Skip to main content

“Rejoice, rejoice, people of Zion! Shout for joy, you people of Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you! He comes triumphant and victorious, but humble and riding on a donkey–on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zachariah 9:9)

This Sunday we celebrate the Great Feast of Palm Sunday, the Triumphal Entrance of Christ into the city of Jerusalem. Christ enters the city as King with the people holding in their hands Palm branches fit for a true King of old, but this is the Christ who comes triumphantly and comes voluntarily to die.

This day ushers in Holy Week: the Passion of Christ and the salvation of the world. The hymns of this Palm Sunday evening extol and proclaim to us the saving suffering of Christ and personally invites us, the faithful, to follow the King of Kings during the coming days to the passion of the Cross.

Holy Week is the most important week of the year because it brings us to the very gates of God’s Kingdom. By Jesus’ voluntary sacrifice on the length of the Cross we are given access to the very presence of God. Liturgically throughout this week we relive the great moments of His Passion Journey which once again become actual realities for us through the words of the hymns, prayers and services of this precious time.

We as Orthodox Christians become an integral part of the sacred drama of His betrayal, arrest, trial, scouring, crucifixion, death and burial – culminating in the glorious Resurrection from the dead.

Therefore, it is imperative for us to willfully participate in this saving journey sharing in His sufferings and to help Him carry the Cross, to witness the crucifixion, to die with Him, to follow Him in His burial, and to be lifted up to a life of newness filled with the Holy Spirit by His Glorious Resurrection.

Please take notice of the services that are available during this week and come to Church and follow Our Lord to the Feast of Feasts, the Precious and Holy Pascha. May God bless all of you and your families as we prepare for this journey together.

Palm Sunday