Easter Date Calculator
Enter any year to instantly find Easter Sunday for the Western church (Gregorian calendar) and the Eastern Orthodox church (Julian calendar). The calculator also shows the Paschal Full Moon, the days until Easter from today, a step-by-step walkthrough of the algorithm, and a 20-year Easter date schedule.
How the date of Easter is determined
Easter Sunday is defined as the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, which is the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after March 21. The March 21 date is a fixed approximation of the vernal (spring) equinox adopted by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD - it is not the astronomical equinox. This means Easter can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25, a span of 35 days. The 19-year Metonic cycle is at the heart of every calculation: 19 solar years are almost exactly equal to 235 lunar months, so the phases of the moon repeat on the same calendar dates every 19 years. Easter in any given year depends on the year's position within that cycle, plus corrections for century years and the Gregorian calendar's leap-year rules.
Western vs Eastern Orthodox Easter
Western Christianity (Catholic and Protestant churches) uses the Gregorian calendar algorithm introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and first applied to Easter in 1583. Eastern Orthodox churches continue to use the Julian calendar algorithm adopted at Nicaea, with no Gregorian corrections. Because the Julian calendar has drifted 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar in the 1900-2099 period, Orthodox Easter currently falls 0 to 5 weeks after the Western date. About 44 percent of years the two dates differ by exactly one week; in rare years - such as 2025 and 2028 - both traditions land on the same Sunday.
The Meeus-Jones-Butcher algorithm
The algorithm used in this calculator was published anonymously in the journal Nature in 1876 and popularized by astronomer Jean Meeus in his book Astronomical Algorithms. It works entirely with integer arithmetic and 10 sequential modulo and floor-division operations. The key variables are: (a) the golden number, the year's position in the 19-year Metonic cycle; (b) the century-level leap-year correction that accounts for years divisible by 100 not being leap years unless also divisible by 400; and (h) the Paschal full moon offset, the combined result of all lunar and calendar corrections. The final month is always March (3) or April (4), and the day is always in the range 22-25 April or 22-31 March.
Related holy days and their dates relative to Easter
Several Christian observances are fixed relative to Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, is 46 days before Easter (40 fasting days plus 6 Sundays). Palm Sunday is 7 days before Easter. Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) is 3 days before, Good Friday is 2 days before, and Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil) is 1 day before. Ascension Thursday falls 39 days after Easter, and Pentecost Sunday is 49 days after Easter. Because Easter can shift by 5 weeks, these dependent dates shift by the same amount from year to year.
Easter date range and key facts
| Date | Significance | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| March 22 | Earliest possible Easter | Last occurred 1818, next 2285 |
| March 31 | Early Easter | Fell here in 2024 |
| April 1 | April Fools Easter | Fell here in 2018 and 2029 |
| April 5 | Near average | Fell here in 2026 |
| April 12 | Historical average | Average Easter date across the full cycle |
| April 20 | Late Easter | Fell here in 2025 |
| April 25 | Latest possible Easter | Last occurred 1943, next 2038 |
The range of possible Easter dates and selected landmark years, Gregorian calendar (Western).
Frequently asked questions
When is Easter in 2026?
Western Easter 2026 falls on April 5. Orthodox Easter 2026 falls on April 12 (Gregorian), which is March 30 on the Julian calendar.
Why does Easter move every year?
Easter is a lunisolar holiday: it is tied to the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21. The solar calendar (365 days) and the lunar calendar (about 354 days) are out of sync by roughly 11 days a year, so the full moon shifts relative to the calendar dates. The 19-year Metonic cycle partially corrects this, but the remainder still shifts Easter within its 35-day window every year.
What is the earliest and latest Easter can fall?
For the Western calendar the earliest possible Easter is March 22 and the latest is April 25. March 22 last occurred in 1818 and will not happen again until 2285. April 25 last occurred in 1943 and is next due in 2038. For Eastern Orthodox Easter the Julian-based calculation gives an even wider range when converted to Gregorian dates.
Why do Western and Orthodox Easter sometimes fall on the same day?
Both algorithms start from the same ancient tables, but the Gregorian version adds century-level corrections the Julian version lacks. In years where these corrections happen to cancel out, both methods produce the same ecclesiastical full moon date and the same subsequent Sunday. It happens a few times per decade - recent examples include 2014, 2017, and 2025.
What is the Paschal Full Moon and why is it not the actual full moon?
The Paschal Full Moon is an ecclesiastical approximation, not an astronomical observation. The Church uses fixed tables (derived from the 19-year Metonic cycle with Gregorian corrections) to predict it, which can differ from the real full moon by up to two days. This was intentional: the ancient church wanted Easter calculated in advance by rule rather than depending on observations that could vary by location or weather.
Does Easter ever fall on April 1 (April Fools Day)?
Yes, occasionally. Easter 2018 and Easter 2029 both fall on April 1. The most recent common-era coincidence before that was 1956. The next after 2029 will be 2040.