On Sunday, March 27 / April 9, 2023, the feast of Palm Sunday was celebrated by the Patriarchate in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
On this feast, the whole Church of Jerusalem commemorates the triumphal entry of the Lord after the resurrection of Lazarus, seated on a colt, when the children of the Jews, spreading their garments, received Him holding palm tree branches, crying “Hosanna to the Son of David”.
On this feast, the Hagiotaphite Brotherhood held Great Vespers in the evening at the Catholicon f the Church of the Resurrection after the reception and veneration at the Holy Deposition and the Holy Sepulchre, presided over by His Beatitude, our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos.
After Vespers, the Holy Icon was taken in a procession according to the tradition, from the Holy Monastery of Bet-Faghe to the entrance of the Old City of Jerusalem at the Holy Monastery of the Holy Ancestors of God Joachim and Anna.
On the day of the feast, the Hagiotaphite Brotherhood went to the Church of the Resurrection, ascended the steps of the Holy Golgotha because of the Easter of the Latins, went to the Catholicon of the Church and celebrated a Patriarchal Divine Liturgy presided over by His Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos, with the co-celebration of their Eminences, Metropolitan Isychios of Kapitolias, and the Archbishops, Theophanes of Gerassa, Aristarchos of Constantina, Demetrios of Lydda, Theodosios of Sebasteia and Philoumenos of Pella, the Elder Kamarasis Archimandrite Nectarios, and Priests from many other Orthodox Churches. The service was attended by the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem Mr Evangelos Vlioras and a large number of pilgrims.
After the Divine Liturgy, there was a litany three times around the Holy Sepulchre and then around the shrines.
At the end of the service, the Patriarchal Entourage returned to the Patriarchate Reception Hall under the bells tolling.
by:jerusalem-patriarchate
