Venerable Gavriil, Hermit of Lesnovo

Saint Gavriil of Lesnovo

The fifteenth of January is also the feast-day of the great and venerable Saint Gavriil of Lesnovo, a contemporary and friend of the meek Serbian Saint Prohor of Pčinja, with whom he shares this day of veneration. Both of them were disciples of Saint Ivan of Rila. As with both Saint Ivan and Saint Prohor, his hagiography bears some resemblance to saints in the Celtic tradition.

Saint Gavriil [Bg. Гавриил] was born in the eleventh century to noble parents, in the town of Osiče near Kriva Palanka, in what is now North Macedonia – although at the time it was part of the Byzantine province of Bulgaria. His parents, who had been without children for much of their adulthood, had prayed to God for a son, and Gavriil was His gift to them. They arranged a marriage for him and left him all of their property. But Gavriil’s young wife soon died, and Gavriil fled his inherited estate in search of a life which would be well-pleasing to God.

He met a deacon named Thomas, whose love for Christ inflamed in his heart a desire for the ascetic life. Thereafter he had a vision of the Archangel Michael, whereupon he returned to Osiče and established a church there, in honour of the Nativity of the Theotokos. However, he was soon compelled to leave his home and seek a monastic vocation at the Monastery of Saint Michael in the village of Lesnovo – today located in the foothills of northeastern North Macedonia. Here he distinguished himself by his humility and meek obedience to the abbot, and the abbot, soon recognising his spiritual potential, granted him the privilege of living in a cell apart by himself to devote greater time to prayer and vigil.

The monk Gavriil lived in this way meekly for some time. However, he had great compassion on his brethren, and his prayers for them when they were injured or ill had great efficacy in healing them. Many sought out Gavriil on account of this grace he demonstrated. As the crowds grew larger, Gavriil moved out of the monastery to avoid them, and he ventured first northward toward the forested hills around Lukovo. There he met a shepherd whose flock had been infected with a certain incurable and deadly blight of the flesh. The shepherd asked Saint Gavriil to bless some water and sprinkle it on his sheep. The sheep were healed wondrously by this water. The shepherd spread the news around of the holy man, and soon again Gavriil was thronged about by crowds. Again the hermit withdrew to a high mountain peak – possibly Orlov Kamen on the border of Serbia and Bulgaria. Here he spent thirty years toiling in solitary struggle, unknown to men. Here he met his repose in the Lord.

Saint Gavriil appeared in a vision to a Bulgarian monk named Iosif, asking him to make a journey to uncover his relics. Iosif – fearing that the vision might be a delusion sent by the Evil One – went to consult with his abbot and with the Metropolitan about it. The Metropolitan believed the vision to have been genuine, and enjoined the monk Iosif to make the journey and follow the saint’s instructions. The monk Iosif took with him a party of fellow-monastics and set off for the peak, and being guided by a second vision they found there the relics of Saint Gavriil lying in his cell, incorrupt. The monk brought them with great reverence to Lesnovo Monastery, where they were interred with honour and became the site of many wondrous healings and spiritual prodigies. The Serbian voivode and despot Jovan Oliver, in the fourteenth century, visited the now run-down monastery and built a church to house the reliquary, as well as giving generously of his own funds to restore the monastic house to its former glory. Later in the fourteenth century, the relics of Saint Gavriil would be transferred to Veliko Tărnovo to keep them safe from the depredations of the Turkish Sultân Murad I. His relics today, however, rest at the Lesnovo Monastery – which today bears both the name of Archangel Michael and the name of Saint Gavriil. Holy and venerable Gavriil, steadfast athlete of Christ, ascetic and healer, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!

Apolytikion for Saint Gavriil of Lesnovo, Tone 8:

By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
And your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
O our holy father Gavriil, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!

St Michael and St Gabriel Monastery, Lesnovo, North Macedonia