The Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem. Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Abastumani, Georgia. Northern wall. 1904. Artist: M.Nesterov.
Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He who comes in the name of the lord!
The author, 
Polycarp (Dr. Rohan) NehamaiyahNehamaiyah, Polycarp (Dr. Rohan)
“>Polycarp Polycarp (Dr. Rohan) NehamaiyahNehamaiyah, Polycarp (Dr. Rohan)”>(Dr. Rohan) Nehamaiyah, formerly an Anglican bishop, is a member of the Orthodox Church of India, Moscow Patriarchate, living in Chandrapur, India.
This is the day when our God Jesus Christ The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem: icons and frescoesThe source for the iconography of the Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem is the Gospels, where it is related how Christ enters the city seated on the foal of an ass, accompanied by His disciples on the eve of the Judaic Passover, were He will be betrayed to be crucified. The image of the Savior seated on the foal is well known even in early Christian art.
“>entered into Jerusalem. When we see the Life of Jesus Christ, we see that He never wanted to increase the spite of His opponents, therefore, He often avoided direct and open confrontation with them, but this was the first time He confronted them straight forwardly. He also never wanted glory, never wanted people to pay Him honor or bow down before him. That’s why whenever He healed someone, He said do not tell anyone, instead go and show to the Priest, but this was the first time when Jesus Christ chose to enter into Jerusalem with glory. This time, the Christ did not turn away from fame and glory, never before did so many people surround Him, and had His Name been pronounced with such delight and hope. Therefore, we can see how Christ answered His opponents and accepted glorification when pharisees said to Him that He stop the disciples from singing his praises, the Lord answered, “I tell you that, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40)
The number of believers in Christ had already grown, but many people wanted to see Him and glorify Him because Christ Lazarus Saturday
“>raised righteous Lazarus from death. While enjoying glorification, the Lord Jesus Christ was not able to express joy, because He was mourning for Jerusalem, for the chosen people of God who were bringing a curse upon themselves from God, those people who today were crying “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:38) and who, just after a few days, will cry out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! His blood be on us and on our children.” (Matthew 27: 22, 23 & 25)
Why did so many people come to meet Jesus Christ? The answer is simple. Whenever people hear about the popularity of any non-Orthodox pastor or non-Christian baba [guru], that he performs miracles or gives a very good message, then people go to meet him with their own expectations. As their popularity decreases, people do not want to meet him. When people come according to their expectations and when their expectations are not fulfilled, then they return to their original state. A wonderful miracle wrought by our Lord God Jesus Christ was when He had resurrected His friend Lazarus from the dead, one who already died four days previous, and hearing of this all people of Jerusalem and the surrounding area came to meet the Great Miracle-worker. Obviously! Our Lord is not like a so-called pastor or baba. People expected that the Lord Jesus Christ would free them from the slavery of the Romans, but their expectations were wrong, because Christ came to give us freedom from the slavery of sin and death, not from the Romans. Because they came with wrong expectations, they left Christ. At times some of us have the same burning desire that the crowd had, and we sincerely run to meet such type of person, but after knowing and recognizing True Saviour Jesus Christ and His Orthodox Church we go astray, and it is frightening. Today, we are in the crowd who glorify our God, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” or we will say after few days, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! His blood be on us and on our children.” Therefore, now we have to ask ourselves the question, “Where do I stand? Who am I in this crowd? Judas, who betrayed Him? Peter, who denied Him three times? The other disciples, who were sleeping three times while Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane? Those Disciples who fled? A Pharisee? A Scribe? Or John and the Mother of God (Theotokos) who were with Him and loved Him, who feared nothing and were ready to share in everything with Him.
This is a historical event, but it also has a spiritual meaning. Jerusalem signifies the human soul, and the entry of the Lord into Jerusalem signifies the entrance of God into the soul. So, we are fasting from all types of sins, we are purifying ourselves by the power our Lord, so that our Lord God Jesus Christ would enter into our heart, into our soul, which is the spiritual Jerusalem. We Orthodox People are not influenced by any miracle-workers or seers; now we are stable, we have received Orthodox Teaching, we are in the True Church of God. Now we are in the Orthodox Church, which is the one undivided body of Jesus Christ; now we are with God. In this season, we fasted from all types of sin, we purified our hearts and souls. May our good God bless and save us, as well as every individual Orthodox Christian, and enter into our hearts and souls. Amen!
Source: Orthodox Christianity