“His heart was open to everyone who came”: the day of remembrance of the Venerable Confessor Gabriel of Melekestranslated

On October 18, on the 20th week after Pentecost, the day of remembrance of the Venerable Confessor Gabriel, Archimandrite of Melekess and the Moscow saints, a conciliar bishop's service was held in the church in the name of St. Nicholas in the city of Dimitrovgrad (Melekess).

The holy relics of the Venerable Confessor Gabriel reside in the St. Nicholas Church. The day of his memory is a special holiday for the city and the entire Simbirsk Metropolis.

The Divine Liturgy was performed by Metropolitan of Simbirsk and Novospassky Longin, Bishop of Melekessky and Cherdaklinsky Diodorus, Bishop of Baryshsky and Inzensky Alexander and Bishop of Skopinsky and Shatsky Jonah.

The archpastors were concelebrated by the clergy of the dioceses of the Simbirsk Metropolis. The liturgical chants were performed by the choir of St. Nicholas Church. At the end of the Liturgy, glorification was performed to the Venerable Confessor Gabriel of Melekes.

During the service, parishioners of the churches of the Melekess diocese and many pilgrims who came to venerate the saint prayed. He is deeply revered in the regions where he lived and served: in Moscow (part of the saint’s relics are in the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy), the city of Pokrovsk (now Engels, Pokrovsk diocese), where in 1921 - 1922 the future saint was ordained...