The Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday)
The date changes each year; in 2026 it falls on April 5.
Dates follow the calendar tradition used by this project. Parishes using the new calendar celebrate fixed feasts on different civil dates.
Palm Sunday commemorates Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem before His Passion. The feast holds together the joy of welcoming the King and the sober awareness that His path leads through suffering and death to the Resurrection.
Meaning of the feast
Palm Sunday celebrates the solemn entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. Christ rode into the city on a colt that He had sent for, and the crowd received Him as a king. People waved palm branches, laid garments in His path, and greeted Him with the words, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” Yet this joyful entrance stands at the threshold of Holy Week. Christ enters openly among those who oppose Him and proceeds willingly toward His suffering and death. The earthly triumph is brief, but it reveals the character of His kingship.
Gospel background
The feast follows the raising of Lazarus, commemorated on the preceding day. In the Church’s understanding, Lazarus’ raising points to the destruction of death and to the joy of resurrection made accessible through Christ’s own death and Resurrection. Christ’s entrance also recalls the prophetic image in Zechariah of a humble king entering the holy city on a donkey and a colt. Some in the crowd understood the event in terms of earthly glory and hoped for an earthly ruler. Christ, however, comes to establish a Kingdom that is not of this world.
Spiritual meaning today
At the services, palm and willow branches are blessed. Receiving and raising a branch is a visible sign of greeting Christ as King and Lord of one’s life. The gesture is connected with a renewal of the pledges of baptism: to accept Christ as King and God and to follow Him. The Church’s worship is not only reflection on a past event; it calls the faithful to participate in its enduring meaning. Palm Sunday therefore invites repentance, trust in Christ, and readiness to continue with Him through the days of His Passion in hope of the Resurrection.
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Sources: Orthodox Church in America