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Greek Orthodox Easter May 5, 2024

Feast Day: May 5, 2024

Midnight Services

⛪ Preceded by Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Good Friday, Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday (Pascha / Πάσχα) celebrates Jesus rising from the dead and marks the end of Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. Most Greek Orthodox churches has midnight services and some have Easter picnics. Candles are lit during service and many take the flame home with them. The fast is broken with Easter bread (Tsoureki / Τσουρέκι) and lamb soup (magiritsa / μαγειρίτσα) soon after services end.

Image: The image depicts a loaf of Easter bread.

Greetings

On Easter, the main greeting for the day is: Christos Anestia (Χριστός Ανέστη,) meaning Christ has Risen. The response is Alithos Anesti (Aληθώς ανέστη,) meaning "Truly, He is Risen." Other greetings include Kalo Pascha (Καλό Πάσχα,) or “Good Easter” and Kali Anastasi (Καλή Ανάσταση) which is an expression of joy for “Good Resurrection.”

Red Easter Eggs

Hard-boiled eggs, dyed red in memory of the blood of Jesus, are also eaten Easter Sunday. Before the availability of commercial dyes, villagers made their own dyes from beet juice or the skins of red onions. Eggs are used to play the tapping game, where one person uses the tip of their egg to attempt to strategically break the other person's egg. The person who's egg is still intact when all the others are broken wins the game.

Why is Greek (Eastern) Orthodox Easter celebrated on a different day than Western Easter?

Occasional Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday coincides with Catholic, Protestant Easter, however, it is calculated using different criteria so most years it lands on a different day.

Easter varies between March 22 and April 25 and the criteria for calculating Greek Easter includes:

  • using the Julian calendar not the Gregorian calendar
  • waiting until after the Jewish holiday of Passover
  • waiting for the first Sunday after the first full moon after the northern hemisphere's vernal equinox - assumed March 21st.

Read more about why Orthodox Easter is later than Catholic Easter on the Greek Reporter.

When is Greek (Eastern) Orthodox Easter Sunday 2023?

  • 2024 - Sunday, May 5
  • 2025 - Sunday, April 20*
  • 2026 - Sunday, April 12
  • 2027 - Sunday, May 2
  • 2028 - Sunday, April 16*
  • 2029 - Sunday, April 8
  • 2030 - Sunday, April 28

*same as Catholic / Protestant


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