The Georgian Orthodox Church is outraged by the use of the name of Saint Gabriel Urgebadze for a Russian military unit involved in the war against Ukraine.

This was stated by the Public Relations Service of the Georgian Patriarchate, according to the outlet Orthodoxy and Zombies.

According to the head of the service, Archpriest Andria Jagmaidze, the name of the Venerable Father Archimandrite Gabriel was used in Russia without prior consultation with the Georgian Orthodox Church and without taking its position into account.

“The use of the name of the Venerable Father, Archimandrite Gabriel, Confessor and Fool for Christ, for a military unit is categorically unacceptable to us,” the statement said.

Jagmaidze stressed that there was also concern over the fact that some representatives of the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church supported such an inappropriate use of the Venerable Father’s name.

“It appears that the authors of this initiative are poorly acquainted with the life of Saint Gabriel. In this context, such actions are perceived as a biased exploitation carried out in the name of the Church. The Georgian Orthodox Church distances itself from the use of the name of the Venerable Gabriel, Confessor and Fool for Christ, to justify or support military action,” the statement by Archpriest Andria Jagmaidze said.

Earlier, RIA Novosti reported that Georgian volunteers led by pro-Russian public activist Besik Danelia had arrived in the DPR on a “humanitarian mission” and presented icons, motorcycles and “prayer rooms” to units named after Gabriel Urgebadze and Alexander Nevsky.

On March 13, the 268th Separate Rifle Battalion, part of the 1st Guards Slavic Brigade, received a blessing from Metropolitan Kirill (Pokrovsky), head of the Military Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, “for the battalion’s personnel to accord special veneration to the Venerable Gabriel of Samtavro (Urgebadze) as the unit’s heavenly patron.”

Banners and chevrons depicting Saint Gabriel have been designed in the same style as those of all military units bearing the names of Orthodox saints.

Saint Gabriel lived in the 20th century, died in 1995 and was canonized by the Georgian Church in 2012. He was a Fool for Christ and opposed the Soviet authorities throughout his life.