God and Me on this Earth
St Gavrilia: the Ascetic of Love ... join her Fan Club!
{ Aspasia, our friend and spiritual daughter of Saint Gavrilia, at home }
All in the Family
I often travel from Patmos to Leros Island in Greece, to venerate the life and relics of St Gavrilia: the Ascetic of Love.
I’m a big fan.
I love catching the morning catamaran across the sunny Aegean passage, taxi waiting to take us up the long steep hill past the windmills to the Castle Church where her relics rest. Alone, or with our group of pilgrims, I spend time with my friend, Aspasia, the spiritual daughter of Saint Gavrilia. We meet at the Church, in an outdoor cafe or in her cozy home. Then take the late night ferry back to Patmos, with the holy residue of Saint Gavrilia in our hearts.
Ever since I met St Gavrilia, I’ve felt such a closeness with her, on many levels. Those of us who fell in love with this brave, numinous woman after her repose are know as her ‘orphans’. Gerondissa Philothei talks about this in her book, The Light and Joy of Saint Gavrilia1, newly released in English.
One of the treasures of the Orthodox faith is the fine line between the living and the reposed in Christ. We all belong to the same vital family, and continue to be inspired by our spiritual ancestors.
Knowing about her life and who she was has changed the way I see the world, the way I see other people, and the way I see God: through a new lens of PURE LOVE.
Five Languages
Saint Gavrilia was the Mother Teresa of Orthodoxy.
She traveled all over the world, with no money, serving God and her neighbor. She worked for years with lepers in India, children in Palestine; and listening to the never-ending lines of hurting people at her door at the ‘House of the Angels’ in Athens.
Even though she traveled the world and spoke several languages, someone once told Saint Gavrilia, that she wasn’t a good Christian, since she didn’t always learn the local dialect.
Gavrilia prayed to God for an answer, then replied:
I use five languages! Indeed? Which five? 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!2
Just BE with God on Earth
Saint Gavrilia prioritized being still with God wherever she went. She simply loved God and wanted to BE with Him. She said,
Since the Language of God is Silence, then the Language of Love is Silence too … the only happiness, true happiness is in ‘God and me on this Earth’.3
Her heart yearned just to BE with God always. When she spent time each day in stillness, it wasn’t to fulfill some kind of monastic requirement. It was because she simply wanted to BE with God. He was her closest ally on earth.
In the practice of hesychia, it can be very difficult at first to make yourself sit or stand just to BE with God, in stillness. But with time and practice, there is a yearning that can come, just to sit in the presence of the One who made you. The One who knows you fully. The One who loves you just as you are.
BEING with God can bring a kind of peace that is like heaven on earth.
The Purpose of Life
Saint Gavrilia made everyone feel loved and accepted. No judgement. They returned to her again and again, without always knowing exactly why they couldn’t stay away.
Sometimes I think to myself, WWSGD? (What would Saint Gavrilia do?)
This ‘ascetic of love’ always had the answer. It aligned with her very clear answer to the persistent question, “What is the purpose of life?”
“Why, to love” was her reply.
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Q: Who can you listen to without judgement, to love fully even without words?
Spark: Practice going to your prayer corner, just to BE together with God.
Resources: Want to join a Saint Gavrilia Fan Club?
Melanie Wolf, publisher of her 2 books, and I are starting a kind of hybrid St Gavrilia ‘FAN CLUB’ on her feast day, March 18. It’s called the Saint Gavrilia Circle of Light. You can sign up at SaintGavrilia.org or message me for more information.
Gerondissa Philothei, The Light and Joy of Saint Gavrilia. (Sea Salt Books, 2025).
Nun Gavrilia Georgiou, The Ascetic of Love: The Life and Teachings of Saint Gavrilia, trans. Helen Anthony (Sea Salt Books, 2025), p 185.
Ascetic of Love, p 64.