Chorus Angelorum: Towards the Active Participation of the Liturgical Assembly. A Look at the Functionality of the Choir

The issue of the active participation of the liturgical assembly in worship is a question to which it is difficult to find a satisfactory answer. The choir plays a key role in this problem. While some see its performance as enriching and enhancing the solemnity of the service, others see it as a hindrance or even a limitation to the active participation of the people. Certain indications are offered by the documents of the Second Vatican Council, but these cannot be applied unreservedly to another tradition, in the case of Slovakia and the Byzantine tradition. This study thus attempts to gain insight into this issue, offering some facts that speak mainly in favor of the participation of the choir, but at the same time confirming that the activity of the choir does not prevent the full and active participation of the people in the liturgy.