His Grace Nicholas (Ozone), auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn and resident assistant to Metropolitan Joseph, will speak at the 32nd Annual Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture, Friday, January 30, at 7 p.m., on "The Life and Ministry of Saint Raphael of Brooklyn." In 2015, the Antiochian Archdiocese will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Falling Asleep of St. Raphael with many commemorations related to the Centennial Jubilee.
The free lecture will take place in the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium of the John G. Rangos Family Building, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 575 Scarsdale Road, Yonkers, NY 10707, and a public reception will follow.
Saint Raphael was born Raphael Hawaweeny in Beirut, Lebanon of Damascene Syrian parents of Greek Orthodox Antiochite-Byzantine origin. Father Raphael was sent to New York City in 1895 by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to administer the local Orthodox Christian community, which included both Russians and people of the Levant. In 1904 Archbishop (Saint) Tikhon of Moscow and Bishop Innocent (Pustynsky) consecrated him as Bishop of Brooklyn, a position he held until his death.
Bishop Raphael was glorified by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) in its March 2000 session. He is commemorated by the Antiochian Orthodox Church on the first Saturday of November. Originally buried in New York, Bishop Raphael's body was translated in August 1989 to the Antiochian Village Camp in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.
Visit svots.edu for more information, or download the flyer.