Archimandrite Gabriel (Urgebadze) (26
August, 1929 Tbilisi – 2 November 1995, Mtskheta, Georgia) was canonized
on December 20, 2012 by the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
His feastday will be celebrated on November 2nd, the day of his repose.
Elder Gabriel opposed the
communist regime in Soviet Georgia (former republic of the USSR) and was
persecuted by the government for many years. He built a four-cupola
church in his yard single-handedly. Monk Gabriel was arrested by Soviet
police after he burnt down a huge portrait of Lenin during the parade in
Tbilisi, 1965. Tortured by KGB for several months monk Gabriel was
eventually released from prison.
