Icon Saint Gabriella

Icon of St. Gabriel. Icon of Hagiography with decoration and 22K gold background on the halo. The icon comes with a hard cardboard box.

Elder Gabriella Papagianni was born on October 2, 1897, the day of the celebration of Saints Cyprian and Justine, in Constantinople.

Her father was a wealthy timber merchant and lived in an environment with many comforts in the City, in the Fanari. She was a cute little girl, full of love for the whole world.

On days when the Papagianni mansion was “receiving” the joy of little Aurelia (her name before she accepted the lonely curse) immediately ran to open and welcome visitors.

Aurelia was the fourth and last child of the family.

Of her siblings, it was the older one, Vasiliki, who first spoke to her about God.

Along with the stories he read to her, he told her stories from the Gospel and the Old Testament. So one day, he told her that God is “omnipresent” and whatever we do, He sees it.

Then little Aurelia, who was 4-5 years old, lost it and asked in a frightened voice: “What if I go and lock myself in that cupboard, will he find me?” “Yes” he said to her. “Well, what if I get little by little and go into that matchbox and there he will see me?” “And there.”

Then he understood that life is a serious business because he sees us “He who is everywhere”!

The years went by and little Aurelia loved the whole world and the whole world loved her.

After high school, she left to continue her studies in Switzerland at the School of Agriculture in Estavayer-Le-Lace. She particularly loved plants and literally to the end of her life she “talked” with them and it was as if you could see their response every time.

In 1923 he was in Thessaloniki with his family.

There she enters the Aristotle University, as an Acrobat at the Faculty of Philosophy.

After the end of her studies, she arrived in Athens and her first concern was to get a job. So she got a job in a psychiatric clinic where she stayed for only one year. Then came England, alone with her only possession a paper pound of England.

Her adventure in Christ was just beginning. There she found various jobs, while helping a multitude of needy and unemployed people, also caring for many poor people for free.

And 1954 comes in 1954, a milestone year in her spiritual life. It was March 24, the day her mother left for the afterlife.

For her, the great adventure of Faith in Christ was just beginning. From there, she began her great mission to the five continents of the world. In 1954 she went to India where she stayed for 5 years. It was a great milestone in her life and she especially loved India.

There he helped a multitude of lepers and sick people unceasingly and showed them boundless love! Everyone loved her and called her Sister Leela. In her busy daily schedule, two hours of Bible reading and many hours of prayer were essential. She had complete trust in God and therefore never kept money on her.

He gave her everything, she said, all she did was to leave herself in His hands.

He helped a lot of people and was the cause of many people being baptized Orthodox. She never told others about Christ unless they asked her to. During these years she made important acquaintances such as Mother Teresa, Sivananda, Baba Amte.

She was invited to various countries to speak about Orthodox Christianity and she really left the crowds speechless. After India she found herself in the Himalayas for a year on a meager diet, alone with only God, in hours of endless prayer.

She would later say that at that time she was living contemplative monasticism without even knowing it!

She now believed that she was doing God’s will when suddenly the message came to her from the angels, as she said, “now you are able to become a nun”. Then she understood that monasticism is a special and superior way of life.

So she met a gentleman who asked her to accompany her to Bethany to a monastery.

The fare was once again miraculously found and so she went to Bethany, at the age of 62, where she was singled out for her love and patience.

And just when she thought that this was her life, she started travelling again to help, to talk about Christ and to be loved by the whole world. Next came Athens where she had surgery to heal from 100% blindness in her left eye.

When the operation was performed, “there was light”. She remained in Athens at the Holy Monastery of Evangelistria, the New Jerusalem as she used to say.

Through the monastery he corresponded and helped many people. Next came Africa, Athens, where she stayed in the house of the angels as her spiritual children called it, where every day she received suffering people and helped them.

Then followed Aegina and Leros, where she passed away at the age of 95, on March 28, 1992, raising her hands to the sky.

At that moment her spiritual children clearly heard a young voice singing a melody unknown, joyful, angelic.

This lasted only a few seconds and then a silence filled her cell.

All the bells of Leros rang mournfully and her funeral was attended by many people.

Elder Gabriella was a rare person with boundless love for her neighbour.

He also deserved to acquire the gift of insight. She said that the angels once told her that what matters most is the amount and quality of love you give to others without discrimination.

Everyone asked her how it was possible for her to love even strangers so much and how it was possible for her to be obedient to the whole world and to travel constantly to help even one person. So her life is rightly described as the ascetic life of love!

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