Orthodox Church marks Palm Sunday today

Georgian Orthodox Church marks Palm Sunday – Glorious Entry of Jesus to Jerusalem - today. Catholicos Patriarch of all Georgia, his Holiness and Beatitude, Ilia II is holding a Divine Liturgy at Sameba (Holy Trinity) Cathedral.

The day is celebrated on the sixth Sunday of Great Lent. Palm Sunday always falls on the Sunday before Easter Sunday. The feast commemorates the event mentioned by all four Canonical Gospels - the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion.

According to the Gospels, before entering Jerusalem, Jesus was staying at Bethany and Bethphage, and the Gospel of John adds that he had dinner with Lazarus, and his sisters Mary and Martha. 

While there, Jesus sent two disciples to the village over against them, in order to retrieve a donkey that had been tied up but never been ridden, and to say, if questioned, that the donkey was needed by the Lord but would be returned. 

Jesus then rode the donkey into Jerusalem, with the Synoptics adding that the disciples had first put their cloaks on it, so as to make it more comfortable. The Gospels go on to recount how Jesus rode into Jerusalem, and how the people there lay down their cloaks in front of him, and also lay down small branches of trees. 

The people sang part of Psalm 118 - ...Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of Our Father, David. ... (Psalms 118:25-26). Where this entry is supposed to have taken place is unspecified. 

Holy Week will start after the Palm Sunday. Holy Week is the last week of Lent. Lent started on 27 February and will end on 15 April, on Easter Day.