Fr. Raphael Barberg was born at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. As a young boy, oldest son to a naval aviator, Fr. and his family relocated to the Buffalo area where his father was a pilot with American Airlines. His love for nature, open spaces, and horses was fostered by an upbringing on the family’s horse farm in Orchard Park.
In 1988, a young Fr. Raphael was hired by the Buffalo Police Department. Within seven years of patrol work, he was promoted to Supervisor. That same year, Fr. married Kelleylynn; they now work hard at raising their five beautiful children.
In 1996, on St. Mary of Egypt Sunday, he and Kelleylynn entered the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church at St. George through the ministrations of Archpriest George Aswad of blessed memory. As a newly illumined, Fr. Raphael dove right in teaching Sunday school, leading SOYO, served as a board member on the parish council, and was taught to read, chant, and sing the hymns and writings of the Holy Church, along with completing the St. Stephan’s Antiochian House of Studies Program in 2000.
On September 3, 2001, Fr. was ordained to the diaconate by the hands of Bishop Antoun and was blessed to serve alongside Archpriest Fr. Paul Solberg in the loving community of St. George Orthodox Church. In just a few short weeks after his ordination, he was called to help in the first relief response in the aftermath of the 9/11 Terrorist Attack under the direction of International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC). In New York City he ministered to grieving families searching for loved ones at Chelsea Piers, along with lending brotherly support to the many first responders, firefighters, and police at Ground Zero who fervently worked in search, rescue, and recovery. Fr. has continued his work with IOCC in responding to such scenes as the horrific campus shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, and natural disasters such as Super Storm Sandy in the state of New Jersey and more recently in Houston, Texas during the devastating floods from Hurricane Harvey.
Throughout the following years, Fr. also completed his Bachelors in Cultural Studies from the State University of New York Empire State College in 2006. Two years later, after 20 years of devoted service in the police department, Fr. Raphael decided to retire his gold lieutenant’s badge, and with a blessing from his Bishop, he moved his family to pursue an intensive three years of devoted study at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York. At seminary he and his family spent three wonderful years under the pastoral guidance of Archpriest Fr. Michael Ellis, serving the faithful of St. Mary’s in Brooklyn, New York.
On St Thomas Sunday, April 10, 2010, Fr. Raphael was elevated to the holy priesthood by the hands of Bishop Alexander, Diocese of Ottawa, Eastern Canada and Upstate New York at his hometown parish at St. George. The following year he graduated from St. Vladimir’s with a Masters of Divinity. He was then assigned to serve the mission church of St. James the Apostle in Westminster, Maryland. For three years and while serving the mission church, Fr. also taught Emergency Vehicle Operation for the Police Training Commission for the state of Maryland. He and his family lived in the Westminster area for five good years before being reassigned to St. Elijah in Oklahoma City on July 1, 2016. With a warm and expectant welcome, in June 2018 Fr. Raphael returned to serve as pastor at Saint George.
Feeling back at home, you’ll often see Father donning paraphernalia for his favorite teams: the Bills, Sabres, and the Yankees. Baseball being his favorite. And yes, he loves Mickey Mantle so much that he once named his beloved springer spaniel after “The Mick”. Truthfully, he relishes ALL-things-baseball. He also loves music of all kinds, though sing him a U2 song and he’ll know every line. Sing him a Van Morrison song and he’ll go get his guitar, but you’ll be required to sing along.