Venerable Gabriel, Founder of Lesnov Monastery in Bulgaria

Commemorated on January 15.

Saint Gabriel, founder of the Lesnov monastery near the city of Kratov. Receiving a large inheritance after the death of his parents, he rejected marriage and became a monk on a mountain at Lesnov. There he built a church in the name of the Archangel Michael, and gathered many monks around him. He appointed an igumen, and left all his inheritance to the monastery. He then hid himself in a mine, where he lived in asceticism for thirty years, conquering demonic temptations through prayer and fasting.

He then returned to the Lesnov monastery and ended his life in peace. After thirty years, his relics were uncovered, and healings worked through them. Long afterwards, they were transferred to Trnovo [Tirnova] in Bulgaria.