Mtskheta, Georgia, November 5, 2025
From the procession for the feast of St. Gabriel. Photo: Union of Orthodox Journalists
St. Gabriel of Georgia is known as a great wonderworker, both during his lifetime, and in repose. And on November 2, the 30th anniversary of his repose, he worked a new miracle, says a priest of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
According to Archpriest George Kunitsky from Khmelnitsky, a Ukrainian soldier who had been unable to speak for nearly a year following a combat injury began speaking again after an apparition of St. Gabriel at Samtavro Monastery in Mtskheta, where his relics are treasured, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
The soldier, who was part of a pilgrimage group visiting Georgia, had sustained severe injuries on the front lines, losing a leg and losing the ability to speak due to shell shock. According to Fr. George, the healing occurred during Vespers on the feast of St. Gabriel the Confessor and Fool-for-Christ of Samtavro.
“Yesterday, during Vespers, this exhausted soldier was granted the grace to see St. Gabriel, who came to him and said: ‘Stand up and speak.’ And at that moment his mouth opened, and he spoke! To his joy, to his amazement, to the glory of God!” Fr. George recounted.
The priest said the healed soldier shared his joy continuously after the evening service, while those present wept and thanked the saint for the miracle. The pilgrimage group had the honor of serving in the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos at Samtavro Monastery with the blessing of His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia.
On the eve of the feast, Georgian faithful honored their beloved saint with a traditional procession from St. Gabriel’s house in Tbilisi to Samtavro Monastery. The procession included clergy, Mother Paraskeva (a spiritual daughter of St. Gabriel), and faithful from Georgia, Russia, and Ukraine. A paraklesis was served, after which pilgrims venerated St. Gabriel’s grave and asked for his prayers and blessing.
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