To celebrate the feast day of St. Gavrilia today and the anniversary of her falling asleep, we asked pilgrimage co-leader Jennifer Anna Rich to reflect on what she learned from encountering St. Gavrilia’s life during a pilgrimage to venerate her relics on Leros.
Fresh off the boat with holy anticipation, our September pilgrimage breezed across the water to alight on the island of Leros, in search of Saint Gavrilia, the 'Ascetic of Love'.
In our gathering that morning, we learned about her life and what propelled this recently canonized saint forward throughout the world as an Orthodox counterpart and friend of Mother Teresa in India. They both embraced a certain kind of love that considers themselves as nothing in comparison to the healing they could offer to the poor, the lepers, the broken and struggling children of God in the remote reaches of the world.
She spoke of love like this,
"God is not interested in where you are or what you do. He is interested only in the quality and quantity of the love you give. Nothing else. Nothing else." Ascetic of Love p.237
St Gavrilia kept herself laser-focused on loving God and neighbor. In her compelling book, The Ascetic of Love by Sea Salt Books, her biographer writes, "There were neither distractions nor interferences. There was only 'God and I on earth', 'Love and I on earth'. For she had this divine gift of becoming transparent, like a crystal clear window pane which makes you forget you are looking through it. Perhaps this is what she meant too, when saying with a little smile her favourite: '... since I do not exist'." p. 108.
This transparency, finding her existence in God alone, went hand in hand with her interior life of prayer and hesychasm, teaching that the voice of God is silence.
She said, "There is no greater energy than that of prayer. Prayer is God's energy - that's what it is. Above all, however, we need something else: we need to listen to the voice of God - in silence." p.205
She balanced her times of silence with long hours receiving visitors, even until 11 pm many nights. These visitors were often spiritual children, neighbors or strangers who would come to her for acceptance, wisdom and love. She famously spoke of the Five Languages she used to reach the hearts of these seekers as she traveled throughout the world.
"I use five languages!" said St Gavrilia.
"Indeed? Which five?" she was asked.
"The first is a smile. The second, tears. The third, touch. The fourth, prayer. The fifth, love. With these five languages, I travel through the whole world!" p. 175
St Gavrilia was canonized on October 3, 2023. She first received the small schema monastic tonsure around 1963 on Patmos Island, by her spiritual father, Saint Amphilochios. To those who sought her out for holy wisdom year after year, Saint Gavrilia was very clear on honoring the greatest commandment in her life, teaching the very purpose of life to those who would ask … "Why, to LOVE!" p 54.
At the end of the day on Leros, our hearts were full. We returned to Patmos with a lingering sense of celebrating holiness, love and life, grateful for the time of discovery, to draw so near to this modern saint, Gavrilia, Ascetic of Love, on many levels. This gratitude was embedded in her own days on earth and in her practice of prayer, as she taught.
Thanks be to God, to St Gavrilia, and to the amazing group of like-minded women who helped make this pilgrimage to Patmos and Leros a time set apart, in a world far away from the busyness of our everyday lives.