His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church attended the traditional carol concert of the Romanian Patriarchate titled “The Orient from on High,” organised by the Basilica Media Centre at the Patriarchal Palace on Friday, December 16, 2022.

The Patriarch of Romania addressed those present, highlighting the importance of Christmas carols.

“In this Solemn Year of Prayer in the Church’s life and the Christian’s life, we note the truth that each of us feels: carols are hymns and prayers! They are a folk poetic memorial of Christmas services heard in church, a profound content expressed through simple melody,” His Beatitude said.

Christmas carols are hymns and prayers of the right-believing Romanian people

For the past two years, the “Orient from on High” Christmas carol concert was recorded and broadcast by Radio Trinitas and Trinitas TV of the Romanian Patriarchate.

These two media tools of the Church held the place of carolers during the pandemic because we need carolers and carols.

This need is not about what is urgent but what is essential. And during our lifetime, it is vital not to forget but to live the truth that the Heavenly Father sent His eternal Son into the world to be born, grow up and save us.

This year the carollers – these heralds of God’s goodness – have come among us again! They teach us that anyone who chooses to carry on the tradition of carolling becomes a herald of divine grace, of the joy, poured out into the world through the birth of the Baby Jesus.

The time has come again for carols – those hymns of praise and thanksgiving that our people offer to “God the Most Holy”. They teach us that deed and thought, word and song, walking and the journey, are gifts given to the Lord Christ, as well as our whole life as sojourners on this earth.

Carols come from “the ancestors”, but children, young and old people, sing them. So the eternity from which the Baby Jesus comes becomes, in the carols, that “today when the beginningless One is born.”

Through carols, all generations live and grow up in the present of salvation: “Today, with the ancestors, we sing in a chorus/ The holy and good carol/ Santa Claus was also old / During their time.” [fragment from a Romanian carol]

In this Solemn Year of Prayer in the Church’s life and the Christian’s life, we note the truth that each of us feels: carols are hymns and prayer! They are a folk poetic memorial of Christmas services heard in church, a profound content expressed through simple melody.

This truth is especially evident in traditional or folk carols.

When we pray in a painted Orthodox church, we feel that we are not praying alone but with the saints. Likewise, we do not sing alone in carols, but in carolling groups, like the angelic choirs of Bethlehem of old.

Prayer helps us to foresee the light and joy of the resurrection and eternal life in this world, and carolers know that where God is present, there is light and that at the Nativity of the Lord, “the cave was heaven.”

In the carol “One Day, Holy Mary,” we are told about the Mother of God she could not find a place to give birth, and therefore “she went into a manger,” and “in the manger, there was a great light in the sky, and there on hay Jesus Christ was born.”

And in the carol “God the Most Holy”, it is clearly said that “the Son was incarnate, and the world was enlightened.”

Humble prayer enlightens and prepares the human soul to receive God’s grace and to love fellow human beings. Hence the carolers’ appeal: “And now I leave you, be healthy/ And merry at Christmas/ But remember when you are merry/ Romanian, be good!”

We congratulate our carolers: the “COR cu DOR” children and youth choir and the “TRONOS” Byzantine choir of the Patriarchal Cathedral.

They have shown us that only through the beauty of interpretation, love and respect for the message of carols it is possible to fulfil and cherish the “custom of the ancestors.”

We thank the Basilica Media Centre of the Romanian Patriarchate and the Conference Centre of the Patriarchal Palace for organising the Romanian Patriarchate’s “The Orient from on High” Carol Concert.

In conclusion, we pray to our Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world to bring “goodwill among men” and grant you peace, joy, health and happiness for many blessed years!

† Daniel
Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church

Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro / Raluca-Emanuela Ene