Saint Gabriel or Mor Gabriel (Aramaic: ܡܪܝ ܓܒܪܐܝܠ; Saint Gabriel) (634– 23 December 668) was the 7th bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of Mor Gabriel Monastery and Tur Abdin

Tur Abdin

Tur Abdin is a hilly region of south east Turkey incorporating the eastern half of Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the border with Syria. The name 'Tur Abdin' is from the Syriac language meaning 'mountain of the servants '. Tur Abdin is of great importance to Syriac...

 in Southeastern Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.

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

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

. 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.

His miracles

Saint Gabriel performed many miracles in his life. He brought to life three people after they died, and once he spoke to a dead monk after one year of his death.

Death

Saint Gabriel died on Tuesday 23 December 668, at three o'clock PM. Thousands of people gathered on that day with ten bishops and hundreds of monks, nuns, and priests.