Elder Gavrielia

  

.."Orthodox Christian Nun Gavrielia and Indira Gandhi : The Story Untold

What can be the relation between a  Greek Orthodox Christian nun and the Iron lady of India? It seems to be a very interesting story. Many Orthodox faithful, particularly in India, remain unaware about this incident. Gerontissa Gavrielia (Elder Gravielia)was a Greek Orthodox nun who spend several years in India taking care of the poor and sick.

Born as Avrilia Papayanni in Constantinople 1897, her family moved to Thessaloniki in 1923. She got trained as chiropodist and physiotherapist in England. She also opened her own clinic in Athens. After her mum’s death, she moved to India to work for the poor and sick. Elder Gravielia lived a simple life and also served at Baba Amte’s Anandwan (Caring institution for Leprosy Patients) several years taking care of leprosy patients. Gravielia was among the first foreign workers to serve at the institution. A disciple of Swami Sivananda of Hrishikesh, she was known by the name Sister Leela to the inmates of Anandwan. Sister Gravielia was also a good friend of Fr Lazarus Moore, the great Orthodox Missionary Champion, who took care of the families of the sick and downtrodden in India and several other parts of the world.

Treating Indira Gandhi

The then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi was suffering from shoulder and neck pain. She consulted several doctors and tried numerous medicines with no success. Finally, she consulted Sister Gravielia. Sister Gravielia applied her physiotherapy skills on the great leader of India. Indira felt much better. The Prime Minister was at peace from the long time pain. At the same time, she was astonished by the treating skills of this simple Orthodox Christian nun. Indira thanked Mother said “You have fairy hands.” Indira was pretty impressed with the psychotherapy skills of Mother Gavrielia. Mother Gavrielia used to visit the office of the iconic Indian leader. Their friendship was precious by all means. Their story is mentioned the book ‘Mother Gavrielia: The Ascetic of Love.’ But their relationship remain unknown to many people.."

Source: OCP

"Wikipedia" article for her .

"Gerontissa Gavrielia (Elder Gabriela), also known as Mother Gavrielia[1] (15 October 1897 – 28 March 1992) was a Greek Orthodox nun, known for her care of the poor and sick. She was the second woman to be admitted to a Greek university and was a trained physiotherapist prior to taking up her religious calling at the age of 60.

Gerontissa Gavrielia

Born

Avrilia Papayannis

15 October 1897

Constantinople, Ottoman Empire

Died

28 March 1992 (aged 94)

Leros, Greece

Nationality

Greek

Other names

Elder Gabriela

Mother Gabriela

Occupations

Physiotherapist

Greek Orthodox nun/elder

Avrilia  Papayannis[1] was born on 15 October (2 October O.S.) 1897 N.S. in Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire[2] as the youngest child of Helias and Victoria Papayannis,[3] a wealthy Greek family. She grew up in Constantinople and lived there until her family was deported during the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey and sent to Thessaloniki. She entered the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, becoming the second woman ever admitted to a Greek university,[1] where she earned a degree in philosophy. She had previously graduated with a degree in botany at a Swiss university.[4] In 1932, she moved to Athens and cared for nursing home residents[1] until 1938 when she moved to England to study podiatry and physiotherapy, where she remained until the end of World War II.[2]

Career

Edit

In 1945, Papayannis returned to Greece and began working with the American Farm School and Friends Relief Service in Thessaloniki,[5][2] until 1947, when she moved to Athens and opened a physiotherapy practice. For a decade she operated her office using funds from her paying clients to provide assistance to the poor. Upon the death of her mother, in 1954, she took a vow of poverty and gave all her worldly possessions away. The following year,[1] she moved to India to work with the poor and assist Baba Amte in his work with leper communities in India.[3] After four years of providing free physiotherapy to the poor, Papayannis went to the Himalayan Mountains, spending eleven months in solitude as a hermit.[1] She then traveled to Landour where she met an American woman, who arranged for her to go to the monastery headed by Father Theodosius in Bethany, in the Holy Land in 1960.[6] She arrived at the Bethany Community of the Resurrection of the Lord[notes 1] and after accepting tonsure became a nun. After her three-year novitiate, Papayannis took the name Gavrielia.[1]

Sister Gavrielia was sent to the Taizé Community in France by the Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople, though her assignment there was brief. She was then sent to the United States, where she toured ethnic Greek communities in seventeen states and accompanied many mentally ill patients to psychiatric hospitals in

Europe.[9] After nearly a decade of touring, speaking, and helping the sick, she was sent to East Africa for three years to do missionary work.[1] Following a brief assignment in Germany, Sister Gavrielia was sent back to India,[9] where she remained for three years. In 1979, she was given use of an Athens apartment and became a "Gerontissa" (elder), counseling disciples and helping the sick over the next ten years. Near the end of her life, she retreated to a hermitage in Aegina,[1] but when she developed Hodgkin's disease she returned to Athens. After a miraculous healing, she left Athens two years before her death and moved to the island of Leros.[9] Gerontissa Gavrielia died on Leros on 28 March, 1992.[2]....."

What an extraordinary person!!!