Today is the fifth anniversary of the canonization of St. Raphael Hawaweeny (1860-1915), the first Orthodox Bishop of Brooklyn (consecrated 101 years ago, on the Third Sunday of Lent, 1904) and a pioneer of Orthodoxy in this country. He was born in Beirut, to which his parents had fled from Damascus during an outbreak of violence that took the lives of their parish priest, St. Joseph of Damascus (martyred on July 10, 1860), and many other Christians. The family later returned to Damascus, where Raphael excelled in school and won a scholarship to study for the priesthood. In 1886 he graduated from the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s School of Theology at Halki in Constantinople. After serving for a time on the staff of Patriarch Gerasimos of Antioch, he enrolled in the Kiev Theological Academy, then was ordained to the priesthood in 1889 and became the Patriarch’s representative in Moscow. Unfortunately, he fell out of favor with Gerasimos’ successor and by 1895 had been relegated to teaching Arabic at a seminary in Kazan.
Showing that God rarely closes one door except to open another, this underutilized priest came to the notice of the Syrian Orthodox Benevolent Society of New York, which was searching for a clergyman to attend to the needs of America’s small, scattered Christian Arab population. Fr. Raphael was invited to take the post and arrived in this country on November 2, 1895. Within two weeks he had established a chapel. The following year he traveled across the continent from New York to San Francisco in the first of his several transcontinental pastoral journeys, visiting Orthodox communities – Greek and Russian as well as Arab – in 30 cities.
After declining offers of ecclesiastical preferment in the old country, Fr. Raphael was chosen as Bishop of Brooklyn under the Moscow Patriarchate (then the only active Orthodox jurisdiction in the United States). He was the first Orthodox bishop whose consecration took place in the New World and the first to serve there throughout his entire episcopal career. In addition to continuing his extensive travels, Bishop Raphael founded a periodical for his Arab-speaking flock, al-Kalimat (The Word, still published (in English) by the Antiochian Archdiocese), translated liturgical texts into Arabic, while at the same time encouraging the use of English in church services, wrote extensively, and took part in ecumenical endeavors, particularly the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches Union, of which he was vice president from 1910 through 1912.
In 1911 he began to suffer heart problems, though ill health reduced his activity only slightly. He passed into life eternal on February 27, 1915.
Orthodox Photos has a short biography, with photographs illustrating St. Raphael’s career.
Troparion - Tone 1
Your proclamation has gone forth throughout North America,
calling the scattered sheep into the unity of the church.
hearing your voice, they responded to your teaching,
and through your writings you instructed them in piety.
now guided by your example, O Father Raphael,
we sing hymns of praise unto Christ our God.
Glory to Him Who gave you strength!
Glory to Him Who granted you a crown!
Glory to Him Who, through you, grants healing to all!
Kontakion - Tone 8
You were a guardian and a defender of the Church¹s teaching;
you protected your flock from false doctrines and confirmed them in the true faith.
O holy father Raphael, son of Syria and glory of North America,
always intercede before the Lord that our souls may be saved.
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