Feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. The head of the Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy at the Ascension Cathedral in Almaty

April 28, 2024 – the great twelfth feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem; Flower week, Palm Sunday.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom at the Ascension Cathedral in Almaty.

The service of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem is performed in green priestly vestments (green is one of the symbols of the rebirth of life; it is also associated with the memory of the living green palm branches with which the inhabitants of Jerusalem greeted Christ).

At the beginning of the Liturgy, the antiphons of the holiday were sung - verses from psalms containing Old Testament prophecies about the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem with special refrains: “By the prayers of the Mother of God, Savior save us,” “Save us, Son of God, seated on the lot that sings to you: alleluia.” The Gospel reading at the Liturgy (Gospel of John, chapter 12, verses 1 to 18) tells about the event of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. In the apostolic reading (The Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians, chapter 4, verses 4 to 9), Christians are called to joy, meekness, peacefulness, a prayerful mood and persistent adherence to the true doctrine. Instead of the chant “It is worthy to be,” the irmos of the 9th song of the canon of the holiday is performed, which, translated into Russian, reads as follows: “God is the Lord, He has appeared to us! Organize a holiday, and let us hasten, rejoicing, to exalt Christ, with branches of palms and trees in our hands, we will exclaim in songs: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord our Savior!”

The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was concelebrated by: confessor of the Alma-Ata diocese Archimandrite John (Sazonov), head of the public relations department of the Metropolitan District Archpriest Alexander Suvorov, member of the Patriarchal Commission on Physical Culture and Sports Hegumen Philip (Moiseev), head of the information department of the Metropolitan District Archpriest Evgeniy Ivanov, head of the personal secretariat of the Metropolitan, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, head of the Metropolitan Protocol Service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Deacon Vitaly Bystrushkin, Deacon Alexander Piven, Deacon Sergei Slesarchuk.

For prayerful veneration, believers carried an icon depicting the miracle of the Savior’s resurrection of righteous Lazarus the Four-Days with part of his tomb from Bethany.

Those who prayed during the service were: President of the Apostle Public Foundation G.G. Sosnovsky; employees of the Alma-Ata diocesan administration, patrons of the diocese, Cossacks, Sunday school students and parishioners of the cathedral.

The chants were performed by the choir of the Metropolitan District (regent - Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov, choirmaster - V. Dudareva) and the choir of the Ascension Cathedral (regent - N. Zubrevich).

Before the start of the service, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', for his diligent service to the Holy Church, Metropolitan Alexander awarded the cleric of the main church of the southern capital, Deacon Andrei Pletny, the right to wear a kamilavka for the holiday of Holy Easter.

The sermon on the sacramental verse was delivered by Archpriest Evgeniy Ivanov.

Numerous communicants began to partake of the holy Mysteries of Christ.

After the dismissal of the Liturgy, glorification of the Feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem took place. The head of the Metropolitan District read a prayer for the consecration of the frond and sprinkled the willow branches with holy water.

On the territory of the temple, for the large number of believers who had gathered, the willows were sprinkled with holy water with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander by the cathedral's clergyman, head of the public relations department of the Metropolitan District, Archpriest Alexander Suvorov.

Representatives of the Semirechye Cossack Union, led by Ataman Shikhotov V.S., took an active part in ensuring order and security.

The video recording of the metropolitan service was carried out by the television studio of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District “Semirechye” (director - Honored Worker of Culture V.L. Posadneva, cameraman A. Schmidt); photographic recording by information department employee A. Sheglov.

“Our standing at the service of the Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem with willow branches is a remembrance of the solemn Entry of the King of Glory into free suffering. You and I meet the invisibly coming Lord and greet Him as the conqueror of hell and death. On this holiday, we, the children of the Church, ask that the Lord, as it is said in the prayer for the consecration of the tree, grants us “with hymns and spiritual songs to achieve the life-giving and three-day Resurrection.” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.