Police Officers

Serving as the front line of protection for our communities

Police officers are, by necessity, good actors, for they have to wear a mask to cover the pain and trauma that comes with their job. Often the focus of anger and accusation from the very communities they are pledged to protect, they put their lives on the line for people who often forget the uninhabitable places our cities would be without the protection our police forces provide, often with their own lives. Serving as the front lines of protection for our communities, our police protect us against the lawlessness that would overwhelm all of us if they were not there. The are men and women who have dedicated their lives in compassionate service to others, touch the lives of countless people each and every day, often under the most difficult of circumstances, and often without thanks.

They sacrifice their own comfort zones so the rest of us can sleep without fear, and walk our neighborhood without danger. Their unique calling, one that takes special training and deep commitment, is not for the faint hearted, but a vocation that is as challenging as it is satisfying. In an age when they are more often than not maligned and ridiculed, one wonders how any of them could chose to serve in this capacity. All the more reason those of us who count ourselves as committed Christians, need to keep the men and women of our police departments in prayer. And all the more reason we need to go out of our way to thank them for their service, including those moments when we have been pulled over for breaking the speed limit. They deserve our gratitude for keeping us safe, protecting our property, and the lives of our children, while keeping our communities safe from the lawlessness that would reign without them.

May God protect those who protect us.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Photo: Standing with Sheriff Paul Pastor of the Pierce County Sheriffs Department. I am proud and honored to have served as a police and fire chaplain for the past fifteen or so years. Sheriff Pastor is a man that I am honored to count as a friend, and a brother in Christ.

Thursday May 12, 2016 / April 29, 2016
Second Week of Pascha. Tone one.

Nine Martyrs at Cyzicus: Theognes, Rufus, Antipater, Theostichus, Artemas, Magnus, Theodotus, Thaumasius, and Philemon (3rd c.).
Venerable Memnon the Wonderworker of Corfu (2nd c.).
Venerable Nektarius of Optina (1928).
Venerable Amphilochius of Pochaev (1970).
Martyrs Diodorus and Rhodopianus, deacon, at Aphrodisia in Anatolia (284-305).
St. Basil, bishop of Ostrog in Montenegro (Serbia) (1671).
Saint John of Romania.
Holy Martyrs of Lazeti (Georgia) (17th-18th c.).
Venerable Secundellas the Deacon, in Gaul (Gaul).
Apostles Jason and Sosipater of the Seventy (Greek).
St. John, metropolitan of Thebes, the new merciful one (12th c.) (Greek).
St. John Tolaius, patriarch of Alexandria (482).
St. Nicetas, abbot of Synnada (9th c.).
St. Arsenius, archbishop of Suzdal (1627).
New Martyr Stanko the Shepherd of Montenegro (1712).
St. Nicephorus of Sebaze (9thc.).
St. Endelienta (Endellion), nun-recluse of Cornwall.

Scripture Readings

Acts 4:23-31

Prayer for Boldness

23 And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 who by the mouth of Your servant David have said:

‘Why did the nations rage,
And the people plot vain things?
26 The kings of the earth took their stand,
And the rulers were gathered together
Against the Lord and against His Christ.’

27 “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. 29 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

John 5:24-30

Life and Judgment Are Through the Son

24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.