Raphael of Brooklyn

Saint Raphael of Brooklyn (November 20, 1860 – February 27, 1915) was born as Raphael Hawaweeny in Damascus, Syria. He was educated at the Patriarchal School in Damascus, the School of Orthodox Theology in Halki Island, Turkey, and at the Theological Academy in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine). In 1904 he became the first Orthodox bishop to be so ordained in North America; the ordination was done by Archbishop (Saint) Tikhon of Moscow and Bishop Innocent in New York City. He served as Bishop of Brooklyn until his death.

During the course of his ministry as an auxiliary bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church in America St. Raphael founded the present-day cathedral of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, established twenty-nine parishes, and assisted in the founding of St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery.

Bishop Raphael was glorified (numbered among the saints) by the Holy Synod of the The Orthodox Church in America (TOCA) in its March 2000 session. He is commemorated by the TOCA on February 27, the anniversary of his death, and by the Antiochian Orthodox Church on the first Saturday of November.