On Sunday, 5 April 2026, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem celebrated Palm Sunday as the commemoration of the triumphant entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, when the children of the Hebrews received Him, spreading their garments before Him and crying aloud, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”
This feast was celebrated by the Patriarchate as a “Parrhesia”, in accordance with the liturgical order and Status Quo provisions at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was observed from the previous evening with Vespers, and in the morning with the Divine Liturgy in the Katholikon of the All-Holy Church of the Resurrection.
Vespers and the Divine Liturgy were presided over by Our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, concelebrating with Metropolitan Hesychios of Capitolias, and Their Eminences the Archbishops Theophanes of Gerrash, Dorotheos of Abila, and Aristarchos of Constantina, together with Holy Sepulchre Hieromonks, in the honourable presence of the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem, Mr Dimitrios Angelosopoulos. Only a limited number of monks residing within the Church, namely the guardians of the Shrine, attended, in accordance with police measures, due to the ongoing destructive war.
After the Divine Liturgy, a procession followed three times around the Holy Sepulchre and through the shrines, during which the Patriarch, the Hierarchs, the Priests, and the others held palm branches as a declaration of their faith and of their worship toward our Lord, Who entered triumphantly into Jerusalem when the children of the Hebrews received Him. The procession concluded with the reading of the Resurrection Gospel before the Holy Tomb.
The celebration was concluded by the return to the Patriarchate, where the Patriarch offered wishes for many returns and “a blessed Holy Week.”
Source: Patriarchate of Jerusalem
