with royal purple; He sat upon a humble colt, belonging to another, a small one, bringing with Him only twelve disciples. Whence then did the crowd know Him to be a king, unless it had received the revelation from above? For this reason they did not seek a worldly diadem on the Lord; for they knew Him to be reigning without beginning. They did not seek a purple robe; they were persuaded by the one who said: The Lord has reigned, He has clothed Himself with majesty. They did not seek a multitude of soldiers; for they were persuaded by the one who said: Ten thousand times ten thousand angels ministered to Him, and a thousand thousands of archangels stood before Him. They did not seek horses and chariots on the Lord; for they knew that He is the one who took up Elijah in a fiery chariot, and knowing the evangelic horses that followed Him, being persuaded by the prophet who said: Behind Him were red and white and dappled and ash-colored horses. Matthew is a red horse, as one who splendidly set forth the things of the Lord’s incarnation; Mark is an ash-colored horse, as one who wrote the gospel more floridly; Luke is a dappled horse, as one who set forth the things concerning the Lord more eloquently and variously; John is a white horse, as one who more brilliantly denounced every heresy. And Habakkuk called the apostles swift horses bringing the gospel to all the earth, saying: And you mounted your horses upon the sea, tropically calling the entire world the sea. They did not seek, then, on the Lord a chariot studded with gems, spread with purple, adorned with royal arms; for they knew that He possesses as a chariot the Cherubim and the Seraphim, the six-winged lamps, being persuaded by the one who said: You who are enthroned upon the Cherubim, shine forth. Therefore that Jerusalem crowd, having received the revelation from God, was not scandalized by the humble colt, but was strengthened by the Master’s presence. Therefore that faithful crowd only saw the Lord mounted on the colt, and being immediately pricked by prophetic sayings, taking up the palm branches the crowds said to one another: Why do we delay and not go out to meet the palm tree named in the Song of Songs? Let us then pluck the palm branches; for its fruit is full of immortality, its leaves are cures for the woman with the issue of blood, its trunk is the root of the cross. We have heard the church of the gentiles praising Him both as an intelligible palm tree and as a mighty king. Therefore, through the palm branches, let us too greet her, and through her the Master Christ. As the crowds were doing these things and praising the Lord, the chief priests and the Pharisees, being greatly vexed, rebuked the crowds, saying: What are you doing, why do you speak empty words, why are you being rash? Do you approach the son of the carpenter as a god? Do you offer palm branches to one who has nowhere to lay his head? Do you utter royal acclamations to one sitting on the colt of a donkey? Are not his father and his mother and all his brothers with us? Stop, lest the rash among you be condemned and punished. For we were sent for this reason, that we might mark the rash among you, in due time to pay the penalty for their audacity. The crowds, hearing the chief priests say these things, were not moved to a disturbance, since peace was present, but they answered them, with grace working with them: Do you blame us, O Pharisees, and threaten punishment as if we utter blasphemies? Who are worthy of punishment, you who read the scriptures and do not understand, or we who hear and hold fast? Are we in error offering palm branches to the Lord? Is He not the palm tree of righteousness? Did not the prophet cry out concerning Him: The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree? Did He not make the sight of the blind flourish? Not the return of the lame

πορφυροστρώτῳ βασιλικῷ· εὐτελεῖ πώλῳ ἐκαθέζετο, ἀλλοτρίῳ, μικρῷ, δώδεκα μαθητὰς μόνους ἐπαγόμενος. Πόθεν οὖν ὁ ὄχλος ἔγνω αὐτὸν βασιλέα τυγχάνειν, εἰ μὴ ἄνωθεν ἔλαβε τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν; ∆ιὸ καὶ οὐκ ἐζήτουν ἐπὶ τοῦ κυρίου διάδημα κοσμικόν· ᾔδεισαν γὰρ αὐτὸν ἀνάρχως βασιλεύοντα. Οὐκ ἐζήτουν ἁλουργίδα· ἐπείσθησαν τῷ εἰρηκότι· Ὁ κύριος ἐβασίλευσεν, εὐπρέπειαν ἐνεδύσατο. Οὐκ ἐζήτουν πλῆθος στρατιωτῶν· ἐπείσθησαν γὰρ τῷ εἰρηκότι· Μύριαι μυριάδες ἀγγέλων ἐλειτούργουν αὐτῷ, καὶ χίλιαι χιλιάδες ἀρχαγγέλων παρειστήκεισαν αὐτῷ. Οὐκ ἐζήτουν ἐπὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἵππους καὶ ἅρματα· ἐγνώριζον γὰρ ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ τὸν Ἡλίαν ἐν ἅρματι πυρίνῳ ἀναλαβών, καὶ τοὺς εὐαγγελικοὺς ἵππους παρακολουθοῦντας αὐτῷ γινώσκοντες, πεισθέντες τῷ εἰρηκότι προφήτῃ· Ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ ἵπποι πυρροὶ καὶ λευκοὶ καὶ ποικίλοι καὶ ψαροί. Πυρρὸς ἵππος Ματθαῖος, ὡς τὰ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ κυρίου λαμπρῶς ἐκθέμενος· ψαρὸς ἵππος Μάρκος, ὡς διανθέστερον τὸ εὐαγγέλιον γράψας· ποικίλος ἵππος Λουκᾶς, ὡς εὐγλωττότερον καὶ ποικιλώτερον τὰ κατὰ τὸν κύριον ἐκθέμενος· λευκὸς ἵππος Ἰωάννης, ὡς λευκότερον πᾶσαν αἵρεσιν στηλιτεύσας. Ἵππους δὲ ταχυδρόμους εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν τὸ εὐαγγέλιον κομίζοντας καὶ Ἁμβακοὺμ τοὺς ἀποστόλους ὠνόμασεν εἰπών· Καὶ ἐπεβίβασας εἰς θάλασσαν τοὺς ἵππους σου, θάλασσαν τροπικῶς τὸν ἅπαντα κόσμον καλέσας. Οὐκ ἐζήτουν οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦ κυρίου ὄχημα λιθοκόλλητον, πορφυρόστρωτον, βασιλικοῖς ὅπλοις διηνθισμένον· ᾔδεισαν γὰρ τὰ χερουβὶμ καὶ τὰ σεραφίμ, τὰς ἑξαπτερύγους λαμπάδας ὄχημα κεκτημένον, πεισθέντες τῷ εἰρηκότι· Ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῶν χερουβίμ, ἐμφάνηθι. Θεόθεν τοίνυν ὁ Ἱεροσολυμιτικὸς ἐκεῖνος ὄχλος τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν δεξάμενος οὐκ ἐσκανδαλίσθη ὑπὸ τοῦ εὐτελοῦς πώλου, ἀλλ' ἐνεδυναμώθη ὑπὸ τῆς δεσποτικῆς παρουσίας. ∆ιὸ μόνον εἶδε τὸν κύριον ἐπιβάντα τῷ πώλῳ ὁ πιστὸς ἐκεῖνος ὄχλος, εὐθέως προφητικαῖς προρρήσεσι νυγέντες, ἀναλαβόντες τὰ βαΐα τῶν φοινίκων ἔλεγον πρὸς ἀλλήλους οἱ ὄχλοι· Τί ἀργοῦμεν καὶ οὐκ ἐξερχόμεθα εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ φοίνικος ἐν τῷ Ἄισματι τῶν ᾀσμάτων ὀνομαζομένου; ∆ρεψώμεθα οὖν τὰ βαΐα τῶν φοινίκων· ὁ γὰρ καρπὸς αὐτοῦ ἀθανασίας πλήρης, τὰ φύλλα αὐτοῦ τῆς αἱμορροούσης ἰάματα, τὸ στέλεχος αὐτοῦ τὸ σταυριαῖον ῥίζωμα. Ἠκούσαμεν τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησίας καὶ ὡς φοίνικα νοητὸν καὶ ὡς βασιλέα κραταιὸν εὐφημούσης αὐτόν. ∆ιὰ τῶν βαΐων τοίνυν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀσπασώμεθα αὐτὴν καὶ δι' αὐτῆς τὸν δεσπότην Χριστόν. Ταῦτα τῶν ὄχλων διαπραττομένων καὶ τὸν κύριον εὐφημούντων, οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ φαρισαῖοι δριμυχθέντες σφόδρα, ἐπετίμουν τοῖς ὄχλοις λέγοντες· Τί ποιεῖτε, τί ματαιο λογεῖτε, τί προπετεύεσθε; Ὡς θεῷ τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ τέκτονος προσέρχεσθε; Βαΐα φοινίκων προσφέρετε τῷ μὴ ἔχοντι ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλῖναι; Βασιλικὰς φωνὰς βάλλετε τῷ ἐπὶ πώλῳ ὄνου καθεζομένῳ; Οὐχὶ ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ πάντες παρ' ἡμῖν εἰσιν; Παύσασθε μήπως κατακριθέντες οἱ ἐν ὑμῖν προπετεῖς κολασθήσονται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ἀπεστάλημεν, ὅπως τοὺς ἐν ὑμῖν προπετεῖς σημειωσώμεθα, εὐκαίρως δίκας τῆς τόλμης ἀποτιννύντας. Ταῦτα ἀκούσαντες οἱ ὄχλοι τῶν ἀρχιερέων λεγόντων οὐ κινοῦνται πρὸς στασιασμὸν τῆς εἰρήνης παρούσης, ἀποκρίνονται δὲ πρὸς αὐτοὺς τῆς χάριτος συνεργούσης· Μέμφεσθε ἡμῖν, ὦ φαρισαῖοι, καὶ κόλασιν ἀπειλεῖτε ὡς βλάσφημα προϊεμένοις; Τίνες κολάσεως ἄξιοι, ὑμεῖς οἱ τὰς γραφὰς ἀναγινώσκοντες καὶ μὴ νοοῦντες, ἢ ἡμεῖς οἱ ἀκούοντες καὶ κρατοῦντες; Σφαλλόμεθα βαΐα φοινίκων τῷ κυρίῳ προσφέροντες; Οὐκ αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης φοῖνιξ; Οὐ περὶ αὐτοῦ κέκραγεν ὁ προφήτης· ∆ίκαιος ὡς φοῖνιξ ἀνθήσει; Οὐκ αὐτὸς ἤνθησε τῶν τυφλῶν τὴν ἀνάβλεψιν; Οὐ χωλοῖς παλινδρομίαν