Easter 2027 is on Sunday, March 28
Orthodox Easter is on Sunday, May 2.
| Western churchesCatholic and Protestant | Orthodox churchesEastern Orthodox | |
|---|---|---|
| Lent beginsForty days of prayer, fasting and giving that lead to Easter.About Lent | Ash Wednesday | Clean Monday |
| Palm SundayJesus rides into Jerusalem, and Holy Week begins.About Palm Sunday | ||
| Good FridayThe day Jesus was crucified and died.About Holy Week | Holy Friday | |
| EasterJesus rises from the dead: the oldest and greatest feast of the Church.About Easter | Pascha | |
| AscensionForty days after Easter, Jesus is taken up into heaven. Always a Thursday. | ||
| PentecostFifty days after Easter, the Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles.About Pentecost | Pentecost (Trinity) | |
| Advent beginsThe weeks of waiting and making ready for Christmas.A prayer for each day of Advent | First Sunday of Advent | Nativity Fast |
| ChristmasThe birth of Jesus.Why December 25? | Nativity of Christ |
2027 to 2029, as all-day events.
Pray through Lent
A short prayer each morning from Ash Wednesday, February 10, to Easter.
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Why are there two Easters?
Both keep Easter on the Sunday after the first full moon of spring. Orthodox churches reckon it by the older Julian calendar, so their Easter falls on the same day or one, four or five weeks later. Orthodox Easter explained
The Orthodox dates for Advent and Christmas are those of the Russian, Serbian and Georgian churches, which keep the old calendar. The Greek, Antiochian and Romanian churches begin the Nativity Fast on November 15 and keep Christmas on December 25.
Why does Easter change every year?
Easter moves because it follows the moon. It falls on the Sunday after the first full moon of spring, and that full moon comes on a different date each year, so Western Easter can land on any date from March 22 to April 25.
The rule goes back to the fourth century: the Council of Nicaea in 325 asked every church to keep Easter on the same Sunday, and the tables that set the date were worked out in Alexandria. Churches do not watch the sky for it. They count the moon by those tables and fix the first day of spring on March 21.
Orthodox Easter usually falls later because it is counted on a different calendar. In the sixteenth century Pope Gregory XIII replaced the Julian calendar, which had fallen behind the seasons, and Western churches followed. Orthodox churches still reckon Easter by the Julian calendar, which now runs thirteen days behind the one on our walls, so their Easter falls between April 4 and May 8. In a little more than one year in four the two Easters fall on the same day, as they will in 2028; otherwise the Orthodox Easter comes one, four or five weeks later.
The days that move with Easter
Most of the season moves with Easter. Ash Wednesday comes 46 days before it: the forty days of Lent, with the six Sundays left out, since every Sunday keeps the feast of the Resurrection. Palm Sunday is a week before Easter and Good Friday two days before. The Ascension comes on the fortieth day counting Easter Day itself, so always on a Thursday, and Pentecost on the fiftieth, seven weeks after Easter. In the Orthodox churches Great Lent begins on Clean Monday, seven weeks before Pascha, after Forgiveness Sunday.
The days that stay put
Christmas is fixed on December 25, and Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before it, between November 27 and December 3. Orthodox churches that keep the old calendar mark the same days thirteen days later on ours: the Nativity Fast from November 28, and Christmas on January 7.
Easter dates, 2021 to 2051
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In the shaded years, Western and Orthodox churches keep Easter on the same day.
About these dates
What this shows
The date of Easter and of the days that move with it, in the Western and Orthodox calendars, for any year from 1900 to 2099. To open one year directly, add it to the address, as in /when-is-easter/?year=2030.
How it was made
The dates are calculated, not looked up. Western dates follow the rule on the Gregorian calendar and Orthodox dates follow it on the Julian calendar, then convert to today’s calendar. Both sums can be done by hand, and the page does them in your browser.
We compared every year from 2021 to 2051 with two published tables: the U.S. Census Bureau’s list of Easter dates for the Western date, and a side-by-side table of both Easters for the Orthodox date. All 31 years matched in both. The Orthodox Church of Finland keeps Easter on the Western date, so its Easter follows the Western column.
Sources
Use it in church or class
Free to use in your church or class. Print it, project it or copy the dates into a bulletin or lesson without asking.
The dates are arithmetic, so the spreadsheet carries no conditions. It covers 2021 to 2051: Ash Wednesday, Easter and Pentecost in the Western calendar, and Clean Monday, Pascha and Pentecost in the Orthodox calendar.
Cite this page
Christian Pure. "When Is Easter? Western and Orthodox Dates." Updated November 8, 2026. https://christianpure.com/when-is-easter/.
Made by the Christian Pure editorial team. Last updated . Found a mistake? Tell us, and see the corrections log.