Saint Gabriel Urgebadze

Orthodox icon of Saint Gabriel Urgebadze on thick plywood 20mm, which does not sting and keeps its shape over time. Preparation with acrylic stucco and have been used acrylic colors. It has been covered with varnish to keep the colors undiluted in time and humidity. Hanging clip included on the back of the icon. 

St. Gabriel was born as Goderdzi Urgebadze in Tbilisi in the family of a Communist Party functionary, who was murdered in 1931. After a compulsory service in the Soviet army, he decided to join the monastic life and was ordained into monkhood under the name of Gabriel in 1955. He made himself famous by tearing down a banner depicting Vladimir Lenin during an International Workers' Day parade in downtown Tbilisi in 1965. He was arrested, tried, ruled to be psychotic, and confined to a mental hospital for seven months. St. Gabriel spent much of his later life at the convent of Saint Nino, a nunnery attached to the Samtavro church in Mtskheta, an ancient town north of Tbilisi. He died there in 1995 and was buried at the Samtavro churchyard.