Father Gabriel's worldly name 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 family called the boy by his father's name, Vasiko.
I believed in God as a child. One day the neighbors were fighting, and one of them said: "You crucified me like Christ." The boy wondered what it meant to "crucify" and who Christ was. The adults sent the child to the church, where the caretaker advised him to read the Gospel. He saved up money, bought the Gospel, and after a few years knew the text almost by heart.
The desire for monasticism arose in him at a young age. Later, the elder said: "There is no greater heroism than monasticism." His mother was against her son's desire for monasticism for a long time, but at the end of her life she reconciled herself to his choice, and then she took 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, the elder who walked on the water and brought the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God that sailed by sea to the Athos shore. Father Gabriel especially revered the miraculous list of Iverskaya, kept in the monastery of Samtavro.
Father Gabriel built a multi-headed church in the courtyard of his house on Tbilisi's Tetritskaroyskaya Street. He built it with his own hands and finished it around 1962. Father Gabriel found icons for this church in city landfills, where in those years numerous shrines were taken and thrown out along with garbage. Sometimes he wandered around the landfills for days on end. He had a small workshop where he cleaned icons, made them salaries 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 Soviet of the Georgian SSR, and began to preach Christ to the gathered people. He was severely beaten for this and put in a KGB detention center in Georgia. During the interrogation, Father Gabriel said: he did it because "you can't idolize a person. There, in place of Lenin's portrait, there should be a Crucifixion of Christ. A person does not need fame. It is necessary to write: "Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ." In August of that year, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for examination. He was declared insane there. The elder was diagnosed with a "psychopathic personality, believes in God and angels." He was given a "white ticket".
Subsequently, the church hierarchs, in order 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 wished it with all his soul. He could go without food for several days, not sleep for a long time, but he endured alienation from the church very hard. The elder often cried out of impotence, opening his soul to his sisters.
In the 1980s, he settled in the Samtavro monastery. He has been living in the round tower lately. The nuns were surprised at the father's eccentricities for some time, until they saw in them a special feat. At first, it seemed strange to them that he lived in a chicken coop for some time, where there were large cracks, and walked barefoot in winter. Then the sisters began to feel that an extraordinary love emanated from him: he loves 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 take offense at him - tender love shone in his eyes.
When Abbess Theodora was still a nun, he took her with him to Tbilisi and forced her to beg. The two of them begged for alms, and then the elder gave everything to the beggars. If they were returning by taxi, he could yell at the taxi driver and not give them any money at all, or he could pay many times more.
During Holy Week, constant crying could be heard from his cell. Some saw him rise 40-50 centimeters above the ground during prayer and light emanated from him. Believers revered Father Gabriel as a great ascetic, they came to him as a living saint.
Otar Nikolaishvili was the spiritual child of the priest and often spent time in his cell. One day, Father Gabriel unexpectedly told him that he had to go immediately to the monastery of St. Anthony of Martkopsky. Otar was confused: the car is not running, there are problems with it. The priest insisted, and they somehow went. The road began to climb uphill, the car "coughed and sneezed," but the elder suddenly said: "Son, don't worry, Reverend Anthony Martkopsky 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 put on the brakes. When they entered the monastery gate, the car immediately stalled. At the same time, several armed and aggressive people entered the building. The elder immediately came forward and said, "Shoot me." This confused and sobered the bandits, and they left the monastery.
Father Gabriel died on November 2, 1995 from dropsy. According to the will of the elder, his body was wrapped in a mat and buried 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 glorified as a saint. It happened in an incredibly short time after his death — 17 years later.
On February 22, 2014, the incorruptible relics of the saint were found.
Russian Russian Orthodox Church Holy Synod decided on December 25, 2014 "to include in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church the name of St. Gabriel of Samtavria with the establishment of the celebration of his memory on November 2, as it is established in the Georgian Orthodox Church."