Thousands participate in Palm Sunday procession in Bucharest

Moscow, April 12, 2017

Photo: Basilica.ro

Dozens of priests led a procession through the streets of Bucharest on Saturday, April 8, on the eve of Palm Sunday. Thousands of believers joined in the march from Radu Voda Monastery to the Patriarchal Cathedral, in celebration of the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, reports the Basilica News Agency.

Photo: Basilica.ro

The priests and faithful, blessed palms in hand, were greeted on the hill of the patriarchate by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, who blessed an icon of the feast before addressing the faithful gathered with words of spiritual insight and encouragement for the coming journey to the Lord’s Passion and Resurrection.

Photo: Basilica.ro

In his homily, His Beatitude explained the palms and willow branches as symbols of faith and of the virtues acquired through an active life in the Church, including fasting, praying, and frequent participation in the Holy Mysteries, and through good deeds.

“They are bright flowers of faith that have gathered in our souls for forty days. We offer these flowers of faith and spiritual feats to our Savior as a sign of thanksgiving and as a petition to sanctify our life and to grant us the joy of Holy Pascha... A willow resembles a man who fasted for a long period, who knelt many times, who made many prostrations and who has inner spiritual beauty,” the Romanian primate expounded.

Photo: Basilica.ro

Photo: Basilica.ro

The patriarch also noted that the traditional Palm Sunday procession had been banned in Romania for sixty years, from 1948 to 2008. Speaking of its revival, he proclaimed, “Thus, we have demonstrated that we are re-establishing a healthy Christian tradition.” He also noted that, living in a time of political freedom, believers have an even greater responsibility to use that freedom to draw nearer to God.

Photo: Basilica.ro

The Palm Sunday procession was first held again on April 19, 2008, with over 5,000 faithful of all ages and nearly 200 clergy joining in, according to Ziarul Lumina.

Photo: Basilica.ro

​“Here we are, the priests of the whole city of Bucharest, together with the parishioners of the churches in the capital, to confess our love for the Orthodox faith. It is as if we were in Jerusalem at the time of our Savior,” said then 84-year-old Fr. Nicholas Bordașiu at that historic procession.