Monk Gabriel (1929-1995) is one of the most popular religious personalities in modern Georgia. His sermons and prophecies became very popular in the early 1990s and still are to this date. The expanding Internet social networks added to his popularity. His name is connected with miraculous healings; his grave became a sort of a modern shrine in the Georgian Orthodox Church. The phenomenon is on the verge between official and popular religion. His name became a source of legitimation for the Church as well as for the political establishment. In 2012 the "strange monk" was canonized as a saint, in 2014 his body was reburied in the Sameba cathedral in Tbilisi, and an avenue was renamed after him. The whole phenomenon shows the changing and complex role of religion in post-communist Georgian society. Keywords: monk Gabriel, popular religion, post-Soviet Georgia, politics and religion, de-secularization, Georgian Orthodox Church. Introduction The development of post-communist Georgia was marked by a rise in religiosity, an increase in the authority of institutional religion, and an increase in the number of parishioners. Religiosity in Georgia is clearly present in the public space. This is evident not only in the growing number of religious organizations This article was written as part of the CASCADE project (http://www.cascade-caucasus.eu/en_GB/) Zviadadze S. Veneration of St. Gabriel: Institutionalization of Folk Religion and its Political Dimension in Georgia / / Gosudarstvo, religiya, tserkva v Rossii i za rubezhom. 2016. N2. pp. 226-254. Zviadadze, Sophie (2016) 'The Cult of Monk Gabriel: Institutionalization of Popular Religion and Its Political Dimension in Georgia", Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkov' v Rossii i za rubezhom 34(2): 226-254. page 226symbols and practices, but also in an active religious discourse that manifests itself in public political discussions. It is noteworthy that the rise of religiosity coincided with a flood of rapid political and social tr ... Читать далее