Gabriel of Athos

Saint Gabriel of Athos (in the world George, 1849-1901) the venerable was an archimandrite and abbot of the Russian skete of Saint Elias on Mount Athos, born in the Kyiv governorate and died on 19 October 1901 in the Cossack settlement of Novonikolaevskaya (now Novoazovsk). He was canonized in 1994 by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as a locally venerated saint, and on 30 November 2017 the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church decided on his veneration in the whole Church. He is commemorated on 9 July (22 July in the new style).

Youth and coming to Athos

He was born on 8 January 1849 in the Kyiv governorate, in a poor family, and received the name George at baptism. At twelve he was orphaned. He studied at the village school. In youth he made a pilgrimage to the holy places of the Kyiv governorate, fulfilling a vow made during a grave illness. The impressions of the pilgrimage greatly influenced George's religious outlook, and he joined the brethren of the Feofania hermitage, attached to the Mikhailovsky Golden-⁠Domed monastery in Kyiv, where he was a disciple of Abbot Vonifaty (Vinogradsky). In 1867-1868 he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and then to Athos, where he remained, joining the brethren of the skete of Saint Elias. In 1869 he was tonsured a monk with the name Gabriel, in honour of the archangel Gabriel.

In spring 1876 he was appointed steward on the skete's sailing ship "Holy Prophet Elias", which made regular voyages from Athos to Constantinople, Odessa, Mariupol and other Russian ports to supply the skete (the crew was made up of monks and novices, and the captain was a hieromonk). In the Russo-⁠Turkish war of 1877-1878 he was with the ship at Taganrog and Rostov-⁠on-⁠Don. In 1878, after the peace of San Stefano, he returned to the skete of Saint Elias, where he did the obediences of treasurer and steward.

Abbot of the skete

In 1887 he took over the governance of the skete, after the move of the former abbot, the hieroschemamonk Tobias, to the Akhtyrka monastery. In 1891 Patriarch Joachim III of Constantinople raised him to archimandrite. He helped greatly in the good ordering of the skete of Saint Elias. He successfully settled a property conflict of the skete with the Pantokrator monastery, which had authority over it, which allowed the continued enlargement of the skete, including the laying of a cathedral. To finance the building, at Gabriel's request, the skete was allowed to collect alms throughout the Russian Empire, and in 1893 he organized the collection of funds in a journey to Russia with holy objects of the skete. On his initiative, in 1894-1896 the metochion of Saint Elias was built at Odessa, with a three-⁠altar church in Byzantine style and wide quarters for Russian pilgrims on their way to Athos and Jerusalem. Part of the stones of the church were brought by him from Athos on the ship "Holy Prophet Elias". The church was consecrated in December 1896 by Gabriel with Archbishop Justin (Okhotin) of Kherson and Odessa, with the main altar of the icon of the Mother of God "the Nursing" ("Milk-⁠giver"), the right one of the holy prophet Elias and the left one of the archangel Gabriel. In 1894-1898 a communal building was built in the skete, and in 1899 the building of a new cathedral began, of which, in the archimandrite's lifetime, only the foundation and the basement part were completed.

In 1901 he went to Russia to visit the metochia of the skete in Odessa, Taganrog and the settlement of Novonikolaevskaya. In mid-⁠October, during his stay at Novonikolaevskaya, his health suddenly worsened and he died on 19 October (he had received communion the day before, 18 October). The archimandrite's body was taken to Odessa, where on 2 November it was buried in the crypt of the church of the Saint Elias metochion.

Veneration

On 22 July 1994, with the blessing of Metropolitan Agafangel (Savin) of Odessa and Izmail, the clergy of the Saint Elias monastery in Odessa solemnly opened the grave of Archimandrite Gabriel and found his relics. By decree of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church he was canonized, and the reliquary with his relics was placed in the cathedral of the metochion (in 1995 turned into the Saint Elias men's monastery of Odessa). A troparion, prayer and akathist were composed. On 23 October 2011 the lower church of the Saint Elias monastery in Odessa was consecrated in honour of the venerable Paisius Velichkovsky and Gabriel, by Metropolitan Agafangel. On 30 November 2017 the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church blessed the veneration in the whole Church of the venerable Gabriel of Athos, entering his name in the calendar of the Russian Church, with commemoration on 9 July (22 July in the new style). One of his surviving words runs: "My peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you... If we live in the spirit of true monks, then our compassionate benefactors will not cease to help us with their gifts, by which our monastery exists."