In Defense of Saint Cyprian

Pages: 56

To follow the Holy Fathers is a central characteristic of being Orthodox. To neglect or disdain this is to place oneself outside of the experience of the enlightened and glorified and on the path of delusion. That is why the humble, faithful example of St. Raphael of Brooklyn's zealous defense of St. Cyprian of Carthage and devoted following of St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite's Rudder is so important and instructional for all contemporary Orthodox Christians.

Coming under attack by the Jesuits of his day for simply citing the Church's acceptance of the Council of Carthage under St. Cyprian as authoritative, St. Raphael defended the Faith and put down the haughtiness of the heterodox. His voice is the perennial voice of Holy Tradition, so needed today when again such errors have been accepted as "mainstream" and "normative" and the Holy Fathers' teachings set aside as "abrogated."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Saint Raphael of Brooklyn was born Rafla Hawaweeny in Beirut, Lebanon on November 20, 1860. He was raised and educated at in Damascus, eventually attending the Patriarchal School, then later attended the School of Orthodox Theology in Halki, and the Theological Academy in Kiev. He became the first Orthodox bishop to be consecrated in North America at New York City in the year 1904 by St. Tikhon (Archbishop of Moscow) and Bishop Innocent New York City. St. Raphael founded the present-day primatial cathedral of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (St. Nicholas Cathedral), established thirty parishes, and helped found St. Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. He served as bishop of Brooklyn until his death on February 27, 1915. Bishop Raphael was officially glorified by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America in the year 2000. He is commemorated on February 27 (OCA), the day of his repose, and the first Saturday of November (Antioch).