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Upon arriving in New York, Fr. Raphael established a parish in lower Manhattan, then the center of the Syrian immigrant community. By 1900, however some 3,000 of these immigrants had moved across the East River, shifting the center of their life to Brooklyn. Thus, in 1902, the parish purchased a larger church building in that borough on Pacific Street. The church was named for St. [[Nicholas the Wonderworker]], renovated for Orthodox worship, and then consecrated on [[October 27]], 1902, by St. [[Tikhon of Moscow]]. St. Nicholas Cathedral was later relocated to State Street in Brooklyn and is today considered the mother cathedral of the Archdiocese.
At the request of St. Tikhon, Fr. Raphael was chosen as his [[auxiliary bishop]], consecrated at St. Nicholas Cathedral as Bishop of Brooklyn and given more authority for his care of Arabic Orthodox Christians in America. Not long after, he founded ''Al-Kalimat'' (''The Word'') magazine, published service books in Arabic which were used in America, the Middle East, and throughout the Arabic Orthodox diaspora. St. Raphael fell asleep in the [[Lord ]] at the age of 54 on [[February 27]], 1915, after short, but fruitful, years of service.
[[Image:St Elias Ottawa.jpg|left|thumb|250px|St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral, Ottawa, Canada]]
