SUNDAY'S MESSAGE (audio message)
BY HIS EMINENCE THE METROPOLITAN
KYTHIRA & ANTIKYTHIRA SERAPHIM
BAVARIAN SUNDAY
(05-04-2026)
WRITTEN DIVINE PROCLAMATION
The event that we remember today, Palm Sunday, my Christians, is the triumphal entry into Jerusalem that the Jews made to Jesus Christ: they went out into the streets carrying palm branches and olive branches and greeted Him with cheering and spreading their garments on the way He passed. All this enthusiasm was the result of the miracle of Lazarus' Resurrection.
Deliberately and for the first time our Lord worked His miracle in this way - in His last such miracle on earth to men - that is, in front of so many people, lest at the last moment some might repent, recognizing Him as the Son of God.
He raised a dead man who had been dead for four days, and Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha were known and loved for their kindness to the society of Jerusalem. Thus, many people had gathered at the house to offer their condolences. These people followed the Lord to the tomb of Lazarus and witnessed the Resurrection. Those who did not see the miracle gathered later at Lazarus' house, not so much to see Jesus, as John the Evangelist notes, but to see for themselves that Lazarus was alive.
Of course the deceitful Scribes and Pharisees were planning to kill Lazarus as well, because because of this miracle many were coming to Jesus.
So Jesus spends the night in Bethany, probably in Lazarus' house, and the next day, according to John the Evangelist, He goes to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover with His disciples - a custom of the Jews to enter their holy city for the Passover.
Thus the people, seeing the «mighty» Jesus, greet Him with cheers: «Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!» . A cry that was the voice of the tongue, but not of the heart. Our Lord, however, promised this people, apart from their spiritual guidance to the Truth, no material reward and worldly power. Thus, the cunning Scribes and Pharisees, knowing well the desires of the people, by false promises and threats, managed in a few days to make the same people cry out in fury: «Aron aron, crucify him!».
My Christians, are we too today not vulnerable to false promises in order to satisfy our self-interest? This is what happens when our life is not truly spiritual, when we do not have Christ as our only and true support.
Will we be able to overcome our material commitments and celebrate the true Resurrection, which humility and repentance give us? Will we go to the Resurrection only to hear the «Christ is risen» or shall we remain to be one with Christ through Holy Communion?;
π. Panagiotis Megalokonomos
