Bucharest, April 14, 2025
Photo: basilica.ro
Around 13,000 pilgrims and numerous clergy from Bucharest and Ilfov filled the streets of Bucharest on Saturday for the annual procession in honor of the great feast of Palm Sunday.
The pilgrimage began in the capital with the celebration of Vespers at the Radu Vodă Monastery. At the end, palm branches were blessed and distributed to the faithful, who then began a procession to the Patriarchal Cathedral, reports the Basilica News Agency.
Photo: basilica.ro
The procession lasted about two hours, with a stop at the Church of St. Anthony in the historic center of Bucharest along the way.
The pilgrims were greeted on Patriarchate Hill by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel. He blessed and icon of the feast and delivered a word of instruction.
Pat. Daniel explained that Jesus Christ Himself regularly made pilgrimages to Jerusalem for Passover throughout His life. His final journey to Jerusalem occurred after raising Lazarus from the dead in Bethany. This miracle earned Jesus many followers but provoked the religious authorities to plot His death, effectively hastening His crucifixion.
Photo: basilica.ro
The Patriarch highlighted how both Eastern and Western Church Fathers (St. Cyril of Alexandria and Peter Chrysologus) viewed Lazarus’ resurrection as prefiguring the general resurrection at the end of time. Jesus intentionally raised someone who had begun to decompose to demonstrate His power over complete death.
Photo: basilica.ro
Regarding Jesus weeping at Lazarus’ tomb, the Romanian primate quoted St. Cyril’s interpretation that Christ wept not just for His friend but for all humanity’s fallen mortal condition. Jesus wept because death contradicts humanity’s original design for immortality, as humans were created in God’s image for eternal life, with death being a consequence of sin.
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