Gabriel (Kikodze), Bishop of Imereti, was a nineteenth-century Georgian hierarch known for his preaching, his pastoral diligence, and his extensive charity toward the poor. He was born on November 15, 1825, in the village of Bachvi, in the Ozurgeti district of Guria in western Georgia, the son of a priest named Maxime Kikodze. He is commemorated on January 25.
After his early studies in Tbilisi, Gabriel was sent to theological schools in Russia, completing his education at the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1849 with a master's degree. He married and returned to Georgia, where he served in the administration of the Tbilisi Seminary and was ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood. The death of his wife and five children in an epidemic in 1856 turned his life toward monasticism: he was tonsured a monk at the Davit-Gareji Monastery and shortly afterward entered the episcopate.
Consecrated bishop of Gori in 1858, he was transferred to the diocese of Imereti in 1860, where he served until his death in 1896. He was remembered as a tireless preacher who traveled constantly through his diocese, as a benefactor who funded the education and shelter of the young, and as a pastor unwilling to tolerate lawlessness or immorality. He reposed in Kutaisi on January 25, 1896.
