ABOUT ST. RAPHAEL
Raphael Hawaweeny was born on November 8, 1860, in Beirut, Lebanon. His parents, Michael and Miriam, had fled there from Damascus, Syria, before the Druze massacres which claimed the lives of 2,500 Christians. Raphael attended the Greek Orthodox Theological School in Halki, Turkey; then traveled to Russia to further his studies at the Kiev Theological Academy. He was ordained a priest in 1889 and assigned to pastor the Antiochian Patriarchal Embassy in Moscow. He became know to the Arab communities in America who sought his leadership. Bishop Nicholas of the North American diocese also went to Russia to recruit him and other missionaries. They arrived in America on November 14, 1895. Immediately, Fr. Raphael set to work and organized the parish that would eventually become St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn. Then after just five months in America, he set out on the first of several missionary journeys by rail across and up and down the United States, Canada, and Mexico, seeking out Arabic-speaking Orthodox Christians and establishing parishes. Twice in 1901, Archimandrite Raphael was elected a bishop in his homeland. Twice he declined, stating that his work in America was not finished. St. Tikhon, by then Bishop of North America, also had great confidence in Fr. Raphael and asked the Holy Synod of Russia to elect him as Bishop of Brooklyn. The consecration took place on March 12, 1904, in New York; and Raphael became the first Orthodox bishop consecrated on American soil. With the help of St. Alexander (Hotovitsky), a colleague from Russia and fellow missionary, Bishop Raphael immediately began publication of The Word, an Arabic-language journal. He could and did serve the entire Divine Liturgy in perfect Arabic, Greek, Russian, or English; but, when Bishop Raphael saw the young people of the Church drifting away because they did not understand Arabic, he insisted that Sunday School instruction, the Divine Liturgy, and other services be in English. He worked with Isabel Hapgood to prepare the famous English language Service Book that was published under the direction of Bishop Tikhon in 1906. The Holy Synod of Antioch made more attempts to lure him back to the Middle East, offering him lucrative dioceses; but he continually declined, declaring that his work in America was not yet complete. By 1909, when his health failed and he became bed-ridden due to his tireless labors, he had established more than thirty parishes. Bishop Raphael fell asleep in the Lord on February 27, 1915, at the age of 54. His flock mourned for him bitterly. He was canonized a saint by the Orthodox Church in America on May 29, 2000, at St. Tikhon’s Seminary, New Canaan, Pennsylvania. He was glorified as the “Good Shepherd of the Lost Sheep in America.” His feast day is the Saturday before the Synaxis of the Bodiless Powers of Heaven, which falls between November 1 and 7.
