Born to a Syrian Orthodox family that had fled persecution, Raphael Hawaweeny was a scholar of many languages who came to North America in 1895 to care for the scattered Arab Orthodox immigrants who had no shepherd. He crossed the continent to find them, gathering them into parishes and serving them in Arabic and English alike; he was called the Shepherd of the Lost Sheep in America.
Coming feasts: Saturday, February 27, 2027
The name day for Raphael
In 1904 he was consecrated in New York, the first Orthodox bishop consecrated on American soil. He founded some thirty communities and the cathedral of St. Nicholas, and cared for his people with a father's tenderness until his repose in Brooklyn in 1915. He was glorified by the Orthodox Church in America in 2000.
On the feast day Orthros sets the life of St Raphael Bishop of Brooklyn before you, beside the day's fast and readings, free to read.
