Find the date of Western (Gregorian) and Eastern Orthodox Easter for any year from 1583 onward, plus the full liturgical season — Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Pentecost, and more.
Easter in Both Traditions
Western (Catholic / Protestant)Sunday, April 5, 2026
Eastern OrthodoxSunday, April 12, 2026
GapDifferent by 7 days
Liturgical Season
Key dates calculated from Easter Sunday
Shrove Tuesday / Mardi GrasTuesday, February 17, 2026
Ash Wednesday (Lent begins)Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Palm SundaySunday, March 29, 2026
Holy MondayMonday, March 30, 2026
Maundy ThursdayThursday, April 2, 2026
Good FridayFriday, April 3, 2026
Holy SaturdaySaturday, April 4, 2026
Easter SundaySunday, April 5, 2026
Easter MondayMonday, April 6, 2026
Divine Mercy SundaySunday, April 12, 2026
Ascension ThursdayThursday, May 14, 2026
PentecostSunday, May 24, 2026
Trinity SundaySunday, May 31, 2026
Corpus ChristiThursday, June 4, 2026
How Easter Is Calculated
Easter is a moveable feast: it falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox (fixed as March 21 ecclesiastically). The earliest possible Easter is March 22, the latest is April 25.
Western Easter uses the Gregorian calendar and the algorithm published by mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1800 (also derived independently by Jean Meeus). Eastern Orthodox churches still calculate from the Julian calendar, then convert to Gregorian — which is why their Easter often falls 1, 4, or 5 weeks later.
The two traditions land on the same Sunday in roughly 1 of every 3 years. In 2025 they coincided on April 20. The Council of Nicaea in AD 325 set the formula; in some years, modern Catholic and Orthodox leaders have discussed unifying the date but no agreement has been reached.
Algorithm based on the standard Meeus / Jones / Butcher Gregorian computus and the Julian-to-Gregorian Orthodox computation. Valid from 1583 onward (start of the Gregorian calendar). Local diocesan adjustments are not applied.