Russian Orthodox Christians Celebrate Palm Sunday (photo report)

admin | 29 April 2013

April 29, 2013

On April 28, Russian Orthodox Christians celebrate Palm Sunday.

© RIA Novosti. Yevgeny Yepanchintsev

© RIA Novosti. Yevgeny Yepanchintsev

Palm Sunday, when, according to the Gospels, Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem on a donkey, is marked one week before Easter.

© RIA Novosti. Alexei Furman

© RIA Novosti. Alexei Furman

Believers flock to churches on that day to have their branches of willows blessed by priests.

© RIA Novosti. Alexander Kryazhev

© RIA Novosti. Alexander Kryazhev

Willows are used instead of palms to celebrate the feast in Russia.

© RIA Novosti. Yevgeny Yepanchintsev

© RIA Novosti. Yevgeny Yepanchintsev

Therefore, the holiday is widely known in Russia as Willow Sunday.

© RIA Novosti. Yevgeny Yepanchintsev

© RIA Novosti. Yevgeny Yepanchintsev

Willow branches are consecrated during the divine service on Saturday night.

© RIA Novosti. Alexander Kryazhev

© RIA Novosti. Alexander Kryazhev

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, held a divine liturgy in downtown Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral on Palm Sunday.

© RIA Novosti. Sergei Kuznetsov

© RIA Novosti. Sergei Kuznetsov

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, held a divine liturgy in downtown Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral on Palm Sunday.

© RIA Novosti. Sergei Kuznetsov

© RIA Novosti. Sergei Kuznetsov

Woman selling willow branches near the Alexander Nevsky Catherdal in Novosibirsk.

© RIA Novosti. Alexander Kryazhev

© RIA Novosti. Alexander Kryazhev

Russia will mark Easter this year on May 5 in line with the Julian calendar.

© RIA Novosti. Alexei Furman

© RIA Novosti. Alexei Furman

Source: RIAN

Since you are here…

…we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong.

Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable.

For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir.

If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life's purpose, family and society.