Sunday, 5 April 2026

Palm Sunday: Entrance of Our Lord into Jerusalem

7 days before Pascha · Major feast Lord · Lenten Fast (Fish, Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

Holy Martyr Pollio the Reader

304

The Holy Martyr Pollio (Pullio) was the chief reader (primicerius lectorum) of the church of Cibalae (modern Vinkovci) in the Roman province of Pannonia. He suffered for his confession of Christ in the year 304, in the great persecution of the emperor Diocletian, after his bishop, the holy hieromartyr Eusebius of Cibalae, had also been martyred. The acts of his passion (Passio Pollionis), composed in late antiquity in Pannonia, relate that the prefect Probus, on a tour of inspection of the Pannonian frontier, summoned Pollio and questioned him as to whether he was a Christian and what his office was. Pollio answered that he was a Christian and a reader of the divine Scriptures. Pressed to deny Christ and threatened with death by fire, he replied that he was ready to suffer all things rather than betray the truth, and so he was led outside the walls of the city and burnt alive on 28 April 304. Although his proper feast in the Hieronymian Martyrology is 28 April, in some Eastern synaxaria, including the calendar followed by the OCA for Pannonian and Sirmian martyrs, his memory is kept on 5 April with other holy martyrs of the western parts of the empire.

Holy Martyrs Agathopodes the Deacon and Theodulus the Reader

The Holy Martyrs Agathopodes (Agathopous) the Deacon and Theodulus (Theodoulos) the Reader of the church of Thessalonica suffered together in the persecution of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, around the year 303. Saint Agathopodes was a deacon of advanced years who had laboured long in the service of the altar; Saint Theodulus, by contrast, was very young, the son of devout parents who had dedicated him to God from childhood. From his youth he was a reader of the holy Scriptures in the assembly of the faithful.

The Life relates that Saint Theodulus saw in his sleep a man clothed in shining garments who placed in his hand a precious object; awakening, he found in his palm a beautiful ring engraved with the sign of the Cross, and understood that this was a token of his coming martyrdom. When the imperial edict of persecution was published (303), many fled or hid themselves, but the deacon and the reader continued openly to preach the Gospel. They were seized and brought before the eparch Faustinus.

Faustinus pressed them to sacrifice to the gods, alternately offering rewards and threatening tortures, but they answered with one voice, "We are Christians, and we are ready to suffer all things for Christ." Brought next morning before him a second time, they confessed Christ again, and the eparch ordered them to be cast into the sea with stones tied around their necks. As the wave bore Saint Agathopodes against the rocks he cried, "This shall be for us a second baptism, by which we shall be cleansed of our sins and shall come to Christ in purity." Saint Theodulus was likewise drowned. Their bodies were cast up upon the shore and buried by the Christians of Thessalonica. Their tomb in the church of Saints Agathopodes and Theodulus at Thessalonica became a place of healings.

Venerable Mark the Anchorite of Athens

Saint Mark the Anchorite was born at Athens, where in his youth he studied philosophy. After the death of his parents he distributed his inheritance to the poor and withdrew into Egypt, and from there into the deeper wilderness of Ethiopia, where he settled in a cave on Mount Trache (Tracian) above the sea. There he lived in absolute solitude for ninety-five years, seeing during all that time no human face, no beast and no bird. The first thirty years of his struggle were the most severe. Naked, he suffered from cold in winter and burning heat in summer; the desert plants served him for food, and at times he ate the dust and drank the bitter water of the sea. After this long battle the grace of God came upon him: angels brought him bread and water from above, and his hair grew long and clothed his body, sheltering him from the elements. In his old age he was sought out by the elder Abba Serapion, the disciple of Saint Antony, who came to him in the desert by divine prompting. As Mark spoke with Serapion of the wonders of faith, the mountain on which they stood moved more than five thousand cubits towards the sea; Saint Mark gently rebuked it, saying that he had not commanded it to leave its place but was only conversing with his brother, and at his word the mountain returned. He communed Mark of the Holy Mysteries (which were brought by an angel), and an angel-borne loaf of bread was set before them. Saint Mark, after revealing to Serapion that this was the day of his joy, raised his hands in prayer and reposed at the age of one hundred and thirty years, around the year 400. Serapion saw his soul received by angels into heaven, and lions came and dug a grave for him with their paws.

Venerable Theodora of Thessalonica

Saint Theodora of Thessalonica (812 to 892), known in the world as Agape, was born on the island of Aegina, the third child of the priest Anthony and his wife Chrysanthe. Saracen raids forced the family to flee to Thessalonica, where Agape, having lost her husband and two of her three children at a young age, distributed her belongings to the poor and entered the Monastery of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr. There she received the great schema with the name Theodora, and lived in obedience, fasting and silence for fifty-five years. The longest hagiography ever written in Byzantium of a holy woman, composed shortly after her repose by the priest Gregory of Thessalonica, records her ascetic struggles, her meekness and her gift of tears. She was renowned for hiding her virtues from her sisters, for performing the lowliest tasks of the convent and for spending whole nights in prayer. She reposed in peace on 29 August 892. A year after her repose myrrh began to flow from her tomb and from her icon, healing the sick. The convent was renamed for her. The OCA synaxarion and several Slavonic and Antiochian usages keep her memory on 5 April; this commemorates the wonders worked at her tomb and especially the streaming of myrrh from her icon during the rebuilding of her monastery, which began on this date. Her primary feast in the Greek tradition remains 29 August.

Our Holy Father Mark of Trache

c. 400

He is also called ‘Mark the Athenian’ because he was born in Athens. When his parents died, he pondered the transience of all earthly things, gave his goods to the poor, and embarked on a plank in the sea, asking God to lead him wherever He desired. By God’s providence, Mark was cast up on the shores of Libya, where he settled as a hermit on a mountain called Trache. (Some say it was in Ethiopia, but this seems less likely.) There he lived for ninety-five years, never seeing another human being. Saint Serapion visited him before his death and recorded his life. Serapion asked Mark if there were any Christians whose faith was so great that they could say to a mountain ‘Get up and cast yourself into the sea,’ and it would be so. Immediately the mountain on which they stood began to move like a wave, but Mark raised his hand and stilled it. On his deathbed, St Mark prayed for the salvation of all men and gave up his soul to God. Saint Serapion saw an angel carrying Mark’s soul, and a hand extended from heaven to receive it. Saint Mark was about 130 years old when he reposed.

Also commemorated: Martyrs Agathopedes, Theodulus and Their Companions

Daily readings

Epistle

weekly cycle

Philippians — Philippians 4.4-9

⁴Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. ⁵Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. ⁶Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. ⁷And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. ⁸Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. ⁹Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Gospel

weekly cycle

John — John 12.1-18

¹Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. ²There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. ³Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. ⁴Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, ⁵Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? ⁶This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. ⁷Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. ⁸For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always. ⁹Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.

¹⁰But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; ¹¹Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.

¹²On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, ¹³Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. ¹⁴And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, ¹⁵Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt. ¹⁶These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. ¹⁷The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record. ¹⁸For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.

Vespers

Genesis — Genesis 49.1-2, 8-12

¹And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. ²Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

⁸Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. ⁹Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? ¹⁰The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. ¹¹Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: ¹²His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

Vespers

Zephaniah — Zephaniah 3.14-19

¹⁴Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. ¹⁵The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. ¹⁶In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. ¹⁷The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. ¹⁸I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. ¹⁹Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.

Vespers

Zechariah — Zechariah 9.9-15

⁹Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. ¹⁰And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. ¹¹As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.

¹²Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee; ¹³When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. ¹⁴And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. ¹⁵The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar.

Matins Gospel

Matthew — Matthew 21.1-11, 15-17

¹And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, ²Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. ³And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. ⁴All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, ⁵Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. ⁶And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, ⁷And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. ⁸And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. ⁹And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. ¹⁰And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? ¹¹And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. ¹⁵And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, ¹⁶And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

¹⁷And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.