Bolivar (Pennsylvania, USA), July 23, 2024.
The relics of a great North American saint, St. Raphael (Havavini) of Brooklyn, have been unveiled for veneration by the faithful.
St. Raphael († 1915) was the first Orthodox bishop ordained in America, where he faithfully served the mission of the Russian Orthodox Church under St. Tikhon (Belavin), future Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, along with several other future saints.
Since 1988, his holy relics have rested at Antioch Village (a complex of buildings owned by the North American Archdiocese of the Antiochian Patriarchate) in Bolivar in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. He was consecrated a saint by the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) in 2000.
And on July 18, 2024, the discovery (exhumation) of his honest relics in Antioch Village took place, and it was announced that henceforth this date would be celebrated as a feast in honor of the transfer of his relics (in addition to the main day of commemoration - February 14, the anniversary of his repose), said Archpriest Andrew Damick, clergyman of the parish in honor of St. Paul the Apostle of Antioch Patriarchate in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.
"Hundreds of people (mostly children from the camp!) gathered here with love and reverence while a large group of clergy slowly and carefully retrieved the holy relics. This is truly an amazing, historic, blessed, mystical moment!" - wrote Fr. Andrew Damick.
* * * * *
The future Saint Raphael was born on November 9/21, 1860 in Beirut. He was educated at the Damascus Patriarchal Theological School, the leading Orthodox educational institution in the Levant, at the theological school of the Patriarchate of Constantinople on the island of Halki, and at the Kiev Theological Academy. Later he served as rector of the Antiochian suburbs in Moscow and taught at the Kazan Theological Academy.
In 1895 Tsar-Priest Nicholas II sent him to New York, and in 1904 he became the first Orthodox bishop to be consecrated in North America. His chastening was performed by St. Tikhon (Belavin), the future Patriarch, who at that time headed the Orthodox Church in North America.
During his years of ministry as a bishop, St. Tikhon (Belavin), who was then head of the Orthodox Church in North America. St. Raphael founded St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York and 29 other parishes of the Russian Church in America, and also took part in the establishment of St. Tikhon's Monastery in Pennsylvania, where in 2000 he was solemnly glorified with the participation of the hierarchs of the Antiochian Archdiocese, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Polish Church.
