Venerable Gabriel of Atonelni

A Saint Without a Surviving Life

The Orthodox Church in America's Lives of the Saints entry for November 4 lists Gabriel of Atonelni as a Georgian monk and gives his feast day, but expressly notes that no information about him is available. No dates, monastery name, or narrative of his life are provided.

He has no dedicated article on Wikipedia or OrthodoxWiki. Wikipedia's list of November 4 Eastern Orthodox commemorations includes his name, citing the OCA, but carries no further detail, and OrthodoxWiki's catalogue of Georgian saints does not list him.

The epithet 'Atonelni' appears to be a Georgian form built on 'Atoneli' (of Athos, from Georgian 'Atoni,' Mount Athos), which would suggest a Georgian Athonite monk; this reading of the name, however, is not confirmed by any documented source and remains conjectural.

Distinct from Gabriel the Iberian

He should not be confused with the better-known Gabriel the Iberian, the tenth-century Georgian monk of the Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos who is venerated for retrieving the Panagia Portaitissa icon from the sea. Gabriel the Iberian is commemorated on July 12/25 and, in the Romanian tradition, May 13 — not November 4 — and is associated with Iviron rather than Atonelni. The two are separate Georgian saints who share the name Gabriel.