[1] Raphael was Bishop of Mithymna when, in March 1603, he was elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
[2] During his patriarchate, he addressed the regulation of many ecclesiastical matters and issued a number of standard provisions.
The clashes with the previous Patriarch Neophytus II of Constantinople caused many problems in the Church, to the point that Cyril I of Constantinople, in a letter to the Bishop of Heraclea Dionysius II, wrote that "... Raphael ruled the Patriarchate as a tyrant for more than four years ...".
Raphael II showed interest in a possible union with the Western Church and he began a secret correspondence with the Pope.
[3] He remained Patriarch until October 1607, when he was forcibly deposed by Sultan Ahmed I and suffered a violent death in exile.