov for effective weight loss
The causes of obesity can be different: obesity can occur due to hormonal imbalances, hereditary predisposition or simple overeating. In any case, you need to fight excess weight, and in addition to contacting a competent doctor who can understand the causes of excess weight, you need to ask for healing from obesity using Orthodox prayer. With a miraculous prayer, people turn to Saint Gabriel Zyryanov not only asking to lose excess weight, but also with requests to get rid of the passion of gluttony. Prayer requests help to realize the sin of gluttony and get rid of it forever.
The real text of the prayer to St. Gabriel Zyryanov for weight loss
O reverence and God-bearing Father, all-honorable Elder Gabriel, glory to the fathers and praise to the righteous! During the days of your earthly life in the monasteries of the Savior and the Mother of God, you taught many on the right path, giving a helping hand to the fallen, a merciful and compassionate former father to all and raising new martyrs of the Holy Church! You are now, the all-blessed elder, residing in the heavenly monastery, even more so, multiplying your love for us, your sinful and unworthy children, tempted by malice, despondency and untruth. For this reason, we fall before your wholesome power and humbly pray to you: do not be silent for us to the Lord and do not despise us, who honor you with faith and love and remember your holy memory, be a quick helper for us in all sorrows, troubles and misfortunes, protect us from all visible and invisible enemies, drive away the cloud of passions from us and enlighten our eyes of the heart, intercede for us mental and physical health, do not forget us even at the hour of our death, when we humbly demand your intercession. Ask the Lord our God to end our lives in peace and repentance, to be delivered from ordeals and eternal torment, and to be honored with the Kingdom of Heaven with you and your spiritual children, who in their suffering received incorruptible crowns, and with all the saints who have pleased the Lord from the ages and to our God Jesus Christ, to Him is due all honor and worship, with His Originless Father and with His Most Holy and Good and Life-Giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Amen. Amen.
We advise you to study Prayer for Resentment
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Prayer 2 to the Lord
Lord Almighty, Physician of our souls and bodies, humble and exalt, punish and yet again heal! Visit your infirm servant (name) and heal him, raising him from his bed and infirmity. Rebuke the spirit of infirmity, leave from it every ulcer, every disease, even if there is sin or lawlessness in it, weaken, forsake, forgive Yours for the sake of humanity.
Accept, O All-Blessed and All-Powerful Lady Theotokos Virgin, these prayers, now brought to You with tears from us, Your unworthy servants, to Your celibate image of singing sending out with tenderness, as if You yourself are here and hearken to our prayer. For every request you fulfill, you alleviate sorrow, you give health to the weak, you heal the weakened and sick, you drive away demons from demons, you deliver the offended from their grievances, cleanse yourselves and your little children;
They pray for recovery in front of the Icon of the Mother of God “Healer”
This powerful prayer to Saint Panteleimon can be used:
- to sick babies
- to sick adult children,
- to beloved husbands (wives),
- to parents and other close relatives.
- The illness of a serious illness is long-lasting.
- Only after the prayer service did his health become so good.
- Medicines did not help, even the most expensive ones.
- During the prayer, the patient was healed, or immediately after it.
- There was no deterioration in health.
About how Elder Gabriel cured my father
Father Gabriel always has a connection with us. My 89-year-old father suffered from a volvulus, a very difficult condition to bear. Despite our age, we took a risk and had the operation, but after it, on the seventh day, everything happened again. And I decided to operate again, I didn’t want him to suffer. Suddenly I remembered that I had oil from the lamp from the grave of Father Gabriel. I took this oil, prayed, poured it into my palm and anointed my father’s stomach with this oil with the prayer: “Father Gabriel!” I helped you, you too help my father.” I left the room, and after 10-15 minutes my father called me: “Come and look, my bandage is wet.” I looked, the intestines were working, and the operation was no longer necessary.
I called the professor back and said that everything went away after I anointed my stomach with oil. “What oil?” he asks me. I replied that it came from a lamp. “What nonsense?” - “This is not nonsense, this is miraculous oil.” - “What does it consist of?” - “Ordinary oil, but endowed by God with miraculous energy.” Such a miracle happened to a person close to me.
Relics of the Holy Fool
Even at the beginning of the 21st century, there was no tradition in Georgia of opening the graves of saints and reburying them. The discovery of the relics of St. Gabriel was the second time in the history of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
At the request of the people and representatives of other countries, the relics of St. Gabriel were acquired again and reburied in a new shrine, which is not typical of the Georgian Church.
On February 22, 2014, the acquisition of holy relics took place, which were initially placed in the Transfiguration Monastery in the city of Samtavro, and after 2 days they were transferred to the Holy Trinity Cathedral.
Reliquary with the relics of St. Gabriel Urgebadze
The saint himself, during his lifetime, said that his remains would be taken out of the ground; the relics of the quick-to-be-heard were glorified by decree of the Holy Synod and Patriarch Elijah.
The Path to Holiness
On August 26, 1929, Gabriel Urgebadze was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, and took monastic vows in 1955. In post-war times, this was a real spiritual feat. To become a monk at a time when priests were shot and driven into camps, one had to have enormous faith in the protection of Christ.
In 1965, a monk publicly burned a portrait of Lenin as an idol that people worshiped. His slogans asserted that only God is worthy of worship. They opened a case, Urgebadze was threatened with execution, but, fearing noise from abroad, they limited themselves to prison.
Holy Reverend Confessor Gabriel Urgebadze
Sometimes, in order to avoid arrest, the monk pretended to be a holy fool, although he was a mentally healthy person. The main principle of the life of the Georgian saint was - God is love. He brought this love to people, nurtured it in others, and taught them to share it.
It seemed that even the air in the presence of the archbishop was saturated with God’s love; he gave it through spiritual and physical help to people. The saint served in Mtskheta for 40 years. His refuge was the tower of Tsar Mirian, standing between the Samtavro-Transfiguration Church and the Convent of St. Nino, where he died on November 2, 1995.
Holy grave
Just before his death, a doctor came to the sick archimandrite and took his blood for analysis. After the death of the future saint of Georgia and all Rus', the test tube with the saint’s blood was kept by the nun Paraskeva, who constantly prayed at the grave and looked after it. Those wishing to receive the special blessing of the righteous approached the nun, who baptized with a test tube containing the saint’s blood.
People prayed around the clock at the grave of St. Gabriel, a lamp was burning, from which oil with miraculous powers was poured for pilgrims. An awning was stretched over the grave and the cross, which became a refuge from the sun and rain.
On a note! People called their beloved archimandrite Mama Gabrieli. The saint's jacket is kept in the Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin. Everyone who was given permission to put on the jacket noted a special feeling of peace and tranquility, a special joy.
Miracles by prayer
A boy who was brought to the grave by his father was delivered from satanic forces. Evil spirits did not allow the boy to touch the grave. He neighed like a horse, running away at a gallop. His father caught up with him, prayed with Mother Paraskeva, who each time upon his return baptized the boy with a test tube of blood. Soon the demons left the child's body.
Icon of St. Gabriel Urgebadze
The boy who was run over by the car underwent surgery, but the child was completely swollen, the swelling subsided only after anointing the patient with oil from Mama Gabrieli’s lamp.
Read about other miracles:
- Lanchang Miracle
- Miraculous icons of Athos
- Barnaul miracle
A breast cancer patient was given a terrible diagnosis and told that she needed urgent surgery, otherwise there was only 2 weeks left. The woman prayed to the holy image, saw a smiling old man in a dream and refused the operation. The patient lived near the grave for 2 weeks, constantly drinking oil from the lamp. Subsequent tests did not show the presence of oncology in the body.
During Mariam's pregnancy, doctors discovered a cyst in the fetus and insisted on an abortion. The woman began to go to the grave, pray and be treated with oil. The child was born completely healthy.
Famous images of the saint
The most famous icons of the elder were painted by artists Zure Zhgenti and Giorgia Zakaidze in our days, because Urgebadze’s canonization took place only in 2014.
Both images of the Saint are half-length; Zhgenti was especially able to convey the character of the elder: a kind look, a smile hidden under a gray beard, with his right hand Saint Gabriel blesses people.
On the second icon, Gabriel is depicted in monastic clothes with a blue cloak thrown over it. In the hands of the monk there is a communion cup and a spoon.
There are also known full-length images where the elder is dressed in a black robe, with a cross and an icon of the Holy Mother of God on his chest, one of his hands is frozen in a blessing gesture, and the other is clutching a staff. Georgian landscapes are depicted in the background of the icon.
Modern icon painters have tried to convey in their works as much as possible the human qualities of St. Gabriel that the righteous man possessed.
Purpose of collection
Friends! You and I had the great honor and joy of taking part in the construction of the first church in Russia in honor of St. Gabriel of Samtavria (Urgebadze). This temple is being built by our outstanding contemporary, the famous traveler priest Fyodor Konyukhov, in his village in the Tula region.
The foundation of the temple has been partially erected. At this stage, it is necessary to complete it, as well as erect the walls and roof of the temple.
The collection amount is quite impressive - 2,950,000 rubles. But the foundation decided to take on such a difficult task, because the project is dedicated to our reverend contemporary and is being implemented by our wonderful compatriot.
St. Gabriel of Samtavria (Urgebadze)
Elder Gabriel lived on earth quite recently. He died in 1995, and in 2012 he was glorified as a saint. This is a very rare case, indicating that the holiness of Fr. Gabriel does not require confirmation over a long period of time.
The Monk Gabriel lived in Georgia and said: “My flock is all of Georgia and half of Russia.” He served God from childhood. As a boy he even ran away from home so that he would not be prevented from praying. Living during the years of Soviet power, Fr. Gabriel performed a feat reminiscent of the acts of the ancient martyrs: in front of everyone, he set fire to a huge canvas with a portrait of Lenin, declaring that we must worship God, not idols. Needless to say, this was followed by beatings, arrest, and torture. Only by the grace of God did the saint escape execution and was released. Father Gabriel grieved, seeing the desecration of shrines. He walked through abandoned, destroyed temples and prayed there. In the courtyard of his own house, using scrap materials, Fr. Gabriel built a small church. In it he collected icons, which in those years were thrown away in large numbers by people who had lost faith. The saint of God specifically looked for them in landfills. The last years of Fr. Gabriel spent time at the Samtavro convent. He taught nuns and all believers prayer, love, and repentance. To hide his holiness, he performed a feat of foolishness: he pretended to be mentally ill and a drinker. At the same time, he helped many of those who really suffered from this illness get rid of drunkenness.
Fyodor Konyukhov – priest and traveler
Father Fyodor Konyukhov also glorifies the Lord in an unusual way. He reminds our contemporaries that in life there is still a place for selfless interest in the world created by God, nature, there is a place for risk and overcoming. And that this overcoming is possible with prayer and trust in the Creator.
Priest Fyodor Konyukhov is not only a famous traveler, but also a temple builder. He made a vow upon returning from each trip to build a temple or chapel. The decision to build a temple in honor of St. He received Gabriel of Samtavria while sailing on the rowing boat "Akros" from New Zealand to Cape Horn in 2018 - 2021. The 154-day (11,525 km) crossing of the South Pacific Ocean took place under harsh conditions. During one of the protracted 12-point storms about. Fyodor prayed to St. Gabriel of Samtavria and felt his support. Then a plan arose to build a temple in honor of the saint in the village of Fyodor Konyukhov in the Tula region.
Let's take part in this holy cause! Those saints to whom we build and dedicate churches will be our intercessors and defenders until the end of our earthly days. Let us honor the amazing saint of God and help our extraordinary compatriot!
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