Believers celebrate Palm Sunday around the world
Believers from several denominations gather from Paris to St. Petersburg to Ethiopia to celebrate Palm Sunday, marking one week until Easter, on April 13.
- An Georgian Orthodox believer holds pussy-willow branches to mark the celebration of Palm Sunday in a cathedral in the Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, on April 13, 2014. (Viktor Drachevvano Shlamov/AFP/Getty Images)
- Greek Orthodox priests carry palm branches during the Palm Sunday celebrations at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City on April 13, 2014. The ceremony is a landmark in the Christian calendar, marking the triumphant return of Christ to Jerusalem the week before his death, when a cheering crowd greeted him waving palm leaves.(Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)
- Orthodox Christians create palm leaf ornaments during the Palm Sunday service on April 13, 2014 in Cairo, as Christians celebrate the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem when a cheering crowd greeted him waving palm leaves the week before his death. (Mohamed El-Shahed/AFP/Getty Images)
- An Orthodox priest blesses believers during a Palm Sunday service outside a church in Kiev, April 13, 2014. Palm Sunday commemorates Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem a week before his crucifixion. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)
- Children take part in a religious procession to mark Palm Sunday in St. Petersburg April 13, 2014. More than 2000 children from Orthodox religious schools, cadets of the Suvorov military school and the Nakhimov naval school took part in a religious procession and a liturgy at St. Isaac’s Cathedral. Palm Sunday commemorates Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem a week before his crucifixion. (Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters)
- A priest, accompanied by altar boys, carries a palm branch on April 13, 2014 during Palm sunday celebrations in the center of Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The ceremony is a landmark in the Christian calendar, marking the triumphant return of Christ to Jerusalem the week before his death, when a cheering crowd greeted him waving palm leaves.(Ludovic Marin/ AFP/Getty Images)
- Orthodox Christians receive communion during the Palm Sunday service on April 13, 2014 in Cairo, to celebrate the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem when a cheering crowd greeted him waving palm leaves the week before his death. (Mohamed El-Shahed/AFP/Getty Images)
- Orthodox Christians attend the Palm Sunday service on April 13, 2014 in Cairo, to celebrate the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem when a cheering crowd greeted him waving palm leaves the week before his death. (Mohamed El-Shahed/AFP/Getty Images)
- A girl jumps on the papamobile to hug Pope Francis at the end of the Palm Sunday celebrations at St Peter’s square on April, 2014 at the Vatican. (Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images)
- Pope Francis waves after leading the Palm Sunday mass at Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican April 13, 2014. (Giampiero Sposito/Reuters)
- An Orthodox Christian holds a cross made of palm leaves during the Palm Sunday service on April 13, 2014 in Cairo, to celebrate the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem when a cheering crowd greeted him waving palm leaves the week before his death. (Mohamed El-Shahed/AFP/Getty Images)
- Villagers lift up a 29-metre-long butara, a pole which locals stick symbolic palm fronds consisting of olive branches and local shrubbery, during a Palm Sunday procession at the church in the village of Volicina April 13, 2014. (Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters)
- Villagers walk with a cart, transporting a 29-metre-long butara, a pole which locals stick symbolic palm fronds consisting of olive branches and local shrubbery, during a Palm Sunday procession to the church in the village of Volicina April 13, 2014. (Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters)
- A girl holds a bunch of symbolic palm fronds, consisting of local shrubbery, at a Palm Sunday procession at a church in the village of Volicina April 13, 2014. (Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters)
- A Belarusian catholic priest blesses believers with holy water while celebrating Palm Sunday in Minsk on April 13, 2014. (Viktor Drachev/AFP/Getty Images)
- Belarusian catholic believers watch a religious procession while celebrating Palm Sunday in Minsk on April 13, 2014. (Viktor Drachev/AFP/Getty Images)
- An Ethiopian Orthodox worshipper folds palm fronds into a cross before the Palm Sunday procession outside the Ethiopian section of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City April 13, 2014. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)
- Orthodox Christian alter boys hold fans made of palm leaves during the Palm Sunday service on April 13, 2014 in Cairo, to celebrate the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem when a cheering crowd greeted him waving palm leaves the week before his death. (Mohamed El-Shahed/AFP/Getty Images)