Easter Date Calculator
Find the date of Easter Sunday for any year from 1583, for Western and Orthodox churches, with Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and Pentecost.
Results
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Western Easter
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Orthodox Easter
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Difference
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From today
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Western churches
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Orthodox churches
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Western Easter, step by step
Orthodox Easter, step by step
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How to use the Easter date calculator
- Enter a year from 1583 to 4099. The calculator starts on the current year.
- Read the Western Easter date (Catholic and Protestant churches) and the Orthodox Easter date side by side.
- See the related days, such as Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Ascension and Pentecost, in the tables below.
- Use "Easter over several years" to list up to 100 years at once.
How the date of Easter is calculated
Since the Council of Nicaea in 325, Easter has been celebrated on the first Sunday after the "paschal full moon": the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after March 21. The churches use a fixed cycle of full moons (the computus) instead of watching the sky.
Western Easter is calculated with the Anonymous Gregorian algorithm, published by Meeus, Jones and Butcher. It works through a series of whole-number divisions of the year: the year’s place in the 19-year lunar cycle, the century corrections added by the Gregorian reform, the date of the paschal full moon, and the next Sunday. The steps and every intermediate number are shown in the results.
Orthodox Easter uses the older Julian computus, which gives a date in the Julian calendar. The calculator then adds the gap between the calendars (13 days for 1900 to 2099) to express it as a Gregorian date.
Worked example: 2026
- Western: the paschal full moon falls on Thursday, April 2, so Easter is Sunday, April 5, 2026.
- Ash Wednesday is 46 days earlier, on February 18, and Good Friday is April 3.
- Orthodox: the Julian computus gives March 30 in the Julian calendar; adding 13 days gives Sunday, April 12, 2026.
- The two Easters are one week apart in 2026.
Easter dates, 2026 to 2035
| Year | Western Easter | Orthodox Easter |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | April 5, 2026 | April 12, 2026 |
| 2027 | March 28, 2027 | May 2, 2027 |
| 2028 | April 16, 2028 | April 16, 2028 |
| 2029 | April 1, 2029 | April 8, 2029 |
| 2030 | April 21, 2030 | April 28, 2030 |
| 2031 | April 13, 2031 | April 13, 2031 |
| 2032 | March 28, 2032 | May 2, 2032 |
| 2033 | April 17, 2033 | April 24, 2033 |
| 2034 | April 9, 2034 | April 9, 2034 |
| 2035 | March 25, 2035 | April 29, 2035 |
Frequently asked questions
Why does the date of Easter change every year?
Easter is set by the moon as well as the sun. It falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21, the church’s fixed date for the spring equinox. Because lunar months don’t fit evenly into the calendar year, the date moves between March 22 and April 25.
Why is Orthodox Easter on a different date?
Most Orthodox churches calculate Easter (Pascha) with the older Julian calendar and its table of full moons. The Julian calendar now runs 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, and its full-moon table has drifted too, so Orthodox Easter is usually one to five weeks later. In some years, such as 2025, both fall on the same Sunday.
What is the earliest and latest possible date for Easter?
Western Easter can fall as early as March 22 and as late as April 25. It was last on March 22 in 1818 and will next be in 2285; it was last on April 25 in 1943 and will next be in 2038. Orthodox Easter currently falls between April 4 and May 8 in the Gregorian calendar.
How are Good Friday, Ash Wednesday and Pentecost worked out?
They are counted from Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday is 46 days before, Palm Sunday 7 days before and Good Friday 2 days before. Ascension Day is 39 days after, on a Thursday, and Pentecost is 49 days after, on the seventh Sunday after Easter.
Is the calculated date the same as the astronomical full moon?
Not always. The churches use a fixed table of "ecclesiastical" full moons instead of observing the sky, so the calculated date can occasionally differ from what the actual full moon and equinox would suggest. The calculator follows the church rules, which is what sets the date of Easter.