Orthodox Christians solemnly celebrated the feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem on 25 April 2021 in the principal church of the Diocese of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. The service was celebrated by the head of the Central Asian Metropolitan District, Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan. On the eve the All-Night Vigil with the blessing of willow branches was served there.
Concelebrating with His Eminence were Priest Vitaly Golban, Hieromonk Iov (Konnov), Protodeacon Alexander Nesin, Deacon Pyotr Gnatik and Deacon Luka Irgashev.
At the end of the Liturgy the magnification of the feast was sung, and Metropolitan Vikenty, having blessed the willow branches of everyone who came to church that day, addressed the worshippers with his customary archpastoral word:
"Our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the work of our salvation. For three and a half years He preached the Word of God, preached the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life. And by His miracles He showed the great divine power that He possessed, because He was not a mere man but the God-man. He directed these divine powers toward healing all manner of diseases, including raising people from the dead. We know that the Lord raised the son of the widow of Nain. Before His sufferings on the Cross He raised Lazarus, four days dead, who had already been in the tomb for four days and already showed the natural signs of decay. But even in that state the Lord worked a miracle and raised the righteous Lazarus. By this the Lord showed that He is the victor over death.
Today we carry these signs of victory over death, of victory over evil. Death is the consequence of sin; because of sin, because of the fall, death came to us. And our Lord Jesus Christ came to earth to deliver us from death and to grant us eternal blessed life. He shows beforehand the power of His Divinity, the power of victory over death, by raising the righteous Lazarus, and the people, rejoicing and triumphant, joyfully cast palm branches beneath His feet as a banner of victory over death.
Besides these signs of victory over death, on this day people should carry, together with the palms, lighted candles as a witness to the great grace of God from the Resurrection of Christ, which is revealed through the divine light that burns away all our sins and leads us into the Kingdom of God, where there is no darkness but unceasing light, the divine light that illumines everyone. And then no lights are needed any longer, neither sun, nor moon, nor stars, for Christ Himself is the source of the divine light. Therefore today we must carry the tokens of victory over death: the willow branches and the candles, which symbolize the divine light that illumines our path to the Kingdom of Heaven.
We marvel that today the veil of eternal life was opened before the rejoicing people, and they glorified Christ, who rode on a donkey, glorifying Him as King not only of earth but also of heaven. Or rather, they glorified the Heavenly King, for the Lord said, 'I am not of this world, and My Kingdom is not of this world'; therefore, enlightened by the light of divine grace, they saw in Him the Heavenly King. But this veil soon closed, and a couple of days later they were shouting, 'Crucify! Crucify Him!'
In our life too, dear brothers and sisters, there are such moments of enlightenment and illumination, when everything is clear and understandable to us. But our sinful darkness takes hold of us, and in that sinful darkness we again do evil deeds that crucify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ again and again. Therefore we need to preserve this state of today's rejoicing heart for as long as possible, so that we do not crucify Christ by our sins, as in times past the Jewish people first glorified Christ and then desired His death and crucifixion on the cross.
We need, enlightened by the grace of Christ, to be able to withstand all the temptations of this world and all the difficulties of earthly life, and, guided by the light of Christ the Savior, to walk this path of light, freeing ourselves from darkness and not going astray in earthly sinful deeds. We must live by God's commandments, which sanctify us and bring us closer to God. All this is the divine light; it is the joy, peace, glory and honor that Christ the Savior gives us. And we need to draw as close to Christ as possible in order to partake of this light, this inspiration, this divine illumination, so that nothing earthly and sinful can take hold of us and lead us astray.
Before us, dear brothers and sisters, lies Holy Week, in which we will suffer with Christ, be crucified with Christ and die with Christ in order to rise with Him. And so the coming week is a special one for us. We must enter deeply into the labors and feats of Christ the Savior, enter into His feat on the Cross, and grieve that our sins are the cause of His sufferings. But our repentance, our awareness of our sinfulness, our effort to amend our lives give us the chance to draw God's mercy upon us. The Lord is ready to forgive us and to grant us His mercy, blessing and the joy of our resurrection in soul, spirit and body, and our sanctification both in body and in spirit.
This is what we hope to receive precisely on the day of the Resurrection of Christ, which, with God's help, we will greet next Sunday. So let us prepare by prayer and a strict fast, let us prepare by repentance and attentiveness to ourselves and our life, so as to cast off everything sinful, everything that separates us from God, and let us do those good deeds that bring us closer to Christ, the source of mercy, goodness, light and forgiveness, and that make us partakers of the light of divine grace.
Dear brothers and sisters, I congratulate you all on the feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem! God grant that we may keep the joy of today's feast in our souls and in our lives, share this joy with all the people around us, and that this joy may bring us peace, harmony, love, mercy, and health of soul and body; that no illness may befall us, and that in the joy of our hearts we may glorify our Lord, the source of every blessing, every good, love, mercy and spiritual joy."
