Mor Gabriel - Early Years

Early Years

Saint Gabriel was born in Alagöz. There he attended a local school and learned how to read and write in a relatively short time. His Parents wanted him to get married and build a family, but he chose to become a monk. When he was 15 years of age he left his parents' house while they were sleeping, and went to a cloister. There he met a man called Gewargis. Gabriel asked Gewargis to let him stay in the cloister and later the same year Gabriel became a monk.

He was sleeping just two hours daily and the rest of the time he spent it praying God and reading books. He was so humble and he always walked barefoot and tortured himself, sometimes until he started to bleed. After seven years of staying at Gewargis' cloister, he decided to leave the area because of the pressure his parents were applying on him. So he went to Saint Simon's monastery, the same monastery was renamed Mor Gabriel Monastery as a tribute to Saint Gabriel.