The Bishop of the former Gano and Chora, Mr. Amphilochios
Two days before the feast of Thomas, the Apostle of the Indies, the bells of our venerable Ecumenical Patriarchate rang joyfully for the canonization of the holy Gavrielia nun. St. Gavrielia came from Constantinople. She had studied medicine and spoke many languages. These skills, but above all her great love and devotion to our Saviour Jesus Christ, gave her wings to fly to India and to stand there as a comforting angel for many poor and suffering people of that country, working with the pious Orthodox English missionary Lazarus.
Before setting out for those distant places, Sister Gabriella passed by the holy island of Patmos, where she venerated the Cave of the Holy Revelation and the great monastery of Saint John the Theologian and its builder, Saint Christodoulos Latrinos.
She then took the path that led to the nunnery of Evangelism to make a general confession of her sins to the holy old man Amphilochios Makris, who made her a nun by giving her the name of Archangel Gabriel, a name directly related to evangelism and the salvation of the world.
I had the privilege of meeting St. Gabriella in life, first in Kenya in 1969, where we were close to the late and ardent missionary Fr. Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos, one of the first Greek missionaries in East Africa, after Archimandrite Nicodemus Sarikas.
Sister Gabriella, as a person with education and coming from an official Byzantine family, had a similar appearance in her ways of behaviour and communication with every person, inspiring confidence in those who were guided by the grace of God.
At the end of her life I was privileged to meet her at her retreat apartment in Patissia, Athens and then at her retreat in Leros, where she spent the rest of her life in prayer and other spiritual pursuits until the Lord rested her from the labours of the flesh and took her soul to Him “where the righteous rest”.
May we have her blessing and through her intercession may we also receive divine mercy.
