Hierarch 20th century

Raphael of Brooklyn

1860 – 1915

Also known as Raphael Hawaweeny

Antiochian bishop who shepherded Arabic-speaking Orthodox in America.

Feast Day

February 27

Draft

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Commemorated as

Our Father among the Saints Raphael (Hawaweeny), Bishop of Brooklyn

Come to them for

Missionary Work

Life

Raphael of Brooklyn (Raphael Hawaweeny) was an Antiochian hierarch who organized and shepherded the Arabic-speaking Orthodox of North America, and who in 1904 became the first Orthodox bishop to be consecrated on American soil. Born in 1860 to a Damascene family that had fled to Beirut, he was educated in Damascus, at the Halki School of Theology in Constantinople, and at the Theological Academy in Kiev, before serving in the Russian Orthodox Church and being sent to the United States in 1895. He reposed in Brooklyn in 1915 and is commemorated on February 27, the day of his repose.

Known by the title 'Good Shepherd of the Lost Sheep in America,' Raphael gathered a scattered immigrant flock into organized parish life. From his arrival in New York he travelled widely across the continent, visiting more than thirty cities, founding parishes, and ministering to the Syro-Arab faithful as well as to Greeks and Russians, whom he is said to have addressed in their own languages. At his death his Syro-Arab Mission comprised some thirty parishes serving roughly twenty-five thousand faithful.

Raphael was glorified by the Orthodox Church in America in 2000, in a process carried out jointly with the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, the two jurisdictions he had bridged in life. Besides his February 27 commemoration, he is honored among the Saints of North America.

Timeline 8 moments Read Hide

1860 Born in Beirut Born to a Damascene family that had fled the persecution of Christians in Damascus.
1879 Tonsured a monk Tonsured by Patriarch Hierotheus, then sent to study at Halki.
1889 Ordained priest Later raised archimandrite and set over the Antiochian representation church in Moscow.
1895 Sent to America Arrived in New York to serve Arabic-speaking Orthodox immigrants.
1904 Consecrated Bishop of Brooklyn The first Orthodox bishop consecrated on American soil, by Archbishop Tikhon and Bishop Innocent.
1905 Founded The Word magazine Began al-Kalimat (The Word); also consecrated the grounds of Saint Tikhon's Monastery.
1915 Repose in Brooklyn Reposed February 27; his mission then numbered some thirty parishes and 25,000 faithful.
2000 Glorification Glorified by the Orthodox Church in America together with the Antiochian Archdiocese.

Contributions & Legacy

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Early Life and Formation

Raphael Hawaweeny was born in 1860, the son of Michael Hawaweeny and Mariam, a Damascus priest's daughter. The family was Damascene, but had fled the persecution of Christians in Damascus for the relative safety of Beirut, where Raphael was born. He was baptized on January 6, 1861 with the name Rafla.

He received his early schooling in Damascus and, in 1874, was helped into the Patriarchate's school to prepare for the priesthood. He was tonsured a monk on March 28, 1879 by Patriarch Hierotheus, then sent on scholarship to the Halki School of Theology in Constantinople, where he was ordained deacon in December 1885 and received his Certificate of Theology in 1886. He afterward studied at the Theological Academy in Kiev in the Russian Empire.

Ministry in Russia and Call to America

Ordained priest in 1889, Raphael was raised to the rank of archimandrite and served as head of the Antiochian representation church in Moscow. His years in Russia connected him to the Russian Church, which then held canonical oversight of Orthodoxy in North America.

In 1895 he was sent to New York to serve the Orthodox immigrants of the New World, arriving on November 2 of that year. He soon established a Saint Nicholas chapel in lower Manhattan as a center for the Arabic-speaking faithful.

Bishop of Brooklyn

From 1896 onward Raphael made extensive pastoral tours across North America, visiting more than thirty cities and gathering immigrant communities into organized parishes; in 1901 he established a parish cemetery at Mt. Olivet on Long Island, and in 1902 acquired a church on Pacific Street in Brooklyn. Elected Bishop of Brooklyn by the Russian Holy Synod in 1903, he was consecrated on the third Sunday of Great Lent in 1904 at the Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn by Archbishop Tikhon and Bishop Innocent — the first Orthodox episcopal consecration to take place on American soil.

As bishop he continued to travel constantly among his far-flung parishes, helped establish Saint Tikhon's Monastery (whose grounds he consecrated in 1905), and encouraged the use of English in services and education alongside the Arabic ministry to his own people. In 1905 he founded the magazine al-Kalimat (The Word), which carried much of his own writing and which continues to be published. He fell seriously ill and reposed in Brooklyn in the early hours of February 27, 1915 (February 14 on the old calendar).

Notes

'Good Shepherd of the lost sheep in America.'

Sources: Synaxarion