Слово в неделю Ваий. Св. Амвросия, епископа Медиоланского

You have now gathered to church with great, contrary to usual, zeal, and are joyfully carrying tree branches in your hands. But since, without knowing the purpose and meaning of what you are doing, you will be left without benefit, then I consider it necessary to repeat the Gospel read today. It said that our Savior, entering Jerusalem, five days before His suffering, sat on a donkey on the Mount of Olives - and that the people, hearing about His procession, came out to meet Him with date branches, and when they began to approach the foot of the mountain, those accompanying Him began to praise God with joy. After this, until the evening of Thursday, when the Lord was betrayed after supper, He taught the people every day in the church, and spent the nights on the Mount of Olives. Here, first of all, it is necessary to note the day on which Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem. It was the tenth day of the month on which the Passover lamb was chosen, which the Israelites slain on the fourteenth day of the month; consequently, Christ, the true Lamb, who was to receive the crucifixion at the heel, entered Jerusalem on the day on which the representative lamb was chosen. Further, the Holy Church, this tender mother of ours, commands us, following the example of those who met Jesus Christ then, to spread clothes along His path and cut tree branches - only in a spiritual way. Now the donkey is replaced by every righteous soul: on it the Lord now enters Jerusalem when, dwelling in our souls, arouses in them aversion from the world and love for the heavenly fatherland. You spread your clothes along the way before the Lord when, preparing the way for Him to come to you, you pacify your bodies with abstinence; and you will receive branches from the trees if, having loved the virtues of the saints, you prepare the Lord’s way to you: for what else were Abraham, Joseph, David, and other righteous people, if not the fruitful trees of the Church of God? Therefore, if you want to achieve eternal salvation, then learn obedience from Abraham, chastity from Joseph, humility from David; and since the date is a sign of victory, we will rightly hold date branches in our hands when, singing songs of victory, we try to defeat the devil with a virtuous life; because it is in vain that he holds date branches in his hands, whom the devil overcomes with flattery. Finally, know that we act badly when we do not proclaim to you the mysteries of our Savior: so you also act badly if you do not respect them properly. Therefore, the closer the Easter holiday approaches, the more you try to prepare yourself by cleansing yourself from hatred, envy, slander, blasphemy and quarrels, so that you can celebrate the day of the Lord worthily. So forgive those who have sinned against you, so that the Lord may forgive you your sins. He will desecrate Easter who harbors hatred, even against one person: because such a one through communion will not live with Peter, but will die with Judas - from which may our Lord Jesus Christ, who created and redeemed us, who lives with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever, deliver you. Amen 157. See Biblioth. Patr. Concionator. Parisiis. 1662 ann. tom. III, p. p. 385–386; Wed “Sunday Reading” IХ (1845–1846), country. 468–469. You might be interested in: