
Orthodox Easter celebration in Cyprus
Orthodox Easter, also called
Pascha and Resurrection Sunday, is the oldest and most important festival in the Eastern Christian tradition, celebrating Jesus Christ's resurrection (rising from the grave) following his crucifixion and death. His resurrection forms the basis of Christian faith as it demonstrates Jesus to be the Son of God, and symbolizes his conquest of death.
In most years its date differs from the date of
Easter in Western Christianity (catholic and protestant Easter), and is usually one week, but occasionally four or five weeks, later. However, in some years Orthodox Easter coincides with Western Easter and both observances fall on the same date.
In Western Christianity, the date of Easter is based on the Gregorian calendar and can fall between March 22 and April 25. The Eastern Christian tradition bases its calculations of Orthodox Easter on the Julian calendar, which differs from the Gregorian calendar by 13 days. This results in a possible date range of April 4 to May 8. However, both Western and Eastern churches agree that Easter should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the
Spring Equinox, but always after Passover.
This table compares the dates of Western and Orthodox Easter for the years 2010 to 2030:
Year |
Western Easter |
Orthodox Easter |
2010 |
April 4 |
2011 |
April 24 |
2012 |
April 8 |
April 15 |
2013 |
March 31 |
May 5 |
2014 |
April 20 |
2015 |
April 5 |
April 12 |
2016 |
March 27 |
May 1 |
2017 |
April 16 |
2018 |
April 1 |
April 8 |
2019 |
April 21 |
April 28 |
2020 |
April 12 |
April 19 |
2021 |
April 4 |
May 2 |
2022 |
April 17 |
April 24 |
2023 |
April 9 |
April 16 |
2024 |
March 31 |
May 5 |
2025 |
April 20 |
2026 |
April 5 |
April 12 |
2027 |
March 28 |
May 2 |
2028 |
April 16 |
2029 |
April 1 |
April 8 |
2030 |
April 21 |
April 28 |
Occasionally initiatives are started to introduce a fixed and unified date of Easter (probably the second or third Sunday in April), however there are currently no concrete plans to do so.
Further reading:
Orthodox Easter on Wikipedia
2021 calendar as templates for
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