On Perpetuating the Memory of Metropolitan Gabriel (Petrov) of Novgorod and St. Petersburg

The article addresses the theme of preserving the historical memory of the life and activities of the prominent hierarch of the 18th century, Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg, Gabriel (Petrov-Shaposhnikov; 1730–1801), the archimandrite of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The name of this outstanding hierarch and his associates is associated with a spiritual uplift in the Orthodox Church and Russian society on the eve of the Patriotic War of 1812. However, today the name and image of this “man of high intellect, strict understanding, sound reasoning, and great enlightenment” are only remembered by specialists. The article pays special attention to the history of the waist-high white marble bas-relief of Metropolitan Gabriel, created by the sculptor F. I. Shubin, with a gilded frame by P. P. Aji, which was located from 1792 to 1934 in the niche opposite the shrine with the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky in the Trinity Cathedral of the lavra. The conclusion is drawn about the necessity of returning the relics to the Church.