John Chrysostom, On Palm Sunday

addressing Him as Savior and King and Lord. Whence it is surely clear to all that they received the revelation from above.

For if they had not received it from above, how did the crowd know the Lord was a king? He did not wear the diadem of an earthly king, nor was He clothed in purple, nor did a host of soldiers attend Him, nor did horses and chariots and 61.716 gold-inlaid shields run before Him, nor did He ride in a purple-draped royal chariot; but He was seated on a small, borrowed colt, bringing only twelve disciples. How then did the crowd know Him to be a king, if it had not received the revelation from above? Therefore they did not look for an earthly diadem on the Lord; for they knew He reigned without beginning; they did not look for a purple robe; for they beheld Him putting on light as a garment; they did not look around for a host of soldiers, being persuaded by the prophet who said: Ten thousand times ten thousand ministered to Him, and a thousand thousands of archangels stood by Him; they did not look for horses and chariots; for they knew that it is He who took up Elijah in a chariot of fire; and knowing the evangelists followed Him like horses, being persuaded by the prophet who said: This is Zechariah who said that behind Him were white horses, and red, and dappled, and ash-grey. The white horse is Matthew, as he set forth more clearly the things of the Lord’s incarnation; the ash-grey horse is Mark, who wrote the Gospel more colorfully; the dappled horse is Luke, as he set forth the things concerning the Lord more eloquently and variously; the red horse is John, who flashed the divinity of Christ to the apostles like a flash of fire. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And the prophet Habakkuk also named the apostles swift horses who carried the Gospel to all the earth, saying: And you mounted your horses upon the sea; tropically calling the whole world the sea. They did not look for a vehicle on the Lord that was jewel-encrusted, purple-draped, fitted out with royal arms; for they knew the Cherubim and the Seraphim, the six-winged lamps, spurred on as a vehicle, being persuaded by the one who said: You who are seated upon the Cherubim, appear. Therefore, that faithful crowd of Jerusalem, having received the revelation from God, was not scandalized by the humble colt, but was strengthened by the Lord's presence. Therefore, as soon as they saw the Lord mounted on the colt, immediately spurred by prophetic predictions, taking up the palm branches, the crowds said to one another: Why do we wait, and not go out to meet the spiritual palm tree, holding the branches of the palm trees? Its fruit is full of sweetness and immortality; its leaves are healing for the world; its trunk, that is, the wood of the cross, is the salvation of the whole world, and a trophy of the victory over the devil. We have heard the Church from among us crying out in the Song of Songs: I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of its branches. Let us anticipate the Church of the Gentiles, and let us greet Him as a spiritual palm tree, and as a mighty king.

As the crowds were saying and doing these things, and praising the Lord, the chief priests and Pharisees, being greatly vexed, rebuked the crowds, saying: What are you doing, what nonsense are you speaking, you most rash people? Do you approach the son of the carpenter as God, holding palm branches? Do you call him Lord who has nowhere to lay his head? Do you bestow royal titles on one seated on the colt of a donkey? Are not his father and his mother with us? Cease, you most rash people, or else you will be punished. For we have been sent for this purpose, that we might take note of the most rash among you, who are paying the penalty for their boldness. When the crowds heard the chief priests saying these things, they were not moved to sedition, but they answered

Σωτῆρα καὶ βασι λέα καὶ Κύριον προσαγορεύοντες. Ὅθεν παντί που δῆ λον, ὅτι ἄνωθεν ἐδέξαντο τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν.

Εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἄνωθεν ἐδέξαντο, πόθεν ἐγνώριζεν ὁ ὄχλος βασιλέα τὸν Κύριον; Οὐκ ἐφόρει διάδημα βασιλέως κοσμικοῦ, οὔτε περιεβέβλητο ἁλουργίδα, οὐκ ἐπεφέρετο πλῆθος στρα τοῦ, οὐ προέτρεχον αὐτῷ ἵπποι καὶ ἅρματα καὶ ἀσπίδες 61.716 χρυσοκόλλητοι, οὐκ ἐπωχεῖτο ἅρματι πορφυροστρώτῳ βασιλικῷ· πώλῳ δὲ ἐπεκάθητο ἀλλοτρίῳ μικρῷ, δώδεκα μαθητὰς μόνους ἐπαγόμενος. Πόθεν οὖν ἔγνω ὁ ὄχλος αὐτὸν βασιλέα τυγχάνειν, εἰ μὴ ἄνωθεν ἔλαβε τὴν ἀπο κάλυψιν; ∆ιὸ οὐκ ἐζήτουν ἐπὶ τοῦ Κυρίου διάδημα κο σμικόν· ἔγνωσαν γὰρ αὐτὸν ἀνάρχως βασιλεύοντα· οὐκ ἐζήτουν ἁλουργίδα· ἐθεώρουν γὰρ αὐτὸν ἀναβαλλόμενον φῶς, ὡς ἱμάτιον· οὐ περιεβλέποντο πλῆθος στρατιωτῶν, πεισθέντες τῷ εἰρηκότι προφήτῃ· Μύριαι μυριάδες ἐλειτούργουν αὐτῷ, καὶ χίλιαι χιλιάδες ἀρχαγγέλων παρειστήκεισαν αὐτῷ· οὐκ ἐπεζήτουν ἵππους καὶ ἅρ ματα· ἐγνώρισαν γὰρ ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ τὸν Ἠλίαν ἐν ἅρματι πυρίνῳ ἀναλαβών· καὶ τοὺς εὐαγγελιστὰς καθά περ ἵππους παρακολουθοῦντας αὐτῷ γινώσκοντες, πει σθέντες τῷ εἰρηκότι προφήτῃ· Ζαχαρίας δὲ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ εἰπὼν, ὅτι Ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ ἵπποι λευκοὶ, καὶ πυῤῥοὶ, καὶ ποικίλοι, καὶ ψαροί. Λευκὸς ἵππος Ματθαῖος, ὡς τὰ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Κυρίου σαφέστερον ἐκθέμενος· ψαρὸς ἵππος ὁ Μάρκος, ὃς διανθέστερον τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον ἔγραψε· ποικίλος ἵππος ὁ Λουκᾶς, ὡς εὐγλωττοτέρως καὶ ποικίλως τὰ κατὰ Κύριον ἐκθέμενος· πυῤῥὸς ἵππος Ἰωάννης, ὁ τὴν θεότητα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καθάπερ ἀστρα πὴ πυρὸς, τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἐκλάμψας. Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος.

Ἵππους δὲ ταχυδρόμους εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον κομίσαντας, καὶ ὁ προφήτης Ἀμβακοὺμ τοὺς ἀποστόλους ὠνόμασε λέγων· Καὶ ἐπεβίβασας εἰς θάλασσαν τοὺς ἵππους σου· θάλασσαν τροπικῶς τὸν ἅπαντα κόσμον καλέσας. Οὐκ ἐζήτουν ἐπὶ τοῦ Κυρίου ὄχημα λιθοκόλλητον, πορφυρόστρωτον, βασιλικοῖς ὅπλοις διηθυσμένον· ᾔδεισαν γὰρ τὰ Χερουβὶμ καὶ τὰ Σεραφὶμ, τὰς ἑξαπτέρυγας λαμπάδας, ὄχημα κεντούμενα, πεισθέν τες τῷ εἰρηκότι· Ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῶν Χερουβὶμ ἐμφάνηθι. Θεόθεν τοίνυν ὁ Ἱεροσολυμικὸς ἐκεῖνος πιστὸς ὄχλος τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν δεξάμενος, οὐκ ἐσκανδαλίσθη ὑπὸ τοῦ εὐτελοῦς πώλου, ἀλλ' ἐνεδυναμώθη ὑπὸ τῆς ∆εσπο τικῆς παρουσίας. ∆ιὸ ὡς μόνον εἶδον τὸν Κύριον ἐπι βάντα τῷ πώλῳ, εὐθέως προφητικαῖς προῤῥήσεσι νυχθέντες, ἀναλαβόντες τὰ βαΐα τῶν φοινίκων, ἔλεγον πρὸς ἀλλήλους οἱ ὄχλοι· Τί ἀναμένομεν, καὶ οὐκ ἐξερ χόμεθα εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ νοητοῦ φοίνικος, κρατοῦντες τὰ βαΐα τῶν φοινίκων; Ὁ καρπὸς αὐτοῦ γλυκάσματος καὶ ἀθανασίας πλήρης· τὰ φύλλα αὐτοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἰάματα· τὸ στέλεχος αὐτοῦ, τουτέστι, τὸ ξύλον τοῦ σταυροῦ, τοῦ κόσμου παντὸς σωτηρία, καὶ τρόπαιον τῆς κατὰ τοῦ διαβόλου νίκης. Ἠκούσαμεν τῆς ἐξ ἡμῶν Ἐκκλησίας ἐν τοῖς Ἄσμασι τῶν ᾀσμάτων βοώσης· Ἀναβήσομαι ἐπὶ τοῦ φοίνικος, κρατήσω τῶν κλάδων αὐ τοῦ. Προλάβωμεν τὴν ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ ὡς φοίνικα νοητὸν, καὶ ὡς βασιλέα κραταιὸν ἀσπασώ μεθα.

Ταῦτα τῶν ὄχλων λεγόντων καὶ διαπραττομένων, καὶ τὸν Κύριον εὐφημούντων, οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι δριμυχθέντες σφόδρα ἐπετίμων τοῖς ὄχλοις λέγοντες· Τί ποιεῖτε, τί ματαιολογεῖτε προπετέστατοι; ὡς Θεῷ τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ τέκτονος προσέρχεσθε τὰ βαΐα κρατοῦντες; Κύριον ὀνομάζετε τὸν μὴ ἔχοντα ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλῖ ναι; βασιλικὰς φωνὰς περιβάλλετε τῷ ἐπὶ πώλῳ ὄνου καθεζομένῳ; οὐχὶ ὁ Πατὴρ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ παρ' ἡμῖν εἰσι; Παύσασθε, προπετέστατοι, εἰ δὲ μή γε, κολασθήσεσθε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ἀπεστάλημεν, ὅπως τοὺς ἐν ὑμῖν προπετεστάτους σημειωσώμεθα, δίκας τῇ τόλμῃ ἀποτιννύντας. Ταῦτα ἀκούσαντες οἱ ὄχλοι τῶν ἀρχιερέων λεγόντων, οὐ κινοῦνται μὲν πρὸς στάσιν, ἀποκρίνονται δὲ