About the Easter Date Calculator
This Easter date calculator tells you exactly when Easter Sunday falls in any year between 1583 and 4099, for both the Western churches (Catholic and Protestant, using the Gregorian calendar) and the Eastern Orthodox churches (which still compute Easter with the Julian calendar). It also lists the key dates tied to Easter: Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Ascension Day and Pentecost.
It is useful for planning school and work holidays, booking spring travel, scheduling church events, checking when Lent starts, or answering the classic question of why Easter moves every year. A ten-year table shows upcoming dates side by side so you can see when the two traditions coincide.
Dates follow the ecclesiastical rules, not live astronomy: Western Easter is the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon on or after March 21, computed with the standard Gregorian computus. Orthodox Easter applies the same idea to the Julian calendar and is then converted to the Gregorian date you would see on a modern calendar.
How to use the easter date calculator
- 1Enter the year you want (any year from 1583, the first full Gregorian year, to 4099).
- 2Read Western Easter Sunday — used by Catholic and most Protestant churches.
- 3Compare it with Orthodox Easter, used by Greek, Russian, Serbian and other Orthodox churches.
- 4Use Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and Pentecost for Lent, holiday and event planning.
- 5Scan the 10-year table to see upcoming dates and years when both Easters coincide.
Formula and method
Western Easter uses the Anonymous Gregorian algorithm (Meeus/Jones/Butcher). The year’s position in the 19-year Metonic cycle (a = year mod 19) fixes the epact, century corrections adjust for Gregorian leap-year rules and lunar drift, and a weekday term moves the date forward to the following Sunday. The result is always between March 22 and April 25.
Orthodox Easter uses the older Julian computus (Meeus’ Julian algorithm), which lands between March 22 and April 25 on the Julian calendar. We then add the Julian-to-Gregorian offset for that century (13 days for 1900–2099, 14 days for 2100–2199) so the date matches a modern wall calendar — which is why Orthodox Easter falls between April 4 and May 8 today.
Related days are fixed offsets from Western Easter Sunday: Ash Wednesday is 46 days before, Palm Sunday 7 days before, Good Friday 2 days before, Ascension 39 days after and Pentecost 49 days after.
- a
- Year mod 19 — position in the 19-year lunar (Metonic) cycle
- h
- Epact-derived days from March 21 to the Paschal full moon
- l
- Days from the full moon to the next Sunday
Worked examples
Easter 2027
In 2027 Western Easter is early — Sunday, March 28 — so Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 10. Orthodox Easter is five weeks later on May 2, because the Julian computus lands on a later full moon.
Easter 2025 — both churches on the same day
In 2025 both computations land on April 20, so every Christian tradition celebrated Easter together. Palm Sunday was April 13 and Ascension Day 39 days after Easter, on May 29.
Easter 2026
Western Easter 2026 is April 5 and Orthodox Easter is one week later on April 12 — the most common gap. Ash Wednesday was February 18 and Pentecost follows on May 24.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the date of Easter change every year?+
Easter is tied to the moon: it is the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after March 21. Because lunar months do not line up with the solar calendar, the date moves between March 22 and April 25 in the Western church.
Why is Orthodox Easter usually later than Western Easter?+
Orthodox churches calculate Easter with the Julian calendar and older lunar tables. The Julian calendar is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian one, so Orthodox Easter is usually one or five weeks later (occasionally four), and in roughly three years out of ten both fall on the same day. A few Orthodox churches, such as the Finnish Orthodox Church, use the Western date instead.
What is the earliest and latest possible Easter date?+
Western Easter can fall as early as March 22 (last in 1818, next in 2285) and as late as April 25 (last in 1943, next in 2038). Orthodox Easter currently ranges from April 4 to May 8 on the Gregorian calendar.
How many days before Easter is Ash Wednesday?+
Ash Wednesday is always 46 days before Easter Sunday: the 40 days of Lent plus the six Sundays, which are not counted as fast days. Good Friday is 2 days before Easter and Palm Sunday 7 days before.
Is Easter based on the actual full moon?+
No. Churches use an ecclesiastical (tabular) full moon from fixed tables, and March 21 as a fixed equinox. The astronomical full moon can differ by a day or two, which is why a simple moon-phase check sometimes disagrees with the official Easter date.