Gabriel of Vigla

Gabriel of Vigla (d. 1944) was from Euboea and came to the Holy Mountain to become a monk about 1880. Elder Andrew (d. 2004) writes of him: "He was devout, serious, sober, of few words, with the prayer rope in his hand and the prayer 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me' in his heart and on his lips. His speech was very measured, all spiritual counsel and exhortation to the good and to virtue. I was a child, a novice; I had just put on the cassock and when I first saw him I was seized with awe. His appearance was rough and abrupt and, though he was good and full of kindness, you thought you faced a harsh and hard man; but when he spoke, he was sweet and gentle and was at once loved. He did not get angry easily, but gently and with a smile on his lips he could take you in his iron hands and crush you. So in all that region the hermits revered him, loved him and feared him, because he would not accept opposition to his word."

Elder Gabriel had as disciple the most devout, virtuous and ascetic hieromonk Barlaam the Confessor. They lived in love in the hut of Saints Barlaam and Ioasaph for more than fifty years. Father Barlaam celebrated almost daily, commemorating many names. They were known all over Athos for their virtue and handiwork: they made sieves, lanterns and lamps; for this reason Elder Gabriel was called the Sieve-⁠maker. Father Barlaam had a strong thought to go as pilgrim to Jerusalem. The elder dissuaded him: "Jerusalem and the Holy Places, for you and for me, are our church with its sanctuary, and the Holy Table is the Holy Sepulchre. What do you want now, an old man of seventy-⁠five, to go and weary yourself, when for you and for me, who am eighty, the Garden of the Mother of God, the Holy Mountain, is the place of our prayer and recollection, and since until now you have never gone out into the world, why do you want to go now in old age?" At his insistence the elder gave him a blessing to go, but on his return and until his repose something he had seen there troubled him in prayer, though he had confessed it. Father Gabriel reposed in 1944. He is venerated by the faithful, without synodal canonization.