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PotOnWheel
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Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 2/12/2003 4:27 PM (GMT -6)

Holy Father Meletius the Great, Archbishop of Antioch

Commemorated February 12th

This holy Father, who was from Melitene of Armenia, was a blameless man, just, reverent, sincere, and most gentle. Consecrated Bishop of Sebastia in 357, he was later banished from his throne and departed for Beroea of Syria (this is the present-day Aleppo). After the Arian bishop of Antioch had been deposed, the Orthodox and the Arians each strove to have a man of like mind with themselves become the next Bishop of Antioch. Meletius was highly esteemed by all, and since the Arians believed him to share their own opinion, they had him raised to the throne of Antioch. As soon as he had taken the helm of the Church of Antioch, however, he began preaching the Son's consubstantiality with the Father. At this, the archdeacon, an Arian, put his hand over the bishop's mouth; Meletius then extended three fingers towards the people, closed them, and extended one only, showing by signs the equality and unity of the Trinity. The embarrassed archdeacon then seized his hand, but released his mouth, and Meletius spoke out even more forcibly in defence of the Council of Nicaea. Shortly after, he was banished by the Arian Emperor Constantius, son of Saint Constantine the Great. After the passage of time, he was recalled to his throne, but was banished again the third time by Valens. It was Saint Meletius who ordained Saint John Chrysostom reader and deacon in Antioch . He lived until the Second Ecumenical Council in 381 (which was convoked against Macedonius, Patriarch of Constantinople), over which he presided, being held in great honour as a zealot of the Faith and a venerable elder hierarch.

Some time before, when the Emperor Gratian had made the Spanish General Theodosius commander-in-chief of his armies in the war against the barbarians, Theodosius had had a dream in which he saw Meletius, whom he had never met, putting upon him the imperial robe and crown. Because of Theodosius' victories, Gratian made him Emperor of the East in Valens' stead in 379. When, as Emperor, Saint Theodosius the Great convoked the Second Ecumeni-cal Council in Constantinople two years later, he forbade that anyone should tell him who Meletius was; and as soon as he saw him, he recognized him, ran to him with joy, embraced him before all the other bishops, and told him of his dream.

While at the Council, Saint Meletius fell ill and reposed a short while after. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, among others, gave a moving oration at his funeral; bewailing the loss of him whom all loved as a father, he said, "Where is that sweet serenity of his eyes? Where that bright smile upon his lips? Where that kind right hand, with fingers outstretched to accompany the bene-diction of the mouth?" and he lamented, "Our Elias has been caught up, and no Elisseus is left behind in his place". The holy relics of Saint Meletius were returned to Antioch and were buried beside Saint Babylas the Martyr, in the Church dedicated to the Martyr which Meletius, in his zeal for the Martyr's glory, had helped build with his own hands.

Troparion of St Meletius tone 3
Thou didst shine on the Church with thy heavenly knowledge,/ O righteous Hierarch Meletius, wise in the law;/ thou didst preach the equal honour of the Persons, of the Trinity/ and disperse the assembly of heretics./ Entreat Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.†

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 2/12/2003 4:33 PM (GMT -6)

The Life of St. Raphael, Bishop of Brooklyn

(February 27)

quote:
---------------------------------------------------------
"He shall be filled with the spirit of understanding; he shall pour forth his words of wisdom and give thanks to the Lord in his prayer" (Sirach 39:6).
---------------------------------------------------------

Holy Father RAPHAEL was born in Syria in 1860 to pious Orthodox parents, Michael Hawaweeny and his second wife Mariam, the daughter of a priest of Damascus. The exact date of RAPHAEL's birth is not known, but he estimated it to be on or near his Name Day, the Synaxis of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel and all the Bodiless Powers of Heaven (November 8). Due to the violent persecution of Christians, at which time their parish priest, St Joseph of Damascus (July 10) and his companions were martyred, the Hawaweeny family was forced to flee to Beirut for their safety. It was here that the future saint first saw the light of day, and not in the city of his parents. Indeed, as the child's life unfolded, it was evident that he would have no continuing city in this world, but would seek the city which is to come (Heb 13:14).

On the Feast of Theophany in 1861, he was baptized with the name Rafla, and later that spring the family was able to return to Damascus. The child attended elementary school, where he did very well, but in 1874 it appeared that Michael Hawaweeny would no longer be able to afford his son's tuition. Fortunately, help came from Deacon Athanasios Atallah (later Metropolitan of Homs), who recommended to Patriarch HIEROTHEOS of Antioch that Rafla be accepted as a student of the Patriarchate in preparation for the priesthood.

He was such a good student that he was selected to be a substitute teaching assistant in 1877. The following year he was appointed as a teacher of Arabic and Turkish. On March 28, 1879 he was tonsured as a monk by Patriarch HIEROTHEOS, and served as his personal attendant.

Since the Balamand Seminary had been closed in 1840, Patriarch JOACHIM III of Constantinople invited the Patriarch of Antioch to send at least one deserving student to study on scholarship at the School of Theology at Halki, and Saint RAPHAEL was the one who was selected to go.

On December 8, 1885 he was ordained to the diaconate at the school chapel. In July of 1886 the young deacon received his Certificate of T heology, and returned to his homeland in the hope of serving the Church there. Patriarch GERASIMOS of Antioch was impressed with Deacon RAPHAEL, and often took him along on his pastoral visitations of his parishes. When His Beatitude could not be present, Deacon RAPHAEL was asked to preach the Word of God to the people.

Deacon RAPHAEL was not satisfied with the extent of his knowledge, and thirsted to learn even more. This did not stem from personal pride or ambition, but came from his fervent desire to benefit others. Truly, the words of King Solomon could be applied to Saint RAPHAEL: "Give an opportunity to a wise man, and he will be wiser; instruct a just man, and he will receive more instruction" (Proverbs 9:9). Therefore, he asked Patriarch Gerasimos to permit him to do graduate studies at a school in Russia, promising to return and serve as the Patriarch's Russian-language secretary. The Patriarch gave his blessing, and Deacon RAPHAEL was accepted as a student at the Theological Academy of Kiev. In 1889 Patriarch GERASIMOS ordered the young deacon to take over as head of the Antiochian representation church in Moscow. He was ordained to the holy priesthood by Bishop SYLVESTER, the rector of the Academy, at the request of Patriarch GERASIMOS. A month later, he was raised to the rank of archimandrite by Metropolitan IOANNIKII of Moscow, and was confirmed as head of the Antiochian representation church. After two years, Archimandrite RAPHAEL was able to reduce the representation's 65,000 ruble debt by 15,000 rubles. He also arranged for twenty-four Syrian students to come to Russia to further their education, hoping that they would return to Syria and teach others.

In 1891 he went to Kazan, taking a position as instructor in Arabic studies at the theological academy. He remained there until 1895 when he was invited by the Syrian Orthodox Benevolent Society of New York to come to that city to be the pastor of the Arab Orthodox community.
When the holy Apostle Paul had a vision of a man entreating him to come to Macedonia to help them (Acts 16:10), he set off on a great missionary journey. When Saint RAPHAEL heard of the needs of his countrymen who were scattered in a strange land, he crossed the ocean to labor in yet another foreign country.

Archimandrite RAPHAEL arrived in New York on November 2, 1895, and was welcomed by a delegation of Arab Christians who were awaiting their leader from Russia. On November 5, his first Sunday in America, he assisted Bishop NICHOLAS in serving the Divine Liturgy at the Russian church in New York city. Less than two weeks after his arrival, Archimandrite RAPHAEL found a suitable place in lower Manhattan to set up a chapel, and furnished it with ecclesiastical items that he had brought with him from Russia. Bishop NICHOLAS blessed the new chapel, which was dedicated to St Nicholas of Myra.

In the summer of 1896, Saint RAPHAEL undertook the first of several pastoral journeys across the continent. He visited thirty cities between New York and San Francisco, seeking out the Master's lost sheep in cities, towns, and on isolated farms. He fed the spiritually hungry people with the Word of God in each place where he stopped. He performed marriages, baptisms, heard confessions, and celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the homes of the faithful where there was no church building. In other words, he zealously fulfilled his ministry as a preacher of the Gospel, enduring many hardships and afflictions, and he was watchful in all things concerning the care of his flock (2 Tim 4:5).

In 1901, Metropolitan GABRIEL of Beirut wrote to Archimandrite RAPHAEL asking him to be his auxiliary bishop, but he declined, saying that he could not leave his American flock. First, he wanted to build a permanent church, and to acquire a parish cemetery. The latter goal was achieved in August of 1901 when Father RAPHAEL purchased a section of Mt Olivet cemetery on Long Island. In December of 1901 Archimandrite RAPHAEL was elected as Bishop of Zahleh. Patriarch MELETIOS sent a telegram congratulating him and asking him to return. Father RAPHAEL thanked the Patriarch, but again declined higher office. He said that he wished to complete the project of building a temple for the Syrian community in New York. The following year, he bought an existing church building on Pacific St in Brooklyn, and had it remodeled for Orthodox worship. Bishop TIKHON consecrated the church to the great joy of the faithful in attendance. Thus, Saint RAPHAEL's second major project was finished.

Since the number of parishes within the Diocese of North America was growing, Bishop TIKHON found it impossible to visit all of them. The diocese had to be reorganized in order to administer it more efficiently. Therefore, Bishop TIKHON submitted a plan to the Russian Holy Synod which would transfer the See from San Francisco to New York because most parishes and individuals were concentrated in the east. Since various ethnic groups required special attention and pastoral leadership, Bishop TIKHON proposed that Archimandrite RAPHAEL be made his second vicar bishop (the Bishop of Alaska would be his first).

In 1903, the Holy Synod of Russia unanimously elected Archimandrite RAPHAEL to be the Bishop of Brooklyn while retaining him as head of the Syro-Arab Orthodox Mission in North America. The Holy Synod announced the election to Patriarch MELETIOS, who was pleased by their decision. Bishop TIKHON wrote to Saint RAPHAEL to inform him of his election, and Father RAPHAEL sent him a letter of acceptance. Meanwhile, Fr Innocent Pustynsky was consecrated as TIKHON's first auxiliary bishop at St Petersburg's cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan.

On the third Sunday of Lent in 1904, Saint RAPHAEL became the first Orthodox bishop to be consecrated on American soil. Bishop TIKHON and Bishop INNOCENT performed the service at St Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn. The new bishop's vestments were a gift from Tsar Nicholas II. Following his consecration, Bishop RAPHAEL continued his pastoral labors, ordaining priests and assigning them to parishes, and helping Bishop TIKHON in the administration of the diocese.

At the end of 1904, Bishop RAPHAEL announced his intention to publish a magazine called Al-Kalimat (The Word) as the official publication of the Syro-Arab mission. This would help to link the people and parishes of his diocese more closely together. Bishop RAPHAEL knew that he could not visit all Orthodox Christians across North America in person, but through the ministry of the printed word, he could preach the word of salvation even to people he would never meet. The content was to be spiritual, moral, and churchly so that the magazine could reinforce people in their Faith. The Word would focus on five primary topics: dogmatic truths, ethical teaching, historical and contemporary ecclesiastical subjects, a chronicle of baptisms, weddings, etc., and official pronouncements. The first issue was printed in January 1905, and Saint RAPHAEL considered this milestone as one equal in importance to the acquisition of St Nicholas Cathedral and the parish cemetery.

In July of 1905 Bishop RAPHAEL consecrated the grounds for St Tikhon's Monastery and blessed the orphanage at South Canaan, PA. Three days later, he presided at a conference of diocesan clergy at Old Forge, PA, because Archbishop TIKHON was in San Francisco. Among the clergy in attendance were three who would also be numbered among the saints: Fr ALEXIS Toth, Fr ALEXANDER Hotovitzky, and Fr JOHN Kochurov (the last two would die as martyrs in Russia).

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 27 he rested from his labors. They called him, but he did not answer. They shook him, but he was gone.

From his youth, Saint RAPHAEL's greatest joy was to serve the Church. When he came to America, he found his people scattered abroad, and he called them to unity. He never neglected his flock, but traveled throughout America, Canada, and Mexico in search of them so that he might care for them. He kept them from straying into strange pastures, and he protected them from spiritual harm. During twenty years of faithful ministry he nurtured them and helped them to grow. At the time of his death, the Syro-Arab Mission had thirty parishes with 25,000 faithful.

He was also a scholar, and the author of several books. He wrote many, if not most, of the articles that appeared in The Word. He served his own Arabic community, and also reached out to Greeks and Russians, speaking to them in their own language. He became fluent in English, and encouraged its use in church services and educational programs.

St RAPHAEL came into contact with all sorts of people, and was a gentle father to them. He gained their love and respect by first loving them, and also through his charming personality and excellent character. He was always kind and merciful to others, but was strict with himself.

He accomplished many good things during his earthly life, and now he joins the holy angels in offering ceaseless prayer and praise to God.

* SOMEONE'S personal note... "i visited saint raphael's relics while at saint tikhon's monastery in south canaan pennsylvania a couple of years ago. his body is in the church, laid under glass. it is incorrupt (not decayed) after all these decades. his life has inspired me and challenged me to be a missionary wherever i am. and although i have dreams of far away countries and interesting new cultures, there is so much work to be done here in america. his faithfulness to christ and his church will not be forgotten. holy father raphael, pray to god for us.

honorman
Registered Member

Date Joined Oct 2002
Total Posts : 1137

Posted 2/17/2003 7:21 AM (GMT -6)

The glorification of men doesn't in the slightest interest me...cut picture, though...

Edited by - honorman on 02/17/2003 12:21:51 PM

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 2/17/2003 12:15 PM (GMT -6)

quote:
honorman: The glorification of men doesn't in the slightest interest me...

Me neither.

Edited by - Al2Si2H4O9 on 02/17/2003 5:16:37 PM

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 2/17/2003 5:10 PM (GMT -6)

Dear honorman,

I'm guessing that there are a few more things that you could post on this thread. I'm a Protestant. So, I'm guessing that my guesses what those would be won't be far off. So -- especially since I seem to have other things to do besides the internet...and don't have much to say about many of the topics here anymore... -- let me try my hand at anticipation.

Someone's got to be thinking that the picture "of" St. Raphael, Bishop of Brooklyn, is an attempt at a portrait. Like a baseball card, or a Casting Agent's glossy promo. Its not. Its an icon. Icons are very specific as to what it is that they are. They don't try to capture what the person actually looked like as their goal. (I'm sure that in many wayt the one of Raphael isn't far off in many respects; but being so is not the point.) Icons ARE because Christ is. Their very BEING is a theological statement in and of itself.

Going way back, the very idea of making an image of God was proposed to be a scandal. But it was so proposed by those who had a less than Scriptural view of Who Christ is.

Notice the issues at stake:

quote:
From Meyendorff's "Byzantine Theology"

DOCTRINAL THEMES: JESUS CHRIST (pages 158 to 159)
Iconoclasm was certainly another way of denying that Christ is man in a concrete and individual manner. Patriarch Nicephorus, one of the leading Orthodox polemicists, called it Agraptodocetism because iconoclasts considered Jesus as "undescribable." 1B In order to justify the possibility of painting an image of Christ, John of Damascus, and even more explicitly Theodore the Studite, insisted upon His individual human characteristics: "An indescribable Christ," writes Theodore, "would also be an incorporeal Christ; but Isaiah [8:3] describes this as a male being, and only the forms of the body can make man and woman distinct from one another." 16 Nicephorus, in order to defend the use of images, stresses very forcibly the human limitations of Jesus, His experience of tiredness, hunger, thirst:17 "He acted, desired, was ignorant, and suffered as man." l8 This means that He was man like all of us, and can be represented on an image.

As interpreted by the Orthodox theologians of the eighth and ninth centuries who struggled against iconoclasm, the icon of Christ becomes a confession of faith in the Incarnation:

The Inconceivable is conceived in the womb of a Virgin (writes Theodore the Studite):

...the Unmeasurable becomes three cubits high,
the Unqualifiable acquires a quality;
the Undefinable stands up, sits down, and lies down;
He who is everywhere is put into a crib;
He who is above time gradually reaches the age of twelve;
He who is formless appears with the shape of a man,
and the Incorporeal enters into a body. . . .
Therefore, He is describable and indescribable.19

For Theodore the icon of Christ is the best possible illustration of what is meant by the hypostatic union. What appears on the image is the very hypostasis of God the Word in the flesh. In the Byzantine tradition the inscription around the halo surrounding the head of Jesus says "The One who is," the equivalent of the sacred name YHWE, the name of God, whose person is revealed, but whose essence is inaccessible. It is neither God's indescribable divinity nor His human nature alone which is represented on an icon, but the person of God the Son who took flesh: "Every portrait," writes Theodore, "is the nortrait of an hvnostasis. and not of a nature." 20

To paint an image of the divine essence or of God before His incarnation is obviously impossible; just as it is impossible to represent human nature as such, other than symbolically. Thus, symbolic images of Old Testament theophanies are not yet "icons" in a true sense. But the icon of Christ is different. With bodily eyes, the hypostasis of the Logos could be seen in the flesh, although its divine essence remained hidden; it is this mystery of the Incarnation which makes possible the sacred icons and requires their veneration.

The defense of images forced Byzantine thought to reaffirm the full concrete humanity of Christ. If an additional doctrinal stand against Monophysitism was necessary, it was taken by the Byzantine Church in the eighth and ninth centuries. But it is important to recognize that this stand was made neither at the expense of the doctrine of the hypostatic union nor at that of the Cyrillian understanding of the hypostatic identity of the incarnate Logos, but in the light of the former Christological formulations. The victory over iconoclasm was a reaffirmation of Chalcedonian and post-Chalcedonian Christology.

That said, we can see why Christ MUST be portrayed. I used to have some German Reformed students in the college art history class I was teaching. They piously objected to ANY image of Christ -- even the Cavid C. Cook Sunday School papers I grew up with. Imagine them writing essays on Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling! But Christ's humanity must be portrayed.

What about the image of a saint.

Hard question for those of us who threw out the "bath water."

What was thrown out?

Read this article first: www.bethel.edu/~rakrob/files/THEOSIS2.html Its called: "BECOMING LIKE GOD: AN EVANGELICAL DOCTRINE OF THEOSIS", and was published in JETS 40/2 (June 1997) 257-269.

That done, let me go right to the point. St. Raphael of Brooklyn's icon is NOT a picture about his Christian life, his struggle. It is an image that is testimony to the fact that he has finished the race. The work that Christ began is finished.

When we, as Protestants see such a picture, we must ask the question that says "What is meant by this?" It means that we who are Christ's body are purchased by His blood to be partakers of HIS NATURE. Read the Baptist Seminary professor's article!

And in icons, what you are seeing witnessed to is not the particulars of the Saint's faithfulness, but God's faithfulness that they allowed to work in them. Rembrandt and before him Giotto liked to make pictures that looked like the viewer was "there." What made that seemingly revelutionary was that such a goal was not felt to be so necessary. It took a call for it from outside of the uses of iconography (humanist philosophy and nominalist philosophy) to bring it about; and even then it was not snatched up as the obvious thing to do. Icons of St. Stephen (from Acts) do not show him being stoned -- as a Giotto or a Rembrandt would show -- but instead show the censor (incense smoke thing) indicative of deacons in a church (his office) and a model of the church (which he was called to serve).

The OCA.org website has this to add:

quote:
The doctrine of the Church comes alive in the lives of the true believers, the saints. The saints are those who literally share the holiness of God. "Be holy, for I your God am holy" (Lev 11:44; 1 Pet 1:16). The lives of the saints bear witness to the authenticity and truth of the Christian gospel, the sure gift of God's holiness to men.

Either we CAN "share the holiness of God" or we cannot. Icons witness that we can.

That same site also adds this:

quote:
Can the Church "make" a saint? The answer is no. Only God can do that. We glorify those whom God Himself has glorified, seeing in their lives true love for God and their neighbors. The Church merely recognizes that such a person has cooperated with God’s grace to the extent that his or her holiness is beyond doubt.

+

I might not be back to this thread. Oh well.

Edited by - Al2Si2H4O9 on 02/17/2003 10:13:24 PM

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