The Georgian Orthodox Church Patriarchate has distanced itself from the use of the name of Gabriel Urgebadze, a prominent Georgian Orthodox monk canonized after his death, for a military unit fighting in the Ukrainian Donbas region on the Russian side, saying it was “utterly unheard-of” and “categorically unacceptable.”
The statement came after Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti reported, citing “Georgian public figure” Besik Danelia, that Georgian volunteers, as part of “a humanitarian mission” to the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic,” a self-proclaimed entity in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, handed over motorcycles and prayer rooms to Russian servicemen from the “St Gabriel Urgebadze unit” and the “Nevsky brigade.”
Earlier, in January, a Telegram channel of the “Military Unit of the Moscow Patriarchate” reported forming “a new Orthodox unit named after Gabriel Urgebadze” in the “zone of Special Military Operation”, Moscow’s term for Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine, and consisting of ethnic Georgians.
The reports drew condemnation from Andria Jagmaidze, Head of the Georgian Patriarchate’s Public Relations Department.
Georgian Orthodox Church “distances itself from the fact that the name of the Venerable Gabriel, Confessor and Fool-for-Christ, is being used to justify or support military actions,” Jagmaidze was cited by the Church-run newspaper Sapatriarkos Utskebani (Patriarchate Bulletin) on September 9.
Stressing that “Orthodox people are dying on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war,” which the Church watches “with great sorrow,” Jagmaidze raised concerns that the Patriarchate was not consulted about the use of the monk’s name.
“At such a time, without any consultation with the Orthodox Church of Georgia or any regard for its opinion, we suddenly found ourselves faced with an utterly unheard-of fact,” Jagmaidze said.
He continued that it’s “categorically unacceptable” that the name of “the venerable Father Archimandrite Gabriel, Confessor and Fool-for-Christ, be used for a military unit – the holy father’s labors and life were devoted entirely to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and to preaching love and compassion among people.”
Jagmaidze added that it’s also “a source of concern and worry” that some clergy of the Russian Church “support such an unacceptable use of the venerable father’s name.” The authors of this initiative seem to be “poorly acquainted with the life of Saint Gabriel. In this light, such an act is perceived as biased speculation in the name of the Church,” he concluded.
Monk Gabriel is a widely venerated saint among the Georgian Orthodox community. Having passed away in 1995 at the age of 66, he was canonized in 2012, and his grave in Georgia’s ancient capital, Mtskheta, is widely visited by the faithful, who believe it has miraculous powers.
Besik Danelia, whom RIA Novosti cited in its report on the Georgian volunteers, was identified by Georgian media as a member of the United Georgia political party led by Georgia’s former Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze as of 2020. He later appeared in 2025 as a witness before the Georgian Dream parliamentary commission chaired by MP Tea Tsulukiani – so-called Tsulukiani Commission – which has investigated the alleged crimes committed during the former United National Movement (UNM) government, among others.
The reports about the Monk Gabriel-named unit follow earlier reports that former Georgian Prosecutor General Otar Romanov-Partskhaladze is heading a Russian combat unit to fight against Ukraine.
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