In the 1980s, there was a man named Revaz who lived in Georgia, drinking his sorrows away at beerhouses every night, forsaking his family in favor of alcohol and gambling. He had reached such a low point in his life, and had no thought to go to Church, but instead despaired and considered ending his life.
Once, while at a bar in Tbilisi, Revaz had encountered the infamous fool of Christ, Father Gabriel Urgebadze. This monk had entered the bar dancing, and belligerently ordered the largest glass of beer and vodka they had in the establishment, demanding it be given to him. “Or my heart will be broken!” Father had said, “I will pay any cost! The parishioners have given me money!”
The bargoers were dumbfounded but found it amusing that a man of the cloth, a monk, would act so strangely in a bar, and yet they enjoyed his presence. Father Gabriel began to sing patriotic hymns about his country of Georgia, and the people in the bar sang along with him.
This Fool-for-Christ merrily sang and danced around the beerhouse, toting his glass of drink! At some point, Father Gabriel drew near to Revaz, this man so stricken with grief, and for a moment became serious while nobody was paying attention.
The monk, a stranger to everyone at the bar, gestured to Revaz’s shirt and said, “Revaz, burn what you have here, in your pocket!” Father Gabriel hit Revaz’s chest in a showy manner, raised his hands to heaven, and then made the sign of the Cross over him.
None the wiser, everyone at the bar had witnessed the interaction, and thought that the sign of the Cross he made over Revaz was a dance move, and Father Gabriel swiftly left the bar while applause followed him. “What a nice man!” The people exclaimed.
Revaz stood in tears inside the establishment. “How did he know what was in my pocket?” he pondered; for within his shirt was a note bidding a permanent farewell to his family members. Revaz had been planning to end his life that night, carrying the suicide note he wrote a few hours ago as he had gone to the bar to get his last drink.
Elder Gabriel had come to Revaz by the will of God. In that moment, Revaz’s life changed, and from the next day, he didn’t want to hear about gambling anymore, he stopped drinking. Revaz tried to no avail to find Father Gabriel again, he would ask people in Tbilisi but they would dismiss him saying, “that monk was a madman, a vagabond!”
Revaz eventually returned to the Church and began going regularly. While visiting Mtskheta, he walked towards a grave upon which people crowded around and recognized the picture of the monk who was buried. It was Father Gabriel; the monk who had saved him and sobered him up! The man in the portrait winked at him, and Revaz smiled back, his tears welling up in his eyes.
Saint Gabriel, intercede on our behalf before the throne of Christ our God; for those of us in despair, for those of us in bondage to addiction, pray that Christ may have mercy on us sinners.
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