U.S.A., April 6, 2023
St. Gabriel (Urgebadze) is one of the most beloved saints in the Orthodox world today.
His story has been told in numerous articles and videos, and now we are pleased to announce a project to publish a complete biography of St. Gabriel, featuring first-hand testimonies from his relatives and spiritual children, and the words of the saint himself.
St. Gabriel has already touched thousands of lives through his prayers and miracles, both during his lifetime and after!
And the new publication, St. Gabriel the Fool-for-Christ, by Archimandrite Kirion (Oniani) promises to be an invaluable addition to modern Orthodox literature, in the vein of the wonderful biographies of St. Paisios and St. Joseph the Hesychast that have been published in English in recent years.
St. Gabriel could well be the Georgian St. Paisios—a modern saint, deeply ascetic and full of love, who is embraced by the entire Orthodox world!
In addition to hundreds pages of on the life of St. Gabriel, this edition also includes more than 30 narrations from those whose lives were personally touched by him, and more than 20 miracle stories from those who received healing by his prayers.
Fundraiser
A new fundraiser has been launched to help publish an English-language translation of this invaluable text on St. Gabriel.
The campaign’s immediate goal is to raise $20,000 to cover the costs of a high-quality translation and editing, with any additional funds going towards formatting and printing costs.
The campaign, launched yesterday, has managed to raise $645, or 3% of its goal so far, thanks to several generous donors!
Perks include free e-copies and free hard copies of the book once it’s published, which is projected for the fall of 2023.
For more information about the project, see the IndieGoGo fundraiser page.
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A sample of the text
Fr. Gabriel is a defender of the truth
Zachariah Chugoshivli recalls:
The miracle that happened in my life was enchanting and unforgettable.
I became religious at the age of twenty-one. I hadn’t even read the Gospels all the way though yet when the enemy of man’s salvation began desiring my separation from the Church and my spiritual destruction.
Once when I was traveling to Sioni on public transportation, I wound up next to a young woman who opened the Gospel and quietly started reading to herself. I figured she was a believer and I started talking with her (I didn’t know anything about sects back then). Throughout the entire trip, she tried to convince me that Christ isn’t God and that going to church isn’t really necessary. She quoted individual verses from the Bible, which she hadn’t read to the end, and she used these incomplete quotes to lead me into confusion. I realized this later when I read the Holy Scriptures.
This interaction had a very negative influence on me, as if it had broken my soul in two just as I was taking my first steps in the Christian life. I felt some kind of heavy dichotomy, similar to a feeling of depression. I reluctantly went to Sioni Cathedral to pray, merely out of inertia. If previously I had stood joyfully at prayer and desired to hear every word, now I was no longer able to concentrate, and didn’t hear a single word. That woman’s terrible words rang out within me: “Jesus Christ isn’t God.”
Disturbed and downtrodden, I dropped to my knees and laid my head on the ground, as if I no longer had any strength to remain on my feet. Soon I felt someone place his hand on my head, and in such a painful condition, I looked up and saw an unfamiliar, but venerable-looking priest standing before me. He picked me up, looked at me with a piercing look, and said in a firm voice, “Know this! The Jews didn’t confess Jesus Christ as God, and therefore they perished. Christ truly is God! Remember this and believe me! Now you have understood it, and let your faithfulness be unbroken!”
I can’t describe my happiness—at that moment I was truly spiritually born. All evil thoughts and suspicions vanished, and my previous desire to stand in prayer returned. I later found out that this unknown monk who granted me spiritual rebirth was Fr. Gabriel.
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