The story behind the day
Easter, or Pascha, is the Christian feast of the resurrection of Jesus, which Catholic teaching calls the feast of feasts. It is a moveable feast: in Western reckoning it falls on the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox, which the Church fixes at 21 March. The Eastern Orthodox churches work out Pascha by the older Julian method, so their Easter often comes one to five weeks later than the Western date, and the Coptic and Ethiopian churches follow calculations of their own.[1–6]
Origins
The Gospels relate that on the third day after the crucifixion Jesus's tomb was found empty. In John's account, Mary of Magdala went to the tomb before dawn on the first day of the week and found the stone removed; that evening Jesus stood among the disciples and greeted them with peace.[9]
What it marks
Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The name Pascha, used in Greek and by many Eastern Christians, means Passover and goes back to the Hebrew Pesach, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls Easter the Christian Passover. Catholic teaching calls it the feast of feasts; the American bishops add that the season of Easter is the most important of all liturgical times.[1–2, 7]
How it came to be
Christians of Asia Minor once kept the feast on the Jewish date, the fourteenth of Nisan, and the Council of Nicaea in 325 helped to settle the rule that Easter falls on the Sunday after the full moon. The Gregorian reform of 1582 then opened a gap of days between East and West.[10–11]
How it is kept
In the Catholic Church the Easter Vigil, the greatest of solemnities, may not begin before nightfall; it opens with the blessing of a fire and the carrying forward of the Paschal candle through the dark. The Easter season lasts fifty days, until Pentecost, and the Church celebrates them as one great feast day. In the Orthodox Church the Easter procession begins at midnight, Matins and the Divine Liturgy are served as one continuous service, and the faithful greet one another with 'Christ is risen!' and 'Indeed he is risen!' Coloured Easter eggs are widely used as a sign of new life.[8, 12–14]
Across traditions
Eastern Orthodox churches determine the date by the older Julian method, so their Easter often falls one to five weeks after the Western feast, and they also require it to follow the start of Passover. The Coptic Orthodox Church likewise requires Easter to fall after the equinox and after Passover. The Ethiopian church reckons the date by the system of Ammonius, within fixed limits, and Ethiopian Catholics keep the same day as the Ethiopian Orthodox, which in 2023 was a week after the other Latin-rite Catholics.[4–6]
Sources
Each statement above was checked against published sources; the verdict says whether it stood as written, was corrected or was hedged.
- VerifiedEncyclopedia.com; The Church of England, Easter Day.
- VerifiedHoly See, Catechism of the Catholic Church §1169; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Easter.
- VerifiedThe Church of England; U.S. Naval Observatory, The Date of Easter; Holy See, Catechism §1170.
- CorrectedU.S. Naval Observatory; Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II, Date of the Resurrection Feast; NASA Goddard.
- CorrectedOrthodox Church in America, Church Year; Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II.
- CorrectedEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Calendar; Vatican News, Easter in Ethiopia, 6 April 2023.
- CorrectedEncyclopedia.com; Orthodox Church in America, Easter Sunday: The Holy Pascha; Holy See, Catechism §1170.
- VerifiedUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Encyclopedia.com; The Church of England.
- CorrectedHoly See, New American Bible, John 20; The Church of England.
- CorrectedEncyclopedia.com; Holy See, Catechism §1170.
- CorrectedHoly See, Catechism §1170; NASA Goddard.
- VerifiedUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Roman Missal and the Easter Vigil; Holy See, Pope Francis, Easter Vigil homily, 19 April 2025.
- CorrectedOrthodox Church in America; Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!; Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA.
- CorrectedEncyclopedia.com; The Church of England.