The Chaplain

A monastic as a police and fire chaplain

It has been a great blessing for me to have been serving as a police and fire chaplain for the past eighteen years. My interest in chaplaincy began when I was asked by a number of inmates to serve as their Orthodox chaplain in one of the state’s prisons. Spending one full day a month in two of the prisons in Monroe, WA., I managed to make a number of friends among the guards. Because such open friendships could be dangerous, should inmates see the chaplain as a friend of the enemy, I had to keep my contact with guards to a minimum. After eight years of serving the spiritual needs of inmates, I decided that I wanted to serve those in law enforcement and fire service.

Vashon Island’s Fire Department had not had their own chaplain in some thirty years. When you live on an island that is accessible only by ferry, there were many occasions where a chaplain was needed, but none was available, especially in the dead of night when the boats were not running. Following a number of tragic events on the island, I finally offered my services and went through a formal week long training at the Washington State Criminal Justice Center where all police are trained for the entire state, and became a certified chaplain.

Hundreds of hours of additional training, and membership in the Federation of Fire Chaplains and the International Conference of Police Chaplains, has prepared me for priestly service to the whole of this island community in ways that I would never have imagined.

In an age of increasing lawlessness, it is a huge blessing for me to have been called to serve men and women who selflessly place their lives on the line for the rest of us, each and every day. I’ve ridden with medics who’ve saved lives right in front of my eyes. I’ve been on board fire trucks, witnessing firefighters risk their lives to save the homes of fellow islanders. I’ve witnessed King County Sheriffs Department deputies give comfort to the widow of a murder victim.

I am grateful to God for the many friendships I’ve formed with police and firefighters over these past eighteen years. I’ve shed many tears attending too many funerals for men and women who have died in the line of duty.

I pray daily for the safety and well being of those who serve our communities so gallantly, and ask my readers to unite their prayers with mine. Firefighters and law enforcement officers are involved in dangerous work, and deserve our our support. In an age where many cities are surrendering to Leftist fascists pressure to defund our police departments, they deserve our respect, and our love.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Friday August 7, 2020 / July 25, 2020
9th Week after Pentecost. Tone seven.
Fast. Food with Oil
The Dormition of the Righteous Anna, mother of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Holy Women Olympias (Olympiada) the Deaconess of Constantinople (409), and the Virgin Eupraxia of Tabenna (413).
Venerable Macarius, abbot of Zheltovod and Unzha (1444).
New Hieromartyr Nicholas priest (1918).
New Hieromartyr Alexander priest (1927).
St. Gregory (Kallidis), metropolitan of Thessalonica and Heraclea (1925).
New Hieromartyrs Vukosav Milanovic and Rodoljub Samardzic of Kulen Bakufa, Serbia (1941-1945).
New Hieromartyr Theodore Tonkovid, priest of Lovets (Pskov) (1942).
St. Iraida confessor (1967).
Commemoration of the Holy 165 Fathers of the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553).
Martyrs Sanctus, Maturus, Attalus, Blandina, Vivlia, Vetius, Epagathus, Ponticus, Alexander and others at Lyons (177) (Gaul).
Venerable Christopher, abbot of Solvychegodsk (Vologda) (1572).
New Hieromartyrs Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, Nicholas (Johnson) and Peter (Remes).

The Scripture Readings

1 Corinthians 14:26-40

Order in Church Meetings

26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

34 Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.

36 Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? 37 If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. 38 But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant.

39 Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

Matthew 21:12-14

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.

Matthew 21:17-20

17 Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

The Fig Tree Withered

18 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.

The Lesson of the Withered Fig Tree

20 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”

Galatians 4:22-31

22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— 25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— 26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband.”

28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

Luke 8:16-21

The Parable of the Revealed Light

16 “No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets iton a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.18 Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers Come to Him

19 Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd. 20 And it was told Him by some, who said, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You.”

21 But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”