FEAST OF ST. RAPHAEL OF BROOKLYN (FIRST SATURDAY OF NOVEMBER)

Icon by the Hand of Kh. Erin Kimmett

By Bp. Joseph (Anglican Vicariate) 

Today we celebrate with our Antiochian brothers and sisters our common Hierarch and Father in the Faith, St. Raphael of Brooklyn. St. Raphael was glorified by the whole Orthodox Church in 2000, but our jurisdiction venerated him as a saint from the late 1950's. 

THE LIFE OF ST. RAPHAEL

“On the Sunday of Orthodoxy in 1911, Bishop Raphael was honored for his fifteen years of pastoral ministry in America. Archbishop PLATON presented him with a silver-covered icon of Christ and praised him for his work. In his humility, Bishop Raphael could not understand why he should be honored merely for doing his duty (Luke 17:10). He considered himself an ‘unworthy servant,’ yet he did perfectly the work that fell to him (Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians).

“Toward the end of 1912, Bishop Raphael became ill while working in his office. Doctors diagnosed him with a heart ailment that eventually caused his death. After two weeks he felt strong enough to celebrate the Liturgy in his cathedral.

“In 1913-1914 this missionary bishop continued to make pastoral visitations to various cities. In 1915 he fell ill again and spent two months at home, bearing his illness with patience. At 12:40 AM on February 14/27 he rested from his labors. They called him, but he did not answer. They shook him, but he was gone.”

A LASTING LEGACY

In our long, hard sojourn in the Orthodox Church, our Archdiocese has always remembered and commemorated the life and work of St. Raphael, truly grateful that he undertook the missionary labor of bringing Orthodoxy to America, and always mindful of upholding his legacy to reach out to Western Christians, enabling them to continue in their patrimonies while joining the fullness of Orthodoxy and living in the Light of the One, True Church!

COLLECT 

ALMIGHTY GOD, Who hast instructed Thy Holy Church with the heavenly doctrine of Thy bishop and confessor, St. Raphael of Brooklyn; and hast provided in his life an example of the Good Shepherd who collects the lost sheep; grant us so to follow in his godly footsteps, that, ever helped by his intercession, we with him, may attain to Thy heavenly kingdom. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord: Who livest and reignest with Thee, in the Unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. 

St. Raphael, pray for us! Blessed Feast!