Blessed is He that comes. . : this is the feast of Christ the King —welcomed by the children at His entry into Jerusalem, and to be welcomed likewise by each one of us into our own heart. ‘Blessed is He that comes. . – that comes not so much out of the past as out off the future: for on Palm Sunday we welcome not only the Lord who entered Jerusalem long ago, riding on a donkey, but the Lord who comes again in power and great glory, as King of the Future Age. Palms and branches are blessed after the Gospel and held with lighted candles during the rest of the service

Shortly after the Feast of Epiphany the monks left their monasteries to make a Lenten retreat in the wilderness, either singly or with a com­panion, spending the following weeks in silence and continual
prayer, eating nothing but wild roots. Then, on Saturday afternoon in the sixth week of Lent, they all returned to their monasteries for the vigil service of Palm Sunday, in order to celebrate Holy Week together with their brethren. (K. Ware, The Lenten Triodion).