[wmtravelservice]

Andre

S'Prazdnikom on your angel's day (I assume you are named after the first apostle?) Yes, you should most certainly "take in" the concert of carols. The base prohibition for Orthodox Christians is not to "pray with" those outside the Church. This does not mean we can't visit their services or that we cannot pray in their presence (as some have made this to mean) but rather that we cannot adopt their prayers as our own since our belief is reflected in our prayer. Thus there is the possibility of some heretical aspect to the prayer and we should avoid embracing this heretical taint into our souls. But that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the singing of songs in honor to our Lord's incarnation (but you must attend to the words of the song).

In my parish, we begin the Christmas eve service with the Vigil of the feast and then gather in the hall for the "sochelnik" or Christmas eve dinner. Following the dinner we return to the Church and gather around the candle and icon in the center of the Church and beginning with the Troparion of the feast we sing Christmas carols together - ending again with the Troparion. This local tradition is inspired by the rubrics of the vigil which state that at the end of the Vigil for Nativity, the two choirs descend from the kliros and standing in the center of the Church around the candle that has been brought there sing together the Troparion. We don't have two choirs (sometimes we don't even have one) but we do have this chance to sing to the glory of our Lord together.

Fr David Moser