…let us magnify Christ with palms and branches, with hymns crying aloud: blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord our Saviour. ~ Ode 9 of the Feast

Palm Sunday

Blessed Feast!
S’prazdnikom!

Giving us, before Thy Passion an assurance of the general Resurrection, Thou hast raised Lazarus from the dead, O Christ our God. Therefore like the children, we also carry tokens of victory, and cry to Thee the conqueror of death. Hosanna, In the highest, blessed is he who cometh in the Name of the Lord.  ~ Palm Sunday Tropar

Today is Palm Sunday, when we commemorate the Entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem.

Following His glorious miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, the people went out to meet the Lord with palms and branches. They welcomed Him with honour and shouts of praise.

Yesterday’s Lazarus Saturday and today’s Palm Sunday Feast are a bridge that we cross over from Great Lent, into Holy Week.

Today is a bittersweet joy, for we also know of the sad events to come during Holy Week.

Tomorrow, we begin to wend our way through Holy Week’s poignant thoroughfares, until we reach the bright and shining shores of Holy Pascha… The Greatest Feast of all.

Pascha is the dawn of the new and unending day, the Holy Resurrection of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! 
Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. ~ Zechariah 9:9

They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel! ~ St. John 12:13
[Hosanna in the highest! Means: O be favourably inclined – in the highest heaven! O Lord, save!
While Hosanna in the Highest initially seems like an enthusiastic cheer of welcome and joy,
it’s also a deep invocation for protection and salvation from tribulations.]

…the Lord is always sitting at the gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem waiting for us to allow Him to enter. He is patiently standing at the door of our heart… waiting for us to open it. ~ Unknown