The feast of St. Hierarch Nicholas at Ss. Constantine and Helen Cathedral in Chicago was again this year a source of blessing and joy. Clergy and faithful honored the protector of the local hierarch, HE Metropolitan Nicolae. The Choir "Metropolitan Dosoftei" of the Orthodox Theological Seminary of Suceava, Romania joined into the celebration. The choir offered the answers at the Divine Liturgy held in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Chicago on Friday, December 6, 2019. Fr. Principal Bogdan Cojoleanca offered the sermon on the life and mission of St. Nicholas.
The celebration continued on Friday evening through the Te Deum service officiated by the Cathedral’s priests. Prayers of thanksgiving were read for the benefits poured on HE Metropolitan Nicolae and the priests and believers of the Metropolia. HE Nicolae thanked for all the expressed wishes and urged those present to reflect on the gifts of God called in the Divine Liturgy "seen and unseen". The hierarch recalled the special gift of St. Nicholas during these days when the US parishes of the Metropolia receive the Christmas Carols of the youth from Suceava.
Afterwards, a beautiful carols concert was held by the Coral of the Seminary in Suceava under the direction of Father Constantin Magdalena. The faithful present appreciated the carols gathered from the Bucovina area and from other areas of Romania, less known carols. In the word of thanks, HE Nicolae urged the young carolers to use the spiritual tour of the carols and to discover the American world beyond its lights.
At the agape meal, HE Metropolitan Nicolae also received wishes from the children of the Cathedral enrolled at the Romanian School and the Sunday School and, some of them, at the Guardian Angel School of Chicago. The event was attended, as on many other occasions, by Mr. Tiberiu Trifan, General Consul of Romania in Chicago and his wife.
