“…Like the children, we, too, bear symbols of victory, and cry out to You, the Conqueror of death: ‘Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”” (Troparion of Palm Sunday)
Our Lord Jesus Christ climaxed His mission on earth with two memorable events the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead and His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. These two events, witnessed by great crowds of people, gave a clear and convincing testimony concerning the messianic mission of Christ and His divinity. These two illustrious events also raised the curtain on the last act of the drama of Christ’s life: His passion and death.
Since the first centuries of Christianity the Eastern Church has been celebrating the memory of the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem on the Sunday before His glorious Resurrection. Palm Sunday from the earliest times has been regarded as a great feast of our Lord and is included in the twelve principal festivals of our Church Year. It, too, has its own particular customs which the other feasts do not have.
For a better understanding of this festival we shall consider its history, the customs associated with it and its spiritual significance.
History of the Celebration of the Festival
The festival of the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem is one of the oldest feastdays in the Eastern Church. Testimony regarding its celebration reaches back to the third century. From that time, we have a sermon on Palm Sunday by Bishop Methodius of Patara († ca. 300). The celebration of this festival began in Jerusalem, and within a short period of time became a feastday for the entire Eastern Church.
Silvia of Acquitaine, writing in her Diary about her pilgrimage to the Holy Land, gives us a beautiful description of how this festival was celebrated in Jerusalem in the fourth century. The faithful of Jerusalem endeavoured each year to relive Christ’s entry into Jerusalem just as it originally occurred. On Palm Sunday, after the early morning services held in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the faithful assembled at one o’clock in the afternoon at the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives. The bishop with his deacons also assembled here. During the time the people were gathering, various hymns and psalms were sung and the Gospel relating to the entry of Jesus Christ into the city of Jerusalem was read. When all the people had already assembled, a magnificent procession, the young and old, bearing palm or olive branches in their hands, chanted hymns and psalms, always with the refrain: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” The author of the Diary observes that all the children, including those who, being still too young to walk and are carried on their parents’ shoulders, carry in their hands palm or olive branches. The bishop and his attendants followed at the end of the procession. Like Christ, the bishop rode on a donkey. The procession proceeded through the city to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where the solemn celebration concluded with the service of Vespers.
Many ancient documents testify to the commemoration of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on the Sunday before the Pasch (Easter). We shall mention only a few of these here. St. Epiphanius of Cyprus (+403) composed two sermons still ex- tant on the feast of Palm Sunday. St. Ephrem the Syrian (+373) dedicated a special hymn to the feast. Cyril of Alexan- dria (†386) and the Patriarch of Constantinople Proclus (+446) mention this feast. Anastasius the Sinaite (7c), a monk of the Sinai monastery and a theologian of the Eastern Church was the first to note that the Forty Days Fast terminated with the feast of Palm Sunday.
Beginning with the seventh century, various Church writers, such as Andrew of Crete, Cosmas of Maiuma, John of Damascus, Theodore and Joseph the Studite, composed sticheras and canons for this feast. Palm Sunday, although it ranks among the principal feasts of our Lord, has neither a pre-feast nor a post-feast because it occurs during the period of fast.
Sometime between the sixth and the seventh centuries this feast spread to the Western Church under the title of Palm Sunday. In the West, also, the practice of holding a procession with palm branches on this day took root. The blessed palms are kept until the following year when they are burned and the ashes are used to sprinkle the heads of the faithful on Ash Wednesday as a sign of penance.
The Customs of Palm Sunday
In our liturgical books this day is called, “Sunday of the Palms”, “Flower or Blossom Sunday”, Flower or Blossom-bearing Sunday”, Sunday of “Flower or Blossom-bearing”. Our people call this Sunday the “Sunday of Pussy-willows” or “Pussy-willow” Sunday, “Willow Sunday”, “Sunday of the Willow”. All these names are associated with the custom of blessing and distributing palm or olive branches on that day in church. Because no palm or olive trees grow in our country, we have a venerable custom of using willow branches, a tree that is the first to blossom in the spring.
Among the Jews and ancient Romans, the palm branch was the symbol of victory. For this reason it was held in the hand during a triumphal or victory procession. Also, at the public games the victors were presented with the palm branch as a sign of victory. In the New Testament the palm branch became the symbol of martyrdom. In the catacombs, palm branches were laid on the tomb of a martyr as the symbol of the victory of the martyr. The olive branch is the symbol of peace. In our Trebnyk (Euchologion), in the prayer for blessing of palms, the willow branch is also called the symbol of the resurrection.
In Greek, palm branches are called “baia”; and in the Church-Slavonic transcription “Vayia”; hence, the name “Nedilya Vayij” (Sunday of Palms).
It is difficult to say with certainty when the custom of blessing branches of the palm, olive or other trees in church arose. The blessing of branches seems to have already been in practice, in some places, in the seventh century, although the actual ceremony of blessing does not appear in liturgical documents until the ninth century. The blessing and distribution of palms, according to the prescription of our rite, takes place on Palm Sunday during the Matins service after the Gospel at Psalm 50. In Eastern Ukraine a custom also existed of blessing and distributing willow branches in the cities on Saturday evening, while in the villages, these were blessed and distributed on the morning of Palm Sunday. Along with a willow branch the faithful also received a small candle, as a symbol of the resurrection.
Among our people, various practices existed, even some superstitious ones, that were associated with the blessed willow branch. The blessed willow branch was never destroyed by our people. Instead, they placed it in the house behind an icon, or planted it in the garden. With it they blessed the cattle, when they were being led for the first time into pasture. The farmer carried the blessed willow branch around his farm, praying that it might be protected from impure spirits. Some even swallowed the bud of the willow so that “the throat would not hurt.” In some places, a blessed willow branch was placed in the hands of the deceased, so that at the general resurrection they would meet Christ carrying the emblem of victory. As they were going out of the church on Palm Sunday, the faithful would lightly strike one another on the shoulder with the willow branch, saying: “It is not I who strike you, but it is the willow branch, within a week we shall celebrate Easter.” Thus did they remind one another that Easter was drawing near.
Following the example of the Church in Jerusalem, a custom of holding a procession with palms on Palm Sunday also arose in Greece in the ninth-tenth centuries, during which the patriarch of Constantinople rode through the streets on a donkey.
The Spiritual Meaning of Palm Sunday
The Jews wanted to see their messiah in power and glory. Accordingly, Jesus Christ, by raising Lazarus from the dead and by His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, gave them clear proof of His power and glory. He demonstrated, publicly, that He is not only the Lord of living and dead nature, but also Lord of hearts of men. Such a triumphal procession Jerusalem had not witnessed for a long time.
St. Matthew the Evangelist confirmed this: “And when He entered Jerusalem, all the city was thrown into commotion, saying: ‘Who is this?’ But the crowds kept on saying: ‘This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. (Matthew 21,10-11)
The honor given to Christ lasted for only a brief moment, for His betrayal by Judas, His rejection by the people, His condemnation by the Jewish leaders, His passion, the way of the cross and crucifixion followed in quick succession. These very same people who, on Sunday cried out, “Hosanna”, within a few days would be crying out: “Crucify Him.”
Palm Sunday teaches us the instability of worldly glory and the vanity of earthly happiness. Joy and sadness here on earth are two inseparable sisters. Therefore, if we wish one day to have a share in the triumph of Christ in heaven, we must first undergo a Passion week and a Golgotha with Him here on earth. Only then, will we be able, like Him, to enter into everlasting triumph, joy and resurrection.
