In this paper we examine all the existing testimonies, published or not, about the life and deeds of the priest-monk Gabriel. He was born in Kotortsi, a village near Ioannina, in the period 1740-1750. From 1770 he is attested as monk and... more
In this paper we examine all the existing testimonies, published or not, about the life and deeds of the priest-monk Gabriel. He was born in Kotortsi, a village near Ioannina, in the period 1740-1750. From 1770 he is attested as monk and from 1779 as abbot of Tsoukas monastery, neighboring to Kotortsi. In 1795 he became an assistant of Makarios the metropolitan of Ioannina, which appointed Gabriel “bishop” of Dyrrachion, a diocese existing only in title. In 1807 Gabriel arrived in Thessaly, where he was elected bishop of Stagoi (Kalabaka) in 1808. He spent his incumbency performing the usual duties of a bishop, trying not to get in trouble with the Ottoman authorities and leaving several amounts of money as bequests, with the commitment of the beneficiaries to perform each year a memorial service for him and members of his family. He died peacefully in 1815.
