Orthodox and Catholic believers celebrate Easter on the same day this year
This year both Orthodox and Catholic believers celebrate Easter on the same day – April 20. Such overlap does not happen often, as the Eastern and Western Churches use different calendars (Julian and Gregorian), but this year the dates match.
The two most important holidays in Christianity are Christmas and Easter, the day of birth and the day of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Christmas date is set – it is December 25, both in the Julian and Gregorian calendar.
Easter, however, falls on a different date every year, which many confuses. Although always celebrated on Sunday, the rules for determining the date of this holiday are not simple – they include astronomy, math and centuries -old church tradition.
Easter must fall after the spring equinox, on Sunday after the full moon, on the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nissan. But there are several reasons that further complicate all this. First of all, astronomical observations are not used to determine the day of the spring equinox and the full moon, but Easter plates – Julian and Gregorian. Therefore, it may happen that the « church » full moon is different from the real and up to several days, which directly affects the date of the holiday.
The second, most important reason for the difference in the date of the « Orthodox » and « Catholic » Easter is the Jewish holiday of Passover. For Orthodox Christians, Easter must be after the holiday of Passover – which is Clynis, according to the Jewish lunar calendar. It also has a deep theological meaning, because the Resurrection of Christ happened after the Passover. This preserves the chronological and symbolic order of Bible events. Orthodox Churches adhered to the Gregorian calendar to celebrate Christmas.
The Catholic Church does not consider this link mandatory, so Easter sometimes falls before the Passover.
After this year’s match, next year the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church will again celebrate Easter differently. Orthodox believers will mark the Resurrection of Christ on April 12, and the Catholic one week on April 5.
The last celebration of Easter on the same day was in 2017, and the next one will be on April 16, 2028.
