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they cry out and say: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” As the evangelist says: “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: Tell the daughter of Zion.” To whom do you say “Tell,” O prophet? Behold, you are preaching, behold, you are speaking. “I,” he says, “desired to see and to hear, not I alone but also many prophets and righteous men.” But also to those who are found and are disciples, seeing and hearing the king of Zion, I speak, so that they might say and proclaim: “Tell the daughter of Zion: Behold, your king comes to you.” And he did not say simply “he comes,” but “he comes to you,” that is, to become yours and to dwell in you. “Behold, your king comes to you, just and saving,” saving from the slavery of the enemy those who believe in Him.

11 “Meek and riding on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden,” that is, humble-minded and in his humility “destroying the chariots of the kingdom of Ephraim,” that is, of the devil who reigned over Israel and over the nations. And He destroyed, according to the letter, also the kingdom of the Jewish people; for until Christ came the anointing and the kingdom of the Jews, and it ceased. “And the horse,” it says, “from Jerusalem,” that is, all the pride of their rule, through His humble colt. But the patriarch Jacob, blessing Judah and revealing the blessing which was to his fathers Abraham and Isaac, which is Christ, says: “Binding his colt to the vine”. For to the vine transplanted from Egypt, which filled all the earth with the teaching of its prophets and righteous men, he bound the unclean nations; for the colt is unclean in the law, so also are the nations. “Binding his colt to the vine.” Why? So that they might receive from it the law and the prophets and the knowledge of God in them, that is, Christ, who is the blessing and purification of the nations. For it says: “And to the tendril the foal of his ass,” by tendril, that is, the shoot from the vine, who is Christ, having sprouted from the vine of the synagogue from Egypt, just as Jacob himself says to him: “From a shoot, my son, you have gone up.” And the nations were bound in him without chains.

12 Therefore, let us also be bound to Christ without chains. If we strive at all to be saved and to benefit from His feasts, He Himself will raise us up with Lazarus from our dead works, those done without Him. Thus let us dine with Him in Bethany, which is interpreted as the house of obedience, so let us fittingly gather our thoughts from the captivity of forgetfulness with the senses of the body, crying out and saying: “Hosanna in the highest; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” to enter into His own Jerusalem, not to suffer as then, but to save it and be glorified by it, as David addresses it, saying: “Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion.” A second time he said: “praise” and “praise” with soul and body, “for he has strengthened the bars of your gates,” which are faith, hope, love, meditation, long-suffering, patience. “He has blessed your sons within you,” who are the faithful infants who received the Lord with branches, that is, with new fruits, those who suckle the milk of the teaching of Christ; for believing in Him they immediately praise, hymn, glorify, as it is written: “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise.” Let us become a holy vehicle for Him instead of an unclean colt, so that He may mount upon us. Let us yoke to him the chariot of our thoughts, “and he shall reign” over us “forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

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κράζουσι καὶ λέγουσιν· «Ὠσαννὰ τῷ υἱῷ ∆αυίδ· εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου· Ὠσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις.» Ὡς ὁ εὐαγγελιστής φησιν· «Τοῦτο δὲ ὅλον γέγονεν, ἵνα πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος· Εἴπατε τῇ θυγατρὶ Σιών.» Τίσι λέγεις «Εἴπατε», ὦ προφῆτα; Ἰδοὺ σὺ κηρύττεις, ἰδοὺ σὺ λέγεις. Ἐγώ, φησίν, ἐπεθύμουν ἰδεῖν καὶ ἀκοῦσαι, οὐκ ἐγὼ μόνος ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλοὶ προφῆται καὶ δίκαιοι. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς εὑρισκομένοις καὶ μαθητευομένοις, θεωροῦντας καὶ ἀκούοντας τοῦ βασιλέως Σιὼν λέγω, ἵνα εἴπωσιν καὶ κηρύξωσιν· «Εἴπατε τῇ θυγατρὶ Σιών· Ἰδοὺ ὁ βασιλεύς σου ἔρχεταί σοι.» Καὶ οὐκ εἶπε ψιλῶς «ἔρχεται», ἀλλ' «ἔρχεταί σοι», τουτέστι σοῦ γενέσθαι καὶ ἐν σοὶ οἰκῆσαι. «Ἰδοὺ ὁ βασιλεύς σου ἔρχεταί σοι, δίκαιος καὶ σῴζων», σῴζων ἀπὸ τῆς δουλείας τοῦ ἐχθροῦ τοὺς πιστεύοντας ἐπ' αὐτόν.

11 «Πραῢς καὶ ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ πῶλον, υἱὸν ὑποζυγίου», τουτέστι ταπεινόφρων καὶ ἐν τῇ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ αὐτοῦ «ἐξολοθρεύων τὰ ἅρματα τῆς βασιλείας Ἐφραΐμ», τουτέστι τοῦ διαβόλου ὃς ἐβασίλευσεν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ἔθνη. Ἐξωλόθρευσε δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὸ γράμμα καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ λαοῦ τῶν Ἰουδαίων· μέχρι γὰρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἦλθεν τὸ χρῖσμα καὶ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ ἐπαύθη. «Καὶ ἵππον», φησίν, «ἐξ Ἰερουσαλήμ», τουτέστι πᾶσαν τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν τῆς αὐτῶν ἀρχῆς, διὰ τοῦ ταπεινοῦ αὐτοῦ πώλου. Ὁ δὲ πατριάρχης Ἰακώβ, εὐλογῶν τὸν Ἰούδαν καὶ ἐκφαίνων τὴν εὐλογίαν τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας αὐτοῦ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαάκ, ἥτις ἐστὶν ὁ Χριστός, λέγει· «∆εσμεύων πρὸς ἄμπελον τὸν πῶλον αὐτοῦ». Πρὸς γὰρ τὴν ἄμπελον τὴν μεταστᾶσαν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, τὴν πληρώσασαν πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἀπὸ τῆς διδαχῆς τῶν προφητῶν αὐτῆς καὶ δικαίων, ἐδέσμευσε τὰ ἀκάθαρτα ἔθνη· ὁ γὰρ πῶλος ἀκάθαρτός ἐστιν ἐν τῷ νόμῳ, οὕτω καὶ τὰ ἔθνη. «∆εσμεύων πρὸς ἄμπελον τὸν πῶλον αὐτοῦ.» ∆ιὰ τί; Ἵνα δέξωνται παρ' αὐτῆς τὸν νόμον καὶ τοὺς προφήτας καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτοῖς θεογνωσίαν, τουτέστι τὸν Χριστόν, ὅς ἐστιν εὐλογία τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ κάθαρσις. Φησὶ γάρ· «Καὶ τῇ ἕλικι τὸν πῶλον τῆς ὄνου αὐτοῦ», ἕλικι τουτέστι τὸ βλάστημα τὸ ἐξ ἀμπέλου, ὅς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός, ἐξ ἀμπέλου τῆς συναγωγῆς τῆς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου βλαστήσας, καθὼς αὐτὸς ὁ Ἰακώβ φησι πρὸς αὐτόν· «Ἐκ βλαστοῦ, υἱέ μου, ἀνέβης.» Καὶ ἐδεσμεύθησαν τὰ ἔθνη ἐν αὐτῷ ἀλύτως.

12 Οὐκοῦν δεσμευθῶμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν ἀλύτως. Ἐὰν ὅλως ἀγωνιζώμεθα τοῦ σωθῆναι καὶ ὠφεληθῆναι ἀπὸ τῶν ἑορτῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ αὐτὸς συνεγερεῖ ἡμᾶς τῷ Λαζάρῳ ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν ἡμῶν ἔργων, τῶν χωρὶς αὐτοῦ γενομένων. Οὕτω συνδειπνῶμεν αὐτῷ ἐν τῇ Βηθανίᾳ, ἥτις ἑρμηνεύεται οἶκος τῆς ὑπακοῆς, οὕτως ἁρμοδίως συνάγωμεν τοὺς λογισμοὺς ἡμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τῆς λήθης μετὰ τῶν αἰσθητηρίων τοῦ σώματος, κράζοντες καὶ λέγοντες· «Ὠσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις· εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου», εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ Ἰερουσαλήμ, οὐ διὰ τὸ παθεῖν ὥσπερ τότε, ἀλλ' ἵνα σώσῃ αὐτὴν καὶ δοξασθῇ ὑπ' αὐτῆς, καθὼς προσφωνεῖ αὐτῇ ∆αυὶδ λέγων· «Ἐπαίνει, Ἰερουσαλήμ, τὸν κύριον· αἴνει τὸν θεόν σου, Σιών.» ∆εύτερον εἶπεν: «ἐπαίνει» καὶ «αἴνει» ψυχῇ καὶ σώματι, «ὅτι ἐνίσχυσε τοὺς μοχλοὺς τῶν πυλῶν σου», οἵτινές εἰσι πίστις, ἐλπίς, ἀγάπη, μελέτη, μακροθυμία, ὑπομονή. «Εὐλόγησε τοὺς υἱούς σου ἐν σοί», οἵτινές εἰσι τὰ πιστὰ νήπια τὰ δεξάμενα τὸν κύριον μετὰ τῶν κλάδων, τουτέστι μετὰ καρπῶν νέων, τὰ θηλάζοντα τὸ γάλα τῆς διδασκαλίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ· πιστεύοντες γὰρ εἰς αὐτὸν εὐθέως αἰνοῦσιν, ὑμνοῦσιν, δοξολογοῦσιν, καθὼς γέγραπται· «Ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον.» Γενώμεθα αὐτῷ ὄχημα ἅγιον ἀντὶ ἀκαθάρτου πώλου, ἵνα ἐπιβῇ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς. Ζεύξωμεν αὐτῷ τὸ ἅρμα τῶν λογισμῶν ἡμῶν, «καὶ βασιλεύσει» ἐφ' ἡμᾶς «εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, καὶ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔσται τέλος.»