Wondrous stories of St. Gabriel Urgebadze of Georgia

Wondrous stories of St. Gabriel Urgebadze of Georgia

~A spiritual daughter

Manana Khorbaladze first met St. Gabriel in 1990. At that period she was integrating into church life. When she came up to receive his blessing for the first time, he was standing by his tower. His eyes were shining with great love and he welcomed her as his long-awaited guest.

“Bless me, father,” she said and heard the following words in response:
“Christ our God will bless you!”

The Elder embraced her and said:
“The Lord loves you so much!”

After that she came to love the Elder dearly and could not imagine her life without him. She would often visit Samtavro Convent and stay there. Sometimes the Elder would tell her:
“The Lord will send you a great trial.”

Of course, she didn’t know what the Elder meant, but after some time had passed and many hardships had befallen her, she then understood what was behind those words.

Soon she started physically feeling very bad and had lost 22 pounds in a week. She was taken to a doctor who after examining her and had conducted a series of tests on her, then referred her to the oncology department.

At that time doctors tended not to disclose serious conditions to their patients, but for some reason she was informed that she had sarcoma (malignant tumor) of the spine.

There were no CAT scanners back then, so she did a thermography test. A council of physicians was convened, and after the consultation the doctor wished to speak to her husband in private.

Seeing that they would be talking about her diagnosis, the stage of her disease and prognosis, she told the doctor as if automatically:

“Tell me everything as well. I am not afraid… I am not afraid of dying. The main thing is how we will stand before Christ.”

Her reaction surprised the doctor, and he invited her and her husband to his consulting room. When they came in, he told them that the cancer had metastasized into all the bones and there were practically no prospects of survival.

Since cancer cells had already gotten into the blood and the white blood cell count was so low, she couldn’t undergo neither radiotherapy nor chemotherapy.

“How long do I have to live?” She asked.
“Up to three months,” was the answer.

Some time passed, and she was put on morphine. She suffered from excruciating pain; with every passing day she grew weaker, as if losing the remainder of her strength.

One evening she opened her eyes and saw Elder Gabriel standing at the head of her bed.

It was at the period when he too had health issues and seldom left his cell. She couldn’t believe that he had come to see her.

The Elder looked at her, then bending over her bed, embraced her, and burst into tears. And her tears started falling involuntarily too.

The Elder proceeded:
“The Lord has heard the prayers and heeded the petition. Don’t be afraid! You will live! I cannot reveal the rest to you: it is a mystery of God. But keep in mind that the Lord will send you numerous trials: you will have to go through fire; God will melt you down like gold; you will walk over glowing iron.”

She didn’t comprehend the meaning of his words back then. But 28 years later, she was beginning to grasp it little by little.

She had to undergo 29 operations: some of her foot bones were removed and replaced by implants.

Post-operative pain and her general condition resembled “walking over glowing iron.”

This is what the Elder’s words implied.

Later, when the Elder revealed all this to her, he told her to get up and share a meal with him. Scarcely had they sat down at the table when her mother and her nephew came in.

Suddenly the Elder started crying aloud, exclaiming:
“How sweet you are, my mom, mommy! How far from me you are, mom! When will I see you next, mommy?”

She was surprised and didn’t understand why the Elder had begun lamenting in such words.

It was not until later that she came to understand that in those words he had predicted that she wouldn’t be able to attend her beloved mother’s funeral.

Her mother passed away when she was undergoing treatment in Belgium. At such a great distance, she mourned for her mom on the day of her funeral exactly with the same words the Elder had uttered that evening.


~“You have saved me from death”

Once a woman came to the Elder and said:
“You have saved me from death, now let me thank you.”

She told the following story:
“I live in an old house near the cemetery. Once at night, some bandits broke into it. Out of fear, I began to call Father Gabriel for help.

A miracle then happened: the Elder appeared instantly, with a club and began to chase after them. The frightened bandits then fled in terror, and the Elder disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared.”


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