The first carolers also arrived at the Cathedral of Ss. Constantine and Helen in Chicago. HE Metropolitan Nicolae was caroled by the children from the Sunday School of the Cathedral on Saturday, December 16, 2023. Led by the teachers, the children remembered the star from the east, the magicians, and the shepherds. HE Nicolae thanked the children and teachers and offered them icons, sweets, and fruits.
The carol is by no means a tender song that has become a tradition because it conveys the memory of a historical event, but its value and authority are based on the message it conveys, a message identical to that of Scripture. And if the theology of the Incarnation of the Son is sometimes complicated and difficult to understand, the carol tells us in simple, melodic words that God came down to the human being “to deliver it from evil.”
The carol urges each of us to prepare our homes and our souls in order to receive God. On Christmas Eve, even though we are fasting, we prepare our houses and load our tables, as a carol says. But this is not for those who carol, but for God Himself who descends into every home and brings blessing. This is the joy we share with carolers. We are hosts, and God is the heavenly guest who dwells among us. And He brings with him peace and happiness from beyond.
On Sunday, December 17, 2023, the children of the Cathedral of Ss. Constantine and Helen in Chicago presented the Christmas program. This year, the two priest-wife’s, teachers at the Sunday School, Andaluzia Mureșan and Sanda Cărbune, have prepared a program different from previous years. The parents and faithful of the Cathedral enjoyed the Good News of the Savior's Birth, and the children were rewarded with gifts by Santa Claus. On Monday, December 18, it was the turn of the young people from the new St. Three Hierarchs Orthodox High School in Chicago to carol with the teachers and parents gathered at the high school headquarters in Niles, IL.
The choir of the Cathedral of Ss. Constantine and Helen in Chicago is ready, as every year, for the carol concert on Christmas Eve. The repertoire includes traditional Romanian carols and carols from the international repertoire. The young people of the choir of the Cathedral of Ss. Constantine and Helen seriously rehearsed to offer the Orthodox Romanians from the Chicago Metropolis the joy of receiving through the carols the announcement of the Nativity of the Lord. Christmas Eve is a special evening of the church year. That is why the carol concert of the Choir of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Chicago, on Christmas Eve, is an event long awaited by the Romanian Orthodox faithful in Chicago.
