Sunday of Orthodoxy was celebrated in a special way this year in Chicago. At Ss. Constantine and Helen Romanian Cathedral of Chicago, the Divine Liturgy was served by HE Metropolitan Nicolae and the clergy of the Cathedral. At the time of the sermon, HE Nicolae spoke of the significance of Sunday of Orthodoxy, resuming the main ideas of the Pastoral Letter of the Romanian Orthodox Church Holy Synod prepared this year by HE Nicolae. After the Divine Liturgy, children from the Sunday School of the Cathedral organized a procession with holy icons from the church to the social hall.
A program dedicated to the Centenary of the Great Union prepared by children and adults followed, reminding the moment of the Assembly of Alba Iulia on 1 December 1918, and some of the personalities who contributed to the fulfillment of this historic act.
In the evening, hierarchs, priests and Orthodox believers in the Chicago area gathered at the Greek Orthodox Parish of Ss. Constantine and Helen in Palos Hills, Illinois for the Pan-Orthodox Vespers. The homilist of the evening was Father Patrick Reardon of the Antiochian Parish of All Saints in Chicago. The answers were given by the Pan-Orthodox Choir in Chicago directed by Mrs. Gordana Trbuhovich in English, Greek, Slavonic, Romanian and Arabic. The priests and many believers of Ss. Constantine and Helen's Cathedral attended this Pan-Orthodox service.
HE Metropolitan Nicolae was invited to preach at the Serbian parish of St. George in Schererville, Indiana by the Orthodox Clergy Association of Northwest Indiana. HE Nicolae spoke of the veneration of icons, veneration based on the Incarnation of the Son of God. This veneration is a call to holiness, a call fulfilled by the saints of the Church represented in icons. HE Nicolae continued talking about prayer as fulfillment of Orthodoxy, of the right worship given to God. At the end of the Vespers, the Synodicon of Orthodoxy was read as a common confession of the Orthodox Faith. A procession with holy icons completed the Vespers service.