The Romanian Church will include Saint Gabriel Urgebadze in its calendar
In Romania, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church canonized Gabriel of Georgia, a fool for Christ.
The Romanian Orthodox Church has approved the inclusion in the menologion from 2026 of the Venerable Confessor Gabriel the Georgian (Urgebadze), fool for Christ. This was reported by the press service of the Romanian Patriarchate.
The corresponding decision was approved at a Synod meeting 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 memory in the Romanian Church will be celebrated annually on November 2.
As noted, the initiative was put forward after the participation of a delegation of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the funeral of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II. During the visit, representatives of the Romanian Church visited the Samtavro Monastery, where Saint 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.
The Venerable 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 gained wide recognition in 1965 when during an official Soviet demonstration he publicly burned a huge portrait of Lenin. For this act, he was arrested, tried, and placed in 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 clairvoyance.
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 Samtavro Monastery.
As reported by UOJ, in Romania they glorified a saint from Chernivtsi region who went through USSR camps.
