NEW YORK – On the Saturday of Lazarus, the students of Holy Cross Greek Afternoon School, GOYA, JOY, and Girl Scouts attended a palm cross-making event after the Divine Liturgy.
Fr. Dionysios Anagnostopoulos attended the event as did Greek Afternoon School Principal Christina Makridis to teach the young people how to make the traditional palm crosses distributed to the faithful on Palm Sunday. Hundreds of palm crosses were made, some with a little help from the teachers and parents in attendance at the event.
The children enjoyed the learning experience and look forward to making palm crosses next year. Effie Andreou, mother of twins Constantia and Barbara, said the event was “a great thing for the kids,” noting that they were excited about participating in Palm Sunday in this way, learning about their faith, traditions, and the meaning of the holiday.
Palm Sunday was celebrated throughout the world on April 9. The attacks in Egypt added a solemnity to the day as Christians attended services commemorating the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the start of Holy Week. After the Divine Liturgy, many churches offered a luncheon featuring the traditional bakaliaro and skordalia.
The Gospel Reading for Palm Sunday is from John 12:1-18.
Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazaros was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Lazaros was one of those at table with him. Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it. Jesus said, “Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came, not only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazaros, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazaros also to death, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
The next day a great crowd who had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” His disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of him and had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazaros out of the tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.
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