February 27, 2015

100th anniversary of the repose of Saint Raphael (Hawaweeny), Bishop of Brooklyn

Acts 14:19-28

19 But Jews came there from Antioch and Ico′nium; and having persuaded the people,stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city; and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Ico′nium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed.24 Then they passed through Pisid′ia, and came to Pamphyl′ia. 25 And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attali′a; 26 and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled. 27 And when they arrived, they gathered the church together and declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they remained no little time with the disciples.

Once again we see Paul rejected and beaten up by a fickle crowd that only yesterday was hanging on his every word. But because he isn’t looking for popularity this doesn’t stop him. Bruised and broken, he moves on and preaches Christ in the town next door. And then he goes back to the places that threw him out. Only this time he is on a pastoral mission, to strengthen the new disciples and give some structure to their community life by appointing elders. If his first preaching to them was the good news, this time he’s taking them to the next level and reinforcing steadfastness in the face of the bad news, “that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

St Raphael
Exhibit on St Raphael (Hawaweeny) at Antiochian Village, Ligonier, PA

Paul was both a courageous fighter for the faith and a loving missionary pastor. Saint Raphael Hawaweeny (1860-1915) was a modern saint who followed Paul in these two characteristics, and today marks exactly 100 years since his death in 1915.

St Raphael
Funeral of St Raphael, with Bishop Alexander (Nemolovsky) presiding

Saint Raphael served as a tireless missionary in North America to Arabic speaking Christians, setting up parishes and criss-crossing the country to ensure pastoral care for immigrants from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and elsewhere in the Middle East. But he was also known as a controversial ecclesiastical fighter for the rights of Arabic-speaking Christians in an era when the Greek-speaking Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre dominated the Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Antioch and was oppressing the Arabic-speaking populace. Yet Saint Raphael was no mere nationalist and served in a multi-ethnic North-American Church under the leadership of Saint Tikhon. As he said, “I am an Arab by birth, a Greek by education, an American by residence, a Russian at heart and a Slav in soul.”

St Raphael
1893 Pamphlet by St Raphael (Hawaweeny)

The best example of his willingness to stand up for his people is a pamphlet he published in Beirut in 1893 (translated into English and republished in 1996), An Historical Glance at the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, written under the pseudonym of Sheikh ‘Abd-el-Ahad-Eshshafi. The conclusion of Saint Raphael’s pamphlet gives some sense of his fiery character and an indication why this side of his pastoral activity remains controversial even today.

* * *

In such a pitiful situation, why isn’t every true indigenous Orthodox brokenhearted, upon seeing the trap of devastation set upon his fellow-citizens and the children of his Church by the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher? Why isn’t the Orthodox zeal inflamed in him, when he looks at the abduction of the Church of his ancestors at the hands of an illiterate speechless person, a ravenous wolf who can’t understand or be understood. It is only maliciousness that can be expected from a wolf. Throughout history the Antiochian Church has been dignified by honorable hierarchies and righteous shepherds, adorned by knowledge, like Saint Ignatius the God-bearer, Ephraim the Syrian, John Chrysostom, John of Damascus, Andrew Bishop of Crete, Sophronius Patriarch of Jerusalem and others from later even periods like Joachim Ghoumah, Michael Hamwoui, Joachim Ibin Ziady Housni, Makarios Ibin El-Zaeim, Athanasius Fadlallah the Damascene, the Priest Michael Breek, the Archimandrite Athanasius Kassir, the Priest Joseph Haddad…

What happened to the past eras and where are we in the present era, where the monks of Jerusalem in spite of the fame of their vices and the immensity of their ignorance do not cease to use all ways, whether they are legitimate or illegitimate, to abduct the hierarchical prominence and snatch the staff of pastorship, against the will of clergy and people, not out of love to serve the Church, but out of avidity to seize authority. They do not seek to serve the flock, but to dissipate the rational sheep of Christ, to collect funds and to live a luxurious life. The saying of Jesus Christ is proven to be true in them: “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers . . . the hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep” (John 10:1-5, 12-13.)

Now I say to you, my fellow-citizens and fellow believers: “Why did you turn your face away from the church of your fathers and forefathers, leaving a group of foreign monks striving to destroy you to be a yoke over your necks? Where is your fervor and ardency, where is your honor and love to your Church? Are your hearts petrified and your spirits frightened? Don’t you see how the wolvesentered your Churches, and your schools were on the verge of eradication? Don’t you feel the ignominy and the disgrace,  that your Churches were sold, or rather, you were sold to a sly person who shackled your hands and your feet with the chains of spiritual slavery and made you taste the bitterness of colocynth [“bitter apple”] through his misdeeds and tyranny? Arise, Arise, O Orthodox indigenous people, arise from your sleep and hasten to lift the yoke of the Brotherhood from your shoulders and from the shoulders of your brothers. Do not be afraid or fearful, put on the armor of love of your religion and country, do not be branded with the stigma of dishonor and disgrace, for you are citizens in a free Ottoman Empire. The one who does not embrace this Grace is undoubtly a vicious and traitorous person and does not have devout ancestors.

Update

Metropolitan Tikhon returns to the Chancery today after leading a Lenten retreat for students at Saint Tikhon’s seminary. Today at Saint Sergius Chapel we’ll celebrate the Presanctified Liturgy and tomorrow a Memorial Divine Liturgy for the first Saturday of Great Lent.