The Morning Offering

Military Chaplains

Our Soldiers Need the Support of Chaplains

Our monastic community welcomed seven military chaplains from Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Tuesday. These fine young men who have answered the call to serve the nation as military chaplains, inspired me with their commitment to Christ, and their willingness to enter into a dangerous and combative world with our military, willing to lay down their lives for our troops.

It should be clearly evident that a strong U.S. military depends on more than high-tech equipment and highly trained soldiers. Our military chaplains help soldiers struggling with loneliness, drug addiction, failing marriages, and a myriad of other problems that the civilian population faces, but that are made all the more difficult when one is deprived of the support of family and friends. Soldiers need the guidance of chaplains as they face being away from home, and missing their loved ones. Our soldiers need the support of chaplains as they struggle with faith in the field, and the many deployment issues that arise.

The military chaplaincy is a special vocation, a calling that only a few clergy receive, but one that is direly needed by the young men and women who face the loneliness, and the temptations that deployment brings. Those willing to put their lives on the line for our nation are deserving of the very best in pastoral care, and I was deeply moved by the quality of these men who have answered the call of both God, and nation.

Military chaplains deserve the encouragement and prayerful support of all of us who are in civilian life. They especially deserve the friendship, support, and prayers, of parish priests, who too often do not understand this special calling.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

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Wednesday November 28, 2012 / November 15, 2012
26^th Week after Pentecost. Tone eight.
Nativity (St. Philip's Fast). By Monastic Charter: Strict Fast (Bread, Vegetables, Fruits)
Beginning of Nativity Fast.
Holy Martyrs and Confessors Gurias (299), Samonas (306), and Abibus (322), of Edessa.
Venerable Paisius (Velichkovsky) of Moldavia and Mt. Athos (1794).
New Hieromartyrs Nicholas and Peter priests, Gregory and Nicitas deacons (1937).
Martyrs Elpidius, Marcellus, and Eustochius, who suffered under Julian the Apostate (361).
Martyr Demetrius of Thrace (307).
"Kupyatich" Icon (1180) of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Venerable Philip, abbot of Rabang (Vologda) (1457).
St. Quinctian, bishop of Seleucia (4th c.).
St. Thomas the New, patriarch of Constantinople (665-668) (Greek).
Repose of St. Herman, wonderworker of Alaska (1836).

You can read the life of the saint in green, by click on the name.

THANK YOU, to all of you who have been able to contribute towards the support of the monastery. These difficult times of economic hardship have impacted the monastery, and those of you who have been able to donate, have been our lifeline. May God bless you for your generosity, and kindness.

With love in Christ,  
Abbot Tryphon

Donations can be made directly to the monastery through PayPal, or you may send donations to:

All-Merciful Saviour Monastery
PO Box 2420
Vashon Island, WA 98070-2420 USA

1 Timothy 1:18-20

Fight the Good Fight

¹⁸ This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, ¹⁹ having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, ²⁰ of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

1 Timothy 2:8-15

Men and Women in the Church

⁸ I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; ⁹ in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, ¹⁰ but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. ¹¹ Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. ¹² And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. ¹³ For Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴ And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. ¹⁵ Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.

Luke 15:1-10

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. ² And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” ³ So He spoke this parable to them, saying:
⁴ “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

The Parable of the Lost Coin

⁸ “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ ¹⁰ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

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