The Date of Easter
“Easter is early this year” is a statement that has been heard a lot lately. The date of Easter, which, in the Western Church can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25, falls on March 27 this year. The date of Easter was determined by the Council of Nicea in 325, which decreed that Easter was always to be celebrated on the Sunday on or after the first full moon of spring.
Both the Western Church and the Orthodox Church use this formula to calculate the date of Easter. However the Western Church uses the Gregorian calendar, the standard calendar for much of the world, and the Orthodox Church uses the older Julian calendar.
The two churches also differ on the definition of the spring equinox and the full moon. The Western Church doesn’t use the actual or astronomically correct date for the spring equinox, but a fixed date (March 21). And by full moon it does not mean the actual astronomical Full Moon but the "ecclesiastical moon," which is an approximation, based on tables created by the church. These tables allow the date of Easter to be calculated in advance rather than be determined by actual astronomical observances, which are less predictable. The Orthodox Church, on the other hand, sets the date of Easter according to the actual, astronomical Full Moon and the actual equinox as observed along the meridian of Jerusalem, site of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Further, in order to maintain the Biblical sequence of events, the Orthodox Church always celebrates Easter after Passover, because Jesus entered Jerusalem to celebrate Passover prior to his Crucifixion and Resurrection. In the Western Church, Easter sometimes precedes Passover by weeks.
As a result of these various methods used to arrive at the date of Easter, the Orthodox Church typically celebrates Easter much later than the Western Church. This year, Easter in the Orthodox Church falls on May 1.
But that could change in the next decade. New discussions are underway that would fix the date of Easter throughout the Christian world. Pope Francis, the leader of the Western Church, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I (head of the Greek Orthodox Church), the Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Reverend Justin Welby, are all working towards a common date. They believe that a fixed date for Easter, perhaps the second or third Sunday of April, would not only unify Christians around the world, it would make it easier to coordinate with civil and school calendars.
No matter when Easter falls on the calendar, we are called to live with Easter hope. As St. Augustine said, "We are an Easter People, and Alleluia is our song!" That is something we can celebrate every day of the year!