On Tuesday, July 4, 2023, on the Independence Day of the United States of America, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae and the clergy of SS. Constantine and Helen Cathedral of Chicago performed a Te Deum service. Prayers of thanksgiving were made to God for all the gifts bestowed upon the American people, asking for His protection and blessing.
After the service, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae mentioned several personalities who contributed to the act of independence from the British Empire in 1776, respectively the members of the Editorial Committee of the Declaration of Independence (John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman) and more data of the process that led to this fulfillment.
In 1776, the 13 American colonies declared their independence from the British Empire, an event that led to the birth of the United States as a sovereign country. But July 4 is not exactly the day the Continental Congress, made up of colony delegates, decided to declare independence, which was actually two days before, on July 2, 1776. Nor is the date on which the American Revolution broke out, which had begun a year earlier, in April 1775. Nor is it the date on which Thomas Jefferson, one of the "founding fathers", who became the third president of the United States (1801-1809), wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, which happened in June 1776. This Declaration was signed on August 2, 1776, by all the representatives of the colonies and sent to the British in November of the same year. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress therefore approved the final form of the Declaration of Independence. The American Congress declared July 4 a national holiday in 1870, almost a century after the American Revolution.
In conclusion, His Eminence Nicolae read two paragraphs from the Declaration of Independence that make clear reference to the rights of all people adorned by the Creator with freedom, to the appeal to the Supreme Judge of the World for the correction of injustices and to the Divine Providence that guided them in writing the Declaration. These references show the desire for freedom of the founders, freedom based not on human autonomy, but on human relationship with God the Creatorand Protector: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The July 4th holiday is a time to look forward with that same vision as the founding fathers. Let us, therefore, celebrate this day as American citizens or new immigrants. Let us also celebrate that we are Orthodox Christians. In the Book of Psalms we read, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance,” (Psalm 33:12).
Have a Blessed Independence Day!
