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Our Father Among the Saints Raphael Bishop of Brooklyn: Good Shepherd of the Lost Sheep in America
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153 pages, paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 29, 2023
This is the biography of St. Raphael of Brooklyn, an Orthodox Christian saint and bishop.
There is a common misconception that violence in the Middle East in modern times started mostly after 1948. Not true. As the Ottoman Empire continued on its long economic and cultural decline, the societies within it became increasingly destabilized. Raphael's life began in bloodshed in Damascus in 1860 during the great anti-Christian riots by the Muslim population there --- indiscriminate murder, rape, pillage, and torture of Damascus' Christian population drove most of them out of the area. So it was with Raphael and his family who fled to safety in Lebanon.
Nevertheless. young Raphael's family carved out a new existence there, and he showed early an aptitude for learning and a love for God and the Church such that he was tonsured a monk. Learning of an opportunity to attend Orthodox seminary at the Halki, he was able to persuade the Patriarch of Antioch to give his blessing. Unfortunately, he had no funding to go; yet a wealthy benefactor provided a way for him to attend.
With much personal struggle, Raphael eventually earned his Master's degree in Theology and ordination into the priesthood. Subsequently, he was assigned by the Patriarch to be an itinerant preacher --- perhaps not unlike circuit riding preachers in the Old American West --- to reach the isolated Christian communities of Lebanon and Syria.
3 years later, despite not knowing a word of Russian, he was sent by the Antiochian Orthodox Church to Kieve for more advanced continuing theological education. On completing his education, he was assigned to the Russian Orthodox Church as a representative of the Antiochian Church there.
He subsequently, at Russian Orthodox Church's request, was assigned to the Kazan Theological Academy to teach Arabic and Islamic culture, translating for the first time several Islamic texts from Arabic into Russian.
While there, far in the middle of Eurasia, he received a call from the Syrian community in New York City, asking him to serve as their priest. It was a call that would change the course of the rest of his life.
Once again, Raphael would go to another continent he'd never been, not knowing a word of its language, English. The Syrian community was in a sorry state --- isolated, losing touch with its culture, losing its positives while absorbing the negatives of the host culture. Raphael set to work -- ministering to his beleaguered flock's spiritual needs. And, as he did so, other Syrian and Arab Christian groups elsewhere in America became aware of his presence and also asked for his help.
Raphael would begin a ten-year long, grueling trek from one part of America to another --- creating new churches, baptizing new believers, marrying couples who'd had not the services of an Orthodox priest for years. The logistics of doing so could only have been possible with the cooperation of two groups within the Orthodox Church -- the Russian Orthodox Church and the Antiochian Orthodox Church --- rather than squabble over jurisdictional boundaries, both used Raphael for the common goal of supporting the Orthodox Christian community in the New World. It was a collaboration that would prove highly successful.
St. Raphael must have been a true polyglot and savvy at understanding cultures. In addition to his native Arabic, he'd mastered Russian and Greek, and seems to have learned English well enough to travel without difficulty all throughout America. At the request of Orthodox believers in the Yucatan, he even made a ministerial trip there, despite little knowledge of Spanish --- his effort ultimately would result in an Orthodox community that would build an Orthodox cathedral in Mexico City.
With the growth of the Arab Orthodox community in America, Raphael would be ordained a bishop in the Orthodox Church, the first American to receive this. He would continue his breakneck pace to meet his people's needs in communities scattered across the continent..
This would come at a cost, his health. Eventually, he became ill, and passed away in 1915. He was a much beloved figure in New York City, and, in addition to the Syrian community, many in New York City mourned his passing. He was hardworking, selfless, erudite, and someone who did his part to keep the Christian Arab community in fidelity to their Orthodox faith while guiding them into assimilating into American culture, remaining an especially honored and loved figure in the Antiochian and Russian Orthodox communities in America to this day.
An interesting biography of one of America's great Orthodox Christian saints, I enjoyed reading this account of his life.
There is a common misconception that violence in the Middle East in modern times started mostly after 1948. Not true. As the Ottoman Empire continued on its long economic and cultural decline, the societies within it became increasingly destabilized. Raphael's life began in bloodshed in Damascus in 1860 during the great anti-Christian riots by the Muslim population there --- indiscriminate murder, rape, pillage, and torture of Damascus' Christian population drove most of them out of the area. So it was with Raphael and his family who fled to safety in Lebanon.
Nevertheless. young Raphael's family carved out a new existence there, and he showed early an aptitude for learning and a love for God and the Church such that he was tonsured a monk. Learning of an opportunity to attend Orthodox seminary at the Halki, he was able to persuade the Patriarch of Antioch to give his blessing. Unfortunately, he had no funding to go; yet a wealthy benefactor provided a way for him to attend.
With much personal struggle, Raphael eventually earned his Master's degree in Theology and ordination into the priesthood. Subsequently, he was assigned by the Patriarch to be an itinerant preacher --- perhaps not unlike circuit riding preachers in the Old American West --- to reach the isolated Christian communities of Lebanon and Syria.
3 years later, despite not knowing a word of Russian, he was sent by the Antiochian Orthodox Church to Kieve for more advanced continuing theological education. On completing his education, he was assigned to the Russian Orthodox Church as a representative of the Antiochian Church there.
He subsequently, at Russian Orthodox Church's request, was assigned to the Kazan Theological Academy to teach Arabic and Islamic culture, translating for the first time several Islamic texts from Arabic into Russian.
While there, far in the middle of Eurasia, he received a call from the Syrian community in New York City, asking him to serve as their priest. It was a call that would change the course of the rest of his life.
Once again, Raphael would go to another continent he'd never been, not knowing a word of its language, English. The Syrian community was in a sorry state --- isolated, losing touch with its culture, losing its positives while absorbing the negatives of the host culture. Raphael set to work -- ministering to his beleaguered flock's spiritual needs. And, as he did so, other Syrian and Arab Christian groups elsewhere in America became aware of his presence and also asked for his help.
Raphael would begin a ten-year long, grueling trek from one part of America to another --- creating new churches, baptizing new believers, marrying couples who'd had not the services of an Orthodox priest for years. The logistics of doing so could only have been possible with the cooperation of two groups within the Orthodox Church -- the Russian Orthodox Church and the Antiochian Orthodox Church --- rather than squabble over jurisdictional boundaries, both used Raphael for the common goal of supporting the Orthodox Christian community in the New World. It was a collaboration that would prove highly successful.
St. Raphael must have been a true polyglot and savvy at understanding cultures. In addition to his native Arabic, he'd mastered Russian and Greek, and seems to have learned English well enough to travel without difficulty all throughout America. At the request of Orthodox believers in the Yucatan, he even made a ministerial trip there, despite little knowledge of Spanish --- his effort ultimately would result in an Orthodox community that would build an Orthodox cathedral in Mexico City.
With the growth of the Arab Orthodox community in America, Raphael would be ordained a bishop in the Orthodox Church, the first American to receive this. He would continue his breakneck pace to meet his people's needs in communities scattered across the continent..
This would come at a cost, his health. Eventually, he became ill, and passed away in 1915. He was a much beloved figure in New York City, and, in addition to the Syrian community, many in New York City mourned his passing. He was hardworking, selfless, erudite, and someone who did his part to keep the Christian Arab community in fidelity to their Orthodox faith while guiding them into assimilating into American culture, remaining an especially honored and loved figure in the Antiochian and Russian Orthodox communities in America to this day.
An interesting biography of one of America's great Orthodox Christian saints, I enjoyed reading this account of his life.
March 30, 2018
Well researched and thorough, but a bit dry. It helped that I was reading it aloud to my son, who has St. Raphael as his patron; he enjoyed it very much, because of that close bond. But in spite of the dryness the beauty and holiness of St. Raphael shone through and we finished feeling inspired and with more love toward an already much-loved saint.
February 8, 2022
A 70 page life (biography) of St. Raphael with the liturgical prayers that venerate him. One gets a sense of the saintly character of the man in those 70 pages. It left me hungry for more - his writings (such as those in The Word magazine) and the results of those who have asked for his heavenly intercession. Thus 4 stars, rather than 5.
April 14, 2025
Short but immensely sweet overview of the life of a great missionary of America.
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February 9, 2015BX738.A759 H386 2000
June 3, 2018
o holy hierarch Fr Raphael, pray unto God for us!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews