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Chris Appleby Ministries

Chris Appleby Ministries

 

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Many people wonder why we often have different dates for Easter depending on which part of the Church we belong to. The answer comes from the way Easter is calculated. You may know that Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the Full Moon on, or after, the March Equinox. The difficulty arises, however, because the date of the equinox actually varies from year to and from place to place.

So Western Christians in the fourth Century, at the Council of Nicaea agreed to define Easter with respect to a fixed equinox date of March 21. Thus Easter can easily be determined without worrying about fluctuations in the sun and moon from year to year. 

However the Eastern Orthodox churches decided not to follow that definition, preferring to determine Easter from the real equinox and full moon at the longitude of Jerusalem. Hence, the occasional difference in the date of Easter between churches. 

This is complicated further by the fact that the Eastern Churches still use the Julian calendar to calculate ecclesiastical dates. The Julian calendar is currently 13 days later than the Gregorian calendar. Since 1923, the Romanian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox churches have adopted the Gregorian calendar. However, they continue to use the Julian calendar for Easter calculations. 

If you're interested, here are the dates of Easter Sunday according to the Western calendar up to the year 202y.

 
 Year  Ash Wednesday  Easter Day
2001
Feb 28
April 15
2002
Feb 13
March 31
2003
March 5
April 20
2004
  Feb 25
April 11
2005
Feb 9
March 27
2006
March 1
April 16
2007
Feb 21
April 08
2008
Feb 6
March 23
2009
Feb 25
  April 12
2010
  Feb 17
 April 04  
2011
March 9
April 24
2012
Feb 22
April 8

 

 Year  Ash Wednesday  Easter Day
2013
 Feb 13
 March 31
2014
 March 5
 April 20
2015
 Feb 18
 April 5
2016
 Feb 10
 March 27
2017
 March 1
 April 16
2016
 Feb 10
 March 27
2017
 March 1
 April 16
2018
 Feb 14
 April 1
2019   
 March 6
 April 21
2020
 Feb 26
 April 12
2021
 Feb 17
 April 4
 2022
 March 2
 April 17
2023
 Feb 23
 April 9
2024
 Feb 10 
 March 27
2025
 March 5
 April 20
2026
 Feb 23
 April 12
2027
Feb 10
March 28
2028
March 1
April 16

                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                  
 
                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                           

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Phone: 0422187127
 
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