Romanian Church to include St. Gabriel Urgebadze in its calendar

St. Gabriel Urgebadze. Photo: Basilica.ro

The Romanian Orthodox Church has approved the inclusion in the menologion from 2026 of the Venerable Confessor Gabriel the Georgian (Urgebadze), a fool for Christ, reports the press service of the Romanian Patriarchate.

The corresponding decision was approved at a Synod session held on June 4, 2026, at the Patriarchal Palace in Bucharest. At the same time, liturgical texts in honor of the saint were approved. His commemoration in the Romanian Church will be observed annually on November 2.

As noted, the initiative was put forward after the participation of a Romanian delegation in the funeral of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II. During the visit, representatives of the Romanian Orthodox Church visited the Samtavro Monastery, where St. Gabriel spent the last years of his earthly life.

The Romanian Church emphasized that the decision is also a sign of fraternal reciprocity toward the Georgian Orthodox Church, which had previously included several Romanian saints in its calendar.

St. Gabriel (in the world Goderdzi Urgebadze) was born on August 26, 1929, in Tbilisi. From his youth, he aspired to spiritual life and during the years of state atheism collected and preserved icons that were being destroyed.

The saint became widely known in 1965 when, during an official Soviet demonstration, he publicly burned a big portrait of Vladimir Lenin. For this act, he was arrested, put on trial, and confined to a psychiatric hospital for seven months.

Despite persecution, Father Gabriel continued his service to the Church. In the last years of his life, he labored at the Samtavro Monastery, where he gained fame as a spiritual father and elder who possessed the gift of foresight.

The saint departed to the Lord on November 2, 1995. In 2012, the Georgian Orthodox Church canonized him, and in 2014, his holy relics were found and placed for veneration by the faithful in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord at the Samtavro Monastery.

As the UOJ reported, a saint from the Chernivtsi region who survived USSR camps was glorified in Romania.

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