Today, December 20, marks twelve years since the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church, headed by Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II, canonized Archimandrite Gabriel (Urgebadze). As an ordinary Georgian, I can confidently say that this day was highly anticipated in Georgia. I recall my first meeting with Elder Gabriel; if I am not mistaken, I was seven or eight years old when I visited the grave of Elder Gabriel for the first time. We went on an excursion from school. Naturally, I knew about him before that, since his memory was kept in our family. As a child, I was surprised to see such a large number of people at the grave. My grandmother said to me: “Here, Kostya, this is the grave of Saint Gabriel (he was not canonized then), go and pray.” I ran to the grave, told the elder that I study well, do not offend my parents and know about him and how kind he is. “The Kingdom of Heaven is yours,” I said with childish naivety in front of the photograph of the elder, and we headed to the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral.
I have never talked about this, but now I will dare and tell you about one amazing incident. When the class was about to leave the Svetitskhoveli Temple, my grandmother and I lingered at the bench, wanting to buy church candles. Since they were waiting for us in a minibus, we hurriedly headed to the gates, and at that time one monk with a white beard beckoned me and my grandmother with a hand gesture. We approached the monk, who was sitting on the bench. He blessed my grandmother and spoke words of praise to her: “Well done, you take this nimble boy to church. The rain is no obstacle for you.” Then he took my hand and said, “How much you run... You will run in the future; your strength will come in handy.” Then he looked at me with such eyes filled with love that I still remember the tremor that pierced my body. The monk read some prayer, blessed me and my grandmother with the sign of the cross, raised his hands to the sky and said, “Now you are free.” One thing is surprising—there was not a drop of rain that day, and we did not pay attention to these words. Only after a certain time my grandmother said: “It was Elder Gabriel himself. How could I not have guessed...” In fact, I have been serving in the church as an altar server since I was five years old, and many times my grandmother and I had to walk to church on foot, both in rainy weather and in the heat. Naturally, they didn’t understand then, but now I know exactly how that monk could have known that because there was often no transportation, my grandmother would walk me to church even in rainy weather.
Even before the glorification of Elder Gabriel, his photographs could be seen everywhere: in educational institutions, on public transport, in offices. I remember one incident. In 2010, an acquaintance of mine opened a private daycare center. I remember giving him several children’s books with illustrations. When I brought him the books, he complained: “I think I shouldn’t have opened this daycare center... There are few people who want it; only nine parents have registered...” I told him that he needed to ask God for help and go to Elder Gabriel’s grave. The next day, I printed out a photograph of Elder Gabriel and gave it to him, advising him to hang the photograph near the icons in the daycare center. He happily agreed. This was on the eve of the feast of the Protection of the Holy Mother of God and Svetitskhovloba. In Georgia, on October 14, we celebrate the feast of Svetitskhovloba, dedicated to the Tunic of our Lord Jesus Christ. About two weeks later, a friend of mine called and asked me to come to his place of work. I agreed, and at noon I went to his daycare center. I went into the yard and saw children playing there—about 20 of them. Then my friend Malkhaz met me, smiling and joyful, and said: “Kote, look what Elder Gabriel did... As soon as we hung his photo, the next day parents began to come and register their children. There are already thirty-six of them... And my wife told me that she asked the elder for help. Help came, and the elder gave a sign. My wife saw in a dream how the elder opened the gates of the daycare center and entered with an icon of the Mother of God, and the children followed. This is such a help from God. Elder Gabriel brought the children to our daycare center...” Father Gabriel is a great elder. He appears invisibly wherever he chooses.
* * *
Nun Paraskeva testifies:
Once a woman came to the elder and said, “You saved me from death, let me thank you.”
She told us the following story:
“I live near the cemetery, in an old house. Bandits broke into my house at night. Out of fear, I began to call out to Father Gabriel for help. A miracle happened: The elder appeared instantly, and began to chase them with a club. The frightened bandits ran away, losing their minds, and the elder disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared.
There was also such an incident. Once the elder said, “Now I will go to the Shavnabada monastery.”
I thought he was joking.
After some time, I asked, “Father, did you go to Shavnabada?”
“Yes, I did. When I came, they were having a meal, and everything was fine there.
“Did they see you?” I asked again.
“No, where from? If they had seen me, they would have been surprised, and I didn’t want to show myself to them.”
“And what was Father Shio doing?” I asked.
“He was counting people, the elder answered.
A few days later, the abbot of the Shavnabada Monastery, Archimandrite Shio, came to Father Gabriel.
I asked him, “Father, are there many of you in the monastery?”
“I don’t know: some come, others leave. I usually count them during meals.”
Father Gabriel looked at me meaningfully and smiled. I was shocked.
Not long before his death, the elder said, “I am leaving, but I will always be invisibly near you. I will never leave you.” A recollection of Elder Gabriel’s spiritual child, Keteve Bekauri, comes to mind: “He often told me, “I will not be Khanuma (the character of the famous Georgian film) if I don’t teach you a lesson!” After his funeral, I came home, but I could not calm down. I kept remembering that as soon as I started laughing, he would say to me jokingly, “Oh, I hope this laughter doesn’t turn into tears!” I still couldn’t calm down, I looked in on the neighbors, but my heart was restless there too. When I was about to leave, my neighbor said, “Don’t go, I’ll turn on the TV.” She turned on the TV, and a miracle happened—the words “I won’t be Khanuma if I don’t teach you a lesson!” came from the screen. The film “Keto and Kote” was on. I was taken aback...
The presence of Elder Gabriel is felt throughout the Orthodox world. Based on the fact that with God’s help and the blessing of our beloved Patriarch Ilia II, our creative team shoots films and programs about the elder, and worked toward his glorification. There is much to tell, but I especially and joyfully remember our trips with the icon of two great elders—St. Gabriel and St. Seraphim of Sarov. The icon is called “unity in Christ and friendship of the Russian and Georgian Orthodox peoples.”
Many miracles and healings occurred before the image of the Saints, which we talked about in articles published on Pravoslavie.Ru. Recently, in the courtyard of the Holy Protection Monastery in the city of Tolochin (Vitebsk region), the first monument to the elder St. Gabriel in the entire Orthodox world was erected. We direct your attention a conversation with the abbess of the monastery, Abbess Anfisa (Lyubchak) in the coming days. For me, as a Georgian, it is a great joy and honor to see a monument to Elder Gabriel in Holy Russia’... Fr. Gabriel himself said, “My cross is half of Georgia and half of Orthodox Russia’...” I would like to add one thing: I will not lie if I say that with each passing day, love for Elder Gabriel, like a snowball, increases and gains strength. After all, this is a real miracle happening today before our eyes. How else can one explain the fact that Elder Gabriel has become one strong unifying thread for our Orthodox peoples in our days of division? Through his prayers, may the Lord save and have mercy on us! Amen!
