Feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. The Head of the Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy at the Ascension Cathedral of the city of Alma-Ata (+VIDEO)

5 April 2026 – the great Twelve Great Feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem; Palm Sunday.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom at the Ascension Cathedral of the city of Alma-Ata.

The divine service of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem is celebrated in green vestments (the color green is one of the symbols of the renewal of life; it is also connected with the remembrance of the living greenery of the palm branches with which the inhabitants of Jerusalem greeted Christ).

At the beginning of the Liturgy, the festal antiphons were chanted – verses from the psalms containing Old Testament prophecies about the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, with special refrains: “Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us”, “Save us, O Son of God, Who didst sit upon a colt, we who sing to Thee: Alleluia”. The Gospel reading at the Liturgy (Gospel of John, chapter 12, verses 1–18) recounts the event of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. In the Apostolic reading (Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians, chapter 4, verses 4–9), Christians are called to joy, meekness, peace, a prayerful disposition and steadfast adherence to the true doctrine. Instead of the hymn “It is truly meet”, the irmos of the 9th ode of the canon of the feast is sung, which in translation into Russian reads as follows: “God is the Lord, He has revealed Himself to us! Prepare the feast, and let us hasten, rejoicing, to magnify Christ, with branches of palms and trees in our hands, and in songs let us cry out: ‘Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord, our Savior!’”.

Concelebrating with the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: Dean of the churches of Alma-Ata, rector of St Nicholas Cathedral, Candidate of Theology Archpriest Valery Zakharov; Archimandrite Joseph (Yeremenko); sacristan of the Ascension Cathedral, Head of the Metropolitan District Department for Public Relations Archpriest Alexander Suvorov; rector of the Alma-Ata Orthodox Theological Seminary, Head of the Information Department of the Metropolitan District, Candidate of Theology Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov; member of the Patriarchal Commission on Physical Culture and Sports Hegumen Philipp (Moiseev); Hieromonk Onisim (Tulnikov); personal secretary of the Head of the Metropolitan District Hieromonk Dimitry (Baidek); Head of the Metropolitan’s secretariat Hieromonk Prokhor (Yendovitsky); Head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District Priest Georgy Sidorov; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich; Head of the Metropolitan’s protocol service Protodeacon Roman Golovin; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Vitaly Bystrushkin; Deacon Alexander Piven; Deacon Ioann Zhuchkov; Hierodeacon Sofoniya (Mazurenko); Deacon Georgy Tkachenko.

Praying at the service were: Ataman of the Republican public association “Union of Cossacks of Semirechye”, chairman of the Almaty city branch of the Association of Russian, Slavic and Cossack Organizations of Kazakhstan, member of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan V.S. Shikhotov; staff of the Alma-Ata diocesan administration, ktitors of the diocese, Cossacks, pupils of the Sunday school and parishioners of the cathedral.

The hymns 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 – E. Boguslavets).

The sermon before Communion was delivered by Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov.

Numerous communicants partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

After the dismissal of the Liturgy, the glorification of the feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem took place. The Head of the Metropolitan District read the prayer for the blessing of the palms and sprinkled willow branches with holy water.

For the forthcoming feast of Holy Pascha, His Eminence awarded the clergy of the main church of the Southern capital with liturgical-hierarchical distinctions: member of the Patriarchal Commission on Physical Culture and Sports Hegumen Philipp (Moiseev) – the right to celebrate the Liturgy with the Royal Doors open until “Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim…”; Hierodeacon Sofoniya (Mazurenko) – the right to wear the double orarion.

On the territory of the church, for the large number of faithful gathered, the willow branches were sprinkled with holy water, with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander, by the sacristan of the cathedral and Head of the Metropolitan District Department for Public Relations Archpriest Alexander Suvorov.

A live broadcast of the entire festal divine service took place on the YouTube channel “Proobraz” with the support of the public foundation “Eleos-Meirim” (president – V.M. Kapsamun).

Video recording of the metropolitan divine service was carried out by the television studio of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District “Semirechye” (director – Honored Worker of Culture V.L. Posadneva); photographic coverage – by a сотрудник of the Information Department A. Khalin.

“Our standing at the divine service of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem with willow branches is a remembrance of the solemn Entry of the King of Glory to His voluntary Passion. We meet the invisibly coming Lord and greet Him as the conqueror of hell and death. On this festal day, we – the children of the Church – ask that the Lord, as it is said in the prayer for the blessing of the palms, may grant us ‘with hymns and spiritual songs to attain the life-giving and third-day Resurrection’.” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.