Archimandrite
Saint Gabriel was born on November 20, 1880, in the city of Borzna, Chernihiv province, into a merchant family. In 1901, he graduated from the teacher's seminary in Kyiv and in 1906, he became a novice at the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra, where he worked in the printing house. In 1918, he took monastic vows with the name Gabriel.
In 1919, he was arrested by the Saratov Cheka but was soon released. In 1920, he settled in the Don Monastery, where he was ordained as a hierodeacon, and in 1924 – as a hieromonk. In 1929, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. After the closure of the Don Monastery, he became the rector of the Peter and Paul Church in the village of Petrovskoe-Lobanovo.
On September 7, 1937, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Taganka prison. During interrogations, he asserted that he did not conduct anti-Soviet agitation and did not claim to be a saint. On September 22, 1937, the NKVD troika sentenced him to death by shooting.
Archimandrite Gabriel (Yatsyk) was shot on September 23, 1937, at the Butovo firing range near Moscow and buried in an unknown common grave.
