When is Easter this year? When is Maslenitsa? When does it start Lent? People ask each other these questions year after year. Many people wonder why some church holidays are celebrated on the same day year after year, while others fall on the same day every time. different dates? How are these dates determined? Let's figure it out.

Easter in the Old Testament

The celebration of Easter among the Jews was established by the prophet Moses in honor of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt (see Passover). “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Nisan (Aviv) the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night” (Deut. 16:1). In memory of the Exodus on Passover, the ritual slaughter of a one-year-old male lamb, without blemish, was prescribed; it should be baked over a fire and eaten completely, without breaking the bones, with unleavened bread (unleavened, unleavened bread) and bitter herbs in family circle during the Passover night (Exodus 12:1-28; Numbers 9:1-14). After the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, ritual slaughter became impossible, so Jews eat only unleavened bread - matzah - on Passover.

Easter among the first Christians

In the Christian Church, Easter has been celebrated since the first centuries, but due to local traditions, calendar peculiarities and calculations in communities of different cities, the days of Easter celebrations did not coincide. Therefore, at the First Ecumenical Council in 325, it was decided to adopt a uniform method for determining the date of Easter for the entire Christian world. It was then decided that Christians should not adhere to the custom of the Jews in determining the day of this most holy celebration. At the Council it was forbidden to celebrate Easter “before the vernal equinox with the Jews.”

When is Easter this year?

In 2019, Orthodox Christians will celebrate Easter on April 28. The date of Easter celebration is determined by a special calculation called Orthodox Easter.

Paschalia is a calculation system that allows using special tables that determine the relationship large quantity calendar and astronomical values, determine the dates of Easter celebrations and passing church holidays for any given year.

The Russian Orthodox Church uses the traditional Julian calendar, created under Julius Caesar in 45 BC, to calculate the date of Easter and moving holidays. This calendar is often called “old style”. Western Christians use the Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. It is usually called "new style".

According to the rules of the First Ecumenical Council (325, Nicaea), the celebration Orthodox Easter takes place on the first Sunday after the spring full moon, which occurs after or on the day of the vernal equinox, if this resurrection falls after the day of the Jewish Passover; V otherwise, the celebration of Orthodox Easter is moved to the first Sunday after the Jewish Passover.

Thus, the day of Easter celebration turns out to be from March 22 to April 25 of the old style, or from April 4 to May 8 of the new style. After calculating the date of Easter, a calendar of the remaining moving church holidays is compiled.

Church holidays

Every day calendar year dedicated by the Church to the remembrance of one or another sacred event, the celebration of the memory of saints, or the glorification of the miraculous icons of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The most important day church year- the holiday of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, or Easter. Next in importance are the 12 great twelve holidays (the name itself - the twelve - indicates their number). Then, according to their significance, the Church identifies 5 great holidays. There are others holidays, celebrated by performing solemn services. Particularly highlighted are Sundays, which are also dedicated to the memory of the Resurrection of the Lord and are called “Little Easter”.

The twelfth holidays are divided into non-transitionable and transferable. The dates of permanent holidays do not change from year to year; Moving holidays fall on different dates every year and depend on what day Easter falls on in the current year. The beginning of Lent, the popularly beloved Maslenitsa, Palm Sunday, as well as Ascension and the Day of the Holy Trinity also depend on the date of Easter.

The twelfth holidays are divided into the Lord's (in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ) or the Theotokos (dedicated to the Mother of God). Some of the events that became the basis for the holidays are described in the Gospel, and some are established on the basis of information from church tradition.

Twelfth moving holidays:

• Bright Resurrection of Christ. Easter
• Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. Palm Sunday (7 days before Easter)
• Ascension of the Lord (40th day after Easter)
• Day of the Holy Trinity. Pentecost (50th day after Easter)

Twelfth Immovable Holidays:

• September 21 - Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
• September 27 - Exaltation of the Holy Cross.
• December 4 - Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the temple.
• January 7 - Christmas.
• January 19 - Epiphany of the Lord. Epiphany.
• February 15 - Presentation of the Lord.
• April 7 - Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
• August 19 - Transfiguration of the Lord.
• August 28 - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Lent

Easter is preceded by Great Lent - the strictest and longest of all Orthodox fasts. When does Lent begin? It depends on the date on which Easter falls in the current year. Lent always lasts 48 days: 40 days of Lent itself, called Lent, and 8 days of Holy Week, starting from Lazarus Saturday until Great Saturday on the eve of Easter. Therefore, the beginning of Lent can be easily determined by counting 7 weeks from the date of Easter.

The significance of Lent lies not only in the strict rules of abstinence from food (the consumption of only plant products is prescribed, fish is allowed only twice - on the Annunciation and on Palm Sunday), and avoidance of various entertainments and amusements, but also in a very deep liturgical structure in its content . The services of Lent are completely special, unlike anything else. Each Sunday is dedicated to its own special theme, and together they incite believers to deep humility before God and repentance of their sins.

How is the date of Easter calculated?

In the era of the creation of Paschal (a system for calculating the dates of Easter), people imagined the passage of time differently than they do now. They believed that all events happen in a circle (“everything returns to normal”). And the whole variety of events is determined by the fact that there are many such “circles” (“cycles”) and they are of different sizes. In a circle, day turns into night, summer into winter, new moon into full moon.

It is difficult for a modern person to imagine this, since in his mind he builds a “straight line” of historical events from the past to the future.

The simplest and most famous (and still used) circle is the day of the week circle. Resurrection is followed by Monday, Monday is followed by Tuesday, and so on until the next Sunday, which will certainly be followed by Monday again.

The calculation of the date of Easter is based on two cycles: solar (lasting 28 years) and lunar (lasting 19 years). Each year has its own number in each of these cycles (these numbers are called “circle to the Sun” and “circle to the Moon”), and their combination is repeated only once every 532 years (this interval is called the “Great Indiction”).

“Circle of the Sun” is associated with the Julian calendar, in which 3 consecutive years are simple (365 days each), and the fourth is a leap year (366 days). To reconcile the 4-year cycle with the 7-day weekly cycle, a 28-year cycle (7?4) was created. After 28 years, the days of the week will fall on the same numbers of months of the Julian calendar (in the “new” “Gregorian” calendar everything is more complicated...). That is, the 1983 calendar had exactly the same appearance as the 2011 calendar (1983+28=2011). For example, the 1st (14th according to the “new style”) of January 2011 is Friday; and January 1, 1983 was also a Friday.

That is, the “circle to the Sun” helps to find out which days of the week the corresponding numbers of the months of the year fall on.

“Circle of the Moon” is intended to coordinate the lunar phases (new moon, full moon, etc.) with the dates of the Julian calendar. It is based on the fact that 19 solar years are almost exactly equal to 235 lunar months.

The equinox is the moment when the Sun, in its apparent motion, crosses the “celestial equator.” At this time, the length of the day is equal to the length of the night, and the Sun rises exactly in the East and sets exactly in the West.

A solar year (otherwise known as a "tropical" year) is the period between two successive spring equinoxes. Its duration is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds (365.2422 days). In the Julian calendar, for convenience and simplicity, the length of the year is assumed to be 365 days 6 hours (365.25 days). In approximately 128 years, the spring equinox shifts by one day (in the 15th century of the “new era” the equinox was on March 12-13, and in the 20th century it was on March 7-8).

A lunar month (otherwise known as a “synodic month”) is the interval between two new moons. Its average duration is 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes 3 seconds (29.53059 days).

That is why it turns out that 19 solar years (19365.2422 = 6939.6018 days) are approximately 235 lunar months (23529.53059 = 6939.6887 days).

In 19 years, the lunar phases (full moon, for example) will fall on the same numbers of the Julian calendar (this is not observed over long periods of time - an error of one day accumulates over approximately 310 years). We are, of course, talking about average values. Due to the complexity of the Moon's movement, actual dates of lunar phases may deviate from average values. For example, the real full moon in Moscow in April 1990 was on the 10th (“new style”) at 06:19, and in 2009 (19 years after 1990) it was on April 9 ( "new style") at 17:55.

Based on the tables obtained, you can determine the date of Easter for any year.

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) gives a not so clear, but more mathematically simple method for calculating the date of Orthodox Easter: “Of all the practical methods of calculus, the simplest is the method proposed by the greatest German mathematician Carl Gauss (1777 - 1855). Divide the number of the year by 19 and call the remainder “a”; Let us denote the remainder of dividing the number of the year by 4 by the letter “b”, and by “c” the remainder of dividing the number of the year by 7. Divide the value 19 x a + 15 by 30 and call the remainder the letter “d”. The remainder of the value 2 x b + 4 x c + 6 x d + 6 divided by 7 is denoted by the letter “e”. The number 22 + d + e will be Easter day for March, and the number d + e will be 9 for April. For example, let's take 1996. Dividing it by 19 will leave a remainder of 1 (a). When divided by 4, the remainder will be zero (b). Dividing the number of the year by 7, we get a remainder of 1(c). If we continue the calculations, we get: d = 4, and e = 6. Therefore, 4 + 6 - 9 = April 1 (Julian calendar - old style - approx. editorial staff)».

When is Easter for Catholics?

In 1583, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new Paschal in the Roman Catholic Church, called the Gregorian. Due to the change in Easter, the entire calendar also changed. As a result of the transition to more precise astronomical dates, Catholic Easter is often celebrated earlier than Jewish Easter or on the same day, and precedes Orthodox Easter in some years by more than a month.

The discrepancy between the dates of Orthodox Easter and Catholic Easter is caused by the difference in the date of church full moons, and the difference between solar calendars - 13 days in the 21st century. Western Easter in 45% of cases is a week earlier than Orthodox, in 30% of cases it coincides, 5% is a difference of 4 weeks, and 20% is a difference of 5 weeks (more than the lunar cycle). There is no difference of 2-3 weeks.

1. G = (Y mod 19) + 1 (G is the so-called “golden number in the Metonic” cycle - the 19-year cycle of full moons)
2. C = (Y/100) + 1 (if Y is not a multiple of 100, then C is the century number)
3. X = 3*C/4 - 12 (adjustment for the fact that three out of four years divisible by 100 are not leap years)
4. Z = (8*C + 5)/25 - 5 (synchronization with the lunar orbit, the year is not a multiple of the lunar month)
5. D = 5*Y/4 - X - 10 (in March the day? D mod 7 will be Sunday)
6. E = (10*G + 20 + Z - X) mod 30 (epacta - indicates the day of the full moon)
7. IF (E = 24) OR (E = 25 AND G > 11) THEN increase E by 1
8. N = 44 - E ( March Nth- day of the calendar full moon)
9. IF N 10. N = N + 7 - (D + N) mod 7
11.IF N > 31 THEN Easter date (N ? 31) April ELSE Easter date March N

Photo - photobank Lori

Easter dates
for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 - 2020

Christian Easter is celebrated in the spring, but the day of celebration is not a specific date, it is determined according to the lunisolar calendar.

To calculate the day of Easter, you can use Paschals - special tables compiled by the Orthodox Church. The dates of Easter depend on the dates of other holidays, the dates of which change every year. These are moving holidays: the Ascension of Christ - the fortieth day after Easter, Trinity (Pentecost) - the fiftieth day after Easter, the Day of the Holy Spirit - the next day after Trinity.

You can calculate the timing of Easter yourself. The German mathematician Gauss in the 18th century proposed a formula for determining the day of Easter according to the Gregorian calendar. The calculation is made according to the value of mathematical quantities, designated (for simplicity) by the letters a, b, c, d, d. Each letter is equal to the following value:
a - the remainder of dividing the number of the year by 19;
b - the remainder of dividing the number of the year by 4;
c - the remainder of dividing the number of the year by 7;
d - the remainder of division by 30 of the expression 19a + 15;
d - the remainder of division by 7 of the expression 2b + 4c + 6d + b.
The found values ​​of “g” and “d” are used to finally solve the problem.
Easter is celebrated after the vernal equinox and therefore falls in March or April.
If the expression g + d is less number 9, Easter this year will be in March according to the old style, and its day will be 22 + g + + d.
If g + d is greater than 9, Easter will be in April (according to the old style), and the date of its celebration is equal to g + d - 9.
When making calculations, we should not forget that in 1918 our country switched to a new calendar style, which “overtook” the old style by 13 days. Therefore, 13 must be added to the calculated number.

2008 - April 27;
2009 - April 19;
2010 - April 4;
2011 - April 24;
2012 - April 15;
2013 - May 5;
2014 - April 20;
2015 - April 12;
2016 - May 1;
2017 - April 16;
2018 - April 8.

Many people ask the question of how to find out when the majority of Christians in Russia and the CIS countries will celebrate Easter in 2009 and other years.

After Pentecost (see Acts), Christians began to celebrate the first liturgies, similar in form to Passover. Liturgies were performed as the Last Supper - Easter of suffering associated with the death on the Cross and the resurrection of Christ.

Calculation of the date of Eastern Easter:
Easter Sunday dates
2008-2020
year app. eastern

2008 March 23 April 27
2009 April 12 April 19
2010 April 4
2011 April 24
2012 April 8 April 15
2013 March 31 May 5
2014 April 20
2015 April 5 April 12
2016 March 27 May 1
2017 April 16
2018 April 1 April 8
2019 April 21 April 28
2020 April 12 April 19

Orthodox Easter is calculated according to the Alexandrian Paschal.
Full Moon(Y) = March 21 + [(19 + 15)/30].
where is the remainder when dividing a by b.
If the value is Full Moon(Y)< 32, то дата полнолуния будет в марте;
If the value of Full Moon (Y)>= 32, then subtract 31 days, and you will get a date in April.
Gauss formula for calculating Easter: -division remainder;
a = + 15) /30] (for example, = 12, a= [(19 12 + 15)/30]= 3, Full Moon (2007)= March 21+3=March 24)
b = [(2 + 4 + 6 a + 6) / 7] (for example, = 3,=5, so for 2007 b=1)
If (a + b) > 10, then Easter will be (a + b − 9) April Art. style, otherwise - (22 + a + b) March art. style. We get 22 + 3 + 1 = March 26 (old style) or March 26 + 13 = April 8 (old style)
The date of Easter can fall in the period from March 22 to April 25 according to Art. style. (In the 20th-21st centuries, this corresponds to the period from April 4 to May 8, New Style). If Easter coincides with the Feast of the Annunciation (April 7), then it is called Kyriopascha (Lord's Easter).
Orthodox Christians include the descent of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which occurs on Holy Saturday before Orthodox Easter, as a miraculous evidence of Easter.

*Middle Ages and Modern Times.

500 years later, in the 8th century, Rome adopted the Eastern Paschal. During these 500 years, Easter was celebrated by agreement between the Churches of the East and West.

In 1583, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new Paschal in the Roman Catholic Church, called the Gregorian. Due to the change in Easter, the entire calendar also changed. As a result of the transition to more precise astronomical dates, Catholic Easter is often celebrated earlier than Jewish Easter or on the same day, and precedes Orthodox Easter in some years by more than a month.

Happy EASTER to everyone!

Instructions

In Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when religion largely determined the life of society, even illiterate peasants could easily determine date Easter. But they did it simply: they counted 48 days from the beginning of Great Lent, which almost everyone observed. Nowadays they use only numerical data.

Based on the connection of the date of Easter to the days of the vernal equinox and the full moon, in order to accurately determine it, you must first determine the day of the vernal equinox. Then you calculate when the full moon comes after it. And Easter is the holiday following the full moon. Scientists have determined that the earliest date of Easter is 22 and the latest is 25 Julian, which corresponds to our Gregorian calendar, the period from April 4 to May 8.

Since the system for calculating the date of Easter is quite complex and requires special knowledge, you can use Easter - ready-made special tables that have been compiled Orthodox Church. They are easy to find both in any temple and on the Internet.

To determine the date of Easter, it is customary to use the simplest system proposed by the German mathematician Gauss back in the 19th century. To make the correct Easter calculation, you need to determine the value of several mathematical quantities. For clarity, let’s designate them with the letters A, B, C, D, D and try to calculate the desired date for 2012. Read and write:

And equal to the remainder of dividing the year by the number 19 (2012:19=)

B is equal to the remainder of the year divided by 4 (2012:4=)

B is equal to the remainder of dividing the year by the number 7 (2012:7=)

Г is equal to the remainder of division by 30 of the expression 19A+15 ((19x17+15)/30=)

D is equal to the remainder of division by the number 7 of the expression 2B+4B+6G+6 ((2x0+4x3+6x8+6)/7=

So, calculate the Easter date for 2012: 8+3-9=2, i.e. April 2, old style, or April 15, new style (2+13).

Video on the topic

Sources:

• how to calculate Easter day

Easter is one of the most revered church holidays by believers. Christian Easter is celebrated in the spring. The day of the holiday is not fixed, but is determined according to the lunar-solar calendar.

Instructions

General rule The calculation of the day of Easter is as follows: Easter is on the first Sunday after the spring full moon. Spring is the full moon that occurs after the vernal equinox. The following factors are involved in the calculation: the revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the revolution of the Moon around the Earth.

The German mathematician Gauss, back in the 18th century, derived a formula for determining the day of Easter. For convenience, let us denote mathematical quantities by the letters a, b, c, d, d. Each of the letters is equal to the following value:
a is the remainder after dividing the year by 19;

b - the remainder of dividing the number of the year by 4;

c - the remainder of dividing the number of the year by 7;

r is the remainder of division by 30 of the expression 19a + 15;

d is the remainder of division by 7 of the expression 2b + 4c + 6d + b.

The calculated values ​​of “g” and “d” are used to solve the problem:

Easter falls in March or April.

If the sum (g + d) is less than the number 9, Easter this year will take place in (old style), and its day will be 22 + g + d.

If the sum (y + d) is greater than 9, Easter will take place in (old style), and its date is equal to (y + d – 9).
Take into account when calculating that since 1918 Russia switched to a new style, “overtaking” the old one by 13 days. Thus, 13 must be added to the calculated number.

Sources:

• How to calculate the date of Easter?

Back in 325, the clergy of the Alexandrian Church developed decrees by which it was possible to determine the date of the most important Christian holiday - Easter, when eggs are painted, Easter cakes are baked and people joyfully exclaim: “Christ is Risen!” - “Truly he is risen.”

Instructions

The rules for counting the time of Easter celebrations, adopted in the 3rd century, are still in effect. The Feast of Christ is always on the first Sunday, when the full moon occurs in the afternoon according to the lunar calendar, or as soon as the spring equinox ends, on the same day, but not earlier. The day of Easter celebration can fall in the period from 21 to 25, or, if counted according to the Gregorian calendar, from April 4 to May 8.

Let's consider a curious calculation of Orthodox Easter. This method is determined according to the Alexandrian Easter by calculating the following formula: Full Moon (Y) = + [(19 + 15)/ 30], where Y is the year for which Easter is determined. Integers are used when dividing. If the value obtained from the formula (Y)< 32, следовательно, дата полнолуния окажется , а при (Y) ≥ 32, то нужно дополнительно вычесть 31 день, и таким образом определится дата в .

Many people count Easter Day starting from the first day after the onset of Lent, which lasts 48 days. But there is also a mathematical way to calculate the Easter date, with which you can calculate the days of the bright holiday several years in advance. This method of the German scientist Carl Gauss is based on an algebraic formula. So, you need to divide the number of the year, for example 1996, by 19. This remainder will be called “a”. Now we divide 1996 by 4, the remainder is denoted by “b”. Under the letter “c” is the remainder formed by dividing 1996 by 7. Now you need to multiply 19 by “a” + 15. Divide the resulting remainder by 30 and write the answer under the letter “d”. The remainder to calculate (2*b+4*c+6*d+6)/7 will be called “e”. And the last thing: we calculate 22+d+e, we get the remainder to determine the day in , and the answer to the calculation of d+e-9 will be the number for April. So, for 1996, according to the Julian calendar, the date of Easter was April 1.

Related article

Sources:

• Questions for a priest about Easter
• How to calculate Easter day in any year

One of the greatest and most revered Orthodox holidays Easter is considered. The holiday is associated with the Old Testament event of the liberation of the Jews from Egyptian slavery. Then the Angel of Death, killing the infants of the Egyptians, passed the doors of Jewish families, marked by the blood of the Passover ram. Since then the holiday Easter began to signify the transition from death to life. In modern understanding, Easter is the day of the resurrection of the son of God from the dead. And although it is dedicated to a specific event that happened on a specific day, Easter is celebrated every year on different dates, but always on Sunday. The diocese even has its own method for determining the date annually Easter.

You will need

• -moon calendar;
• -regular calendar;
• -paper;
• -pen.

Instructions

Easter Sunday will always be the 7th day of the week following the day of the full moon. So it turns out that Easter most often falls on the first day. Scientists have calculated and made a forecast for the latest Easter that could happen, calling date 25th of April. On this day we will see the Resurrection of the Lord only in 2038.

Orthodox and Catholic Easter differ slightly, so they are either celebrated on the same day, or the Catholic one is a week earlier. This is due to the fact that only the Orthodox holiday of the Resurrection of the Lord is the old one. And the entire Western world is doing it in a new way. And because of this difference the celebration Easter coincides in the Orthodox and Catholic worlds only once every few years.

The reason for the discrepancy between holidays that fall outside the Easter cycle is explained by differences in calendars. In addition to Catholics, the eastern local churches live according to the Gregorian style, and the parishioners of the Russian, Jerusalem and Georgian churches are faithful to the Julian style. The greatest difficulties are associated with determining the dates of holidays Easter, Ascension, Spiritual Day. According to scientists, the most likely date of the Crucifixion is April 7, 30.

Instructions

You can calculate the Day Easter, which falls on any year past or future. General rule for calculating dates Easter: Easter on the first day after the spring full moon. In turn, the spring full moon is considered to be the first one that occurs after the vernal equinox. If the Easter full moon falls on a Sunday, then Easter is celebrated on the next Sunday. This means that first determine the day of the vernal equinox, then determine the nearest day of the full moon coming after the day of the vernal equinox, and on the day Easter It will be the Sunday following the day of the full moon. Based on this simple rule, the latest date on which Easter will fall will be 25, 2038. And the earliest date is 22,2285.

The second way to determine the date Easter is a step-by-step guide to performing simple arithmetic calculations. First, find the remainder when the year is divided by 19. Second, find the remainder when the year is divided by 4.

Find the remainder of dividing the numerical value of the year by 7. Next, multiply 19 by the first remainder, then divide the resulting result by 30, find the remainder.
Now multiply 2 by the second remainder, 4 multiply by the remainder, 6 multiply by the fourth remainder, add all the results together and add 6 to the sum. Divide the result by 7, find the remainder.

If the sum of the fourth remainder and the fifth remainder is less than 9, then Easter falls in the month of March, and its date determine this: add the fourth remainder, the fifth remainder and 22. If the sum of the fourth remainder and the fifth remainder is greater than 9, then Easter falls in April, and its date define it this way: add the fourth remainder and the fifth remainder, and subtract 9 from the result obtained. The algorithm is universal, but after 90 years it will undergo some changes, because from January 1, 2101, the difference between the old and new styles will increase, then it will be 14 days.

Sources:

• how to calculate Easter

Easter is a great Christian holiday, symbolizing the Resurrection of Christ. Before Easter there is a strict fast that lasts seven weeks. This holiday is not attached to a specific date, therefore it happens on a different day every year, but certainly after the spring equinox.

You will need

• Pen, paper, calculator (preferably), calendar (preferably), school knowledge of mathematics.

Instructions

Easter is the main Christian holiday. It contains the whole meaning of the Christian faith. The date of the holiday can be determined using several methods. Easter takes place after the spring equinox. If you have a lunar calendar at hand, then determining the date of Easter for this year will not be difficult. You need to find the day of the full moon that falls after the spring equinox. The Sunday closest to this day will be the date of Easter. If you do not have a lunar calendar or need to calculate the date of Easter on specific year, then you can use special formulas.

Here is a formula that can be used to calculate the date of Easter for any year. Let's look at it below.

First, let's calculate the remainder when dividing the number of the year by 19, using a calculator or long division, whichever is more convenient for you. We take this value as A.

In the same way, we calculate the remainder when dividing the number of the year by 4. We take the value as B.

We calculate the number B as the remainder of dividing the number of the year by 7.

We calculate the number G as the remainder of division by 30 of the value 19 * A + 15.

We calculate the number D as the remainder of division by 7 of the value 2*B + 4*B ​​+ 6*G + B.

To immediately calculate the day of Easter, it is necessary to estimate the sum of the values ​​of G and D. If it is greater than 10, then the date of Easter will be G + D - April 9, otherwise March 22 + G + D. The date turned out according to the old style; to convert it to the new style, you need to add 13.

note

Catholics and Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter on different days, these dates coincide only once every few years. The reason for this lies in the fact that different countries chose different starting points from the vernal equinox, according to the Julian and Gregorian calendars.

Helpful advice

If you need to determine the day of the full moon following the spring equinox, you need to add the number G to March 21. Moreover, if G is more than 10, then the full moon will be in April, you need to subtract 31 from the resulting number. If G is less than 10, then the full moon will occur in March . The Sunday following that day can then be calculated using the regular calendar.

Related article

Sources:

• Article on calculating the date of Easter
• how to determine the date of Easter
• Easter in 2013 date when to celebrate Orthodox Easter

Easter in Christianity, or the Resurrection of Christ, is a great day, the main Christian holiday of the liturgical year, established in honor of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter is considered a moving holiday, and its date in each specific year is calculated using the lunisolar calendar. To determine the date of Easter, you must take the following steps.

Instructions

The first resurrection after the spring full moon falls on April 8 - on this day this year is celebrated Easter. According to the rules, the Resurrection of Christ falls on the Sunday after Catholic Easter. Mark on the calendar the next day after April 8 - this will be the day of Easter, which is celebrated.

note

Please note that the dates of Easter depend on the dates of other Orthodox holidays, the dates of which change annually. The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, the so-called Palm Sunday- It is customary to celebrate a week before Easter. The Ascension of Christ falls on the fortieth day after Easter, and Trinity Day on the fiftieth day. The Day of the Holy Spirit is considered the day after Trinity. Almost all Easter traditions originated in worship. Even Easter folk festivities are directly related to breaking the fast after the end of Lent - a time of abstinence, when the holidays were transferred to the celebration of Easter. The main symbols of Easter are everything that expresses renewal (Easter streams), life ( Easter cakes, eggs), light (Easter fire).

Helpful advice

At Easter it is customary to paint eggs with various colors. Speckled eggs turn out beautiful. To do this, you need a wet egg, roll it in dry rice, then wrap it tightly in gauze or a stocking, tie the ends tightly, and then cook it in a dye solution of the color you need. To get a pattern with a marble effect, you should boil the eggs in a solution onion peel.

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• when is easter

Tip 8: How to determine what date Easter falls on

Christian Easter- a great, special holiday. On this day, believers who consider themselves to be Christians remember with reverence and love the feat of the Son of God, who was not afraid of cruel torture and death itself in order to give people hope for the salvation of their souls. That is why this is a bright, joyful holiday, because the Son of God has risen, marking the triumph of life over death with his miraculous salvation.

Instructions

This holiday does not have a fixed, clearly defined date. There is only one categorical condition: Easter should be celebrated on Sunday. At first glance, this may seem strange, even paradoxical. But the paradox is only apparent: the fact is that the date of Easter depends not only on the solar, but also on the lunar calendar.

Initially Easter- more precisely, “Passover” - was a holiday of the ancient Jews. On this day they celebrated the beginning of the miraculous exodus of their ancestors from Egyptian captivity (remember the biblical legends of how Moses led the Jews through the Sinai desert for 40 years). But they also did not know the exact date of the beginning of the exodus, since the ancient Jews had a lunar calendar. And therefore, the 14th day of the first month of spring (when, according to their legends, this exodus began) fell on different days. Only one circumstance was firmly fixed: it was the first day of the spring full moon.

That is why, when the Christian religion ceased to be persecuted and became dominant, it was necessary to decide on the date of the great holiday of Easter. There have been many theological discussions and debates on this matter, sometimes very harsh ones. In the end, the priests at the ecumenical council, which took place in the city of Nicaea in the year 325, decided that Easter should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon, which came after the vernal equinox. This is why the date of Easter varies so widely - from April 7 to May 8. Whole month!

How else can you determine the date of Easter? Using the lunar calendar, that is, tables that indicate the phases of the moon and the dates on which they fall. You just need to determine what day the first full moon after the spring equinox corresponds to. After which you, looking at the calendar, will see what the date of the next Sunday is, which comes next. This way you will find out what day the light day falls on. Easter.

Easter is always celebrated on Sunday. It marks the end of the strictest and longest fast. They have been preparing for this day of the resurrection of Christ all week: they paint boiled eggs, make Easter cakes and consecrate them in the church. Every year the date of the holiday changes. Determine when it will be Easter, can be done using a special formula.

Instructions

Despite the fact that the date of Easter changes from year to year, there is a certain period beyond which it cannot go. This is the period between March 22 and April 25 according to the old style and between April 4 and May 8 according to the new style. This holy day for Christians immediately follows the end of Lent and falls on the first or second Sunday after the Easter full moon.

Determine when it will be Easter, you can use special tables called Easter eggs. They are composed by clergy for several years in advance. However, you can calculate this day yourself. You just need to strictly follow the given algorithm and be careful. Let's consider the calculation procedure for a specific year, for example 2012.

There is a formula that includes two unknown quantities. They are calculated by arithmetic division, and it is not the results of these actions that matter, but the resulting remainders. If there is no remainder, it is taken equal to zero.

Write down the basic formula: p = 4 + x + y, where p is the date of Easter, which can be either an April or a May day. This depends on the result of comparison with the number 30. If p is less than 30, then the holiday will be in April, if more - in May, and 30 must be subtracted from p.

Find the unknown number x by performing a series of sequential calculations. Divide the number of the year by 19, remember the resulting remainder. Then multiply it by 19 and add 15, divide the total by 30, x is equal to the remainder of this operation: 2012/19 = 105, remainder = 17; 17 19 = 323 + 15 = 338; 338/30 = 11, remainder = 8 → x = 8.

Calculate y using the following formula: y = remainder(2 A + 4 B + 6 x + 6)/7. The value A is equal to the remainder of dividing the number 2012 by 4, B is the remainder of dividing by 7, and you already know x. So: 2012/4 = 503 + 0 → A = 0; 2012/7 = 287 + 3/7 → B = 3;2 0 + 4 3 + 6 8 + 6 = 66;66/17 = 9 + 3/7 → y = 3.

Substitute x and y into the basic formula: 4 + 8 + 3 = 15. The number 15 is less than 30, therefore Easter in 2012 it falls on April 15th.

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Sources:

• Open Christian Forum

Easter is the most important holiday in the life of all Orthodox Christians. This one religious holiday celebrated in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Since ancient times, people celebrated Easter according to their religious customs, but over time, as customs were passed on from generation to generation, many traditions were forgotten.

Instructions

Believers observe Lent for 7 weeks. The tradition of observing Lent consists not only of abstaining from animal food and carnal pleasures, but also visiting and. Such fasting allows you to cleanse yourself before Easter not only physically; the main goal of observing Lent is spiritual cleansing. It is especially important to fast during pre-Christian Passover, which was considered a family Jewish holiday for nomadic herders. On this day, a lamb was sacrificed to the Jewish God Yahweh, whose blood was smeared on the doors, and the meat was baked over a fire and quickly eaten with unleavened bread. Participants in the meal had to wear traveling clothes.

Later, Easter began to be associated with the events set out in the Old Testament, the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. It is believed that the name of the holiday comes from the Hebrew verb “passover,” meaning “to pass.” The ritual of hastily eating meat began to symbolize readiness to escape. During the holiday, which was celebrated for 7 days, only unleavened bread was baked - this was due to the fact that before the exodus from Egypt, the Jews ate bread baked without the use of Egyptian leaven for 7 days.

The Last Supper took place precisely on the day of the Old Testament Passover, which Christ celebrated together with the apostles. However, he introduced new meaning V ancient rite. Instead of a lamb, the Lord sacrificed himself, turning into the Divine Lamb. His subsequent death symbolized the atoning sacrifice at Passover. During the rite of the Eucharist introduced at the Last Supper, Christ invited believers to eat his body (bread) and drink his blood (wine).

In the first centuries of Christianity, a tradition arose to celebrate 2 Easters, symbolizing the death and resurrection of Christ. The first was spent in deep sorrow and strict fasting, and the second in rejoicing and with a rich meal. Only later was it decided to celebrate one Passover, separating it from the Jewish one.

Celebrating Easter today

The modern Christian holiday of Easter is based on the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after the crucifixion. Now Easter has become a day that Christians devote to remembering the life, death and resurrection of the Savior. Originally in different places it was celebrated at different times. In 325, the decision of the First Ecumenical Council was made Christian Church celebrate Easter on the Sunday that comes after the first full moon of spring. This day falls between April 4 and May 8. However, the calculation of Easter dates in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches occurs differently. Therefore, Easter is often celebrated on different days in the Catholic calendar.

Most of the Easter rituals have survived to this day, including the all-night vigil, procession of the cross, christening, dyeing eggs, preparing Easter cakes and Easter. Christening is an exchange of kisses, which is accompanied by the recitation of the traditional Easter greeting: “Christ is risen!” - “Truly risen!” At the same time, an exchange of colored eggs took place.

There are different versions of the origin of the tradition of dyeing eggs. According to one of them, chicken eggs Having fallen to the ground, they turned into drops of the blood of the crucified Christ. The tears of the Mother of God, sobbing at the foot of the cross, fell on these blood-red eggs, leaving beautiful patterns on them. When Christ was taken down from the cross, believers collected and divided these eggs among themselves, and upon hearing the joyful news of the Resurrection, they began to pass them on to each other.

Traditional Easter table dishes are Easter cake and cottage cheese. It is believed that before the crucifixion, Christ and his disciples ate unleavened bread, and after the Resurrection - leavened bread, i.e. yeast. It is symbolized by the Easter cake. Easter is made from pureed cottage cheese in the shape of a tetrahedral pyramid, personifying Golgotha ​​- the mountain on which Jesus Christ was crucified.

Tip 12: Where did the tradition of making Easter cakes and Easter cakes for the holiday of the Resurrection of Christ come from?

In modern times, it is impossible to imagine a festive Easter table without Easter cakes and Easter cakes. Nowadays, few people think about the symbolic meaning of this Easter food. However, in the first centuries of Christianity, believers remembered where the tradition of making Easter cakes and Easter cakes came from.

The holiday of the Holy Resurrection of Christ has been solemnly celebrated since the first centuries of Christianity, despite the fact that believers were persecuted by the Roman authorities. Christians held a real festive feast at home. Bread was always placed in the center of the table. This was a symbolic designation of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Later, when Christians were able to openly hold divine services in churches, the tradition of making Easter artos entered church liturgical life (artos are still baked for Easter today). Artos symbolized the ancient tradition of the figurative presence of Christ in the homes of the first Christians celebrating Easter. Artos were consecrated at the end of Bright Week and distributed to believers. This is what happens today in Orthodox churches.

When the idea that the family is a small Church came into the Christian worldview, believers simply could not leave this home Church without its “artos”. This is how the tradition of baking artos-shaped cakes arose. Thus, Easter cake was a kind of symbol of the triumph of Christians on the holiday of the Resurrection of Christ. This Easter treat symbolized the invisible proximity of the Savior of the world Himself.

Making Passover also has ancient history. Currently, this product is a curd mass in the form of a kind of elongated pyramid. This form is determined by the memory of the tomb of Christ. Despite the fact that in ancient times Jews buried their people in caves, the form of the peculiar tomb of the Holy Sepulcher had a place in the consciousness of Christians. Thus, they were a reminder of the Holy Sepulcher, from which the light of the glorious Resurrection of Christ shone. Nowadays, Easter itself is necessarily decorated with the letter symbols “XV”, Christ is Risen.

The day of the Resurrection of Christ, popularly called Easter, is recognized as one of the most joyful Orthodox events. This is a moving holiday that is celebrated on different dates each year.

After seeing off a long, protracted winter and celebrating Maslenitsa, Christian believers begin Lent, which is considered to be the strictest and most difficult. During this period, every believer prepares for repentance, rethinks the essence of his being and cleanses his soul.

The last Holy Week of Lent is considered the most terrible week of the year for Orthodox Christians and recalls the torment of Jesus in the last days of his life. Good Friday was the dramatic climax before the Resurrection of Christ - on this day the son of God was crucified.

The word “Easter” itself is of ancient Greek origin and is literally translated as “to get rid of.” It was on this day that Jesus was resurrected, and all humanity was delivered from their sins. In the Orthodox world, this day represents eternal life and victory over death.

What date will Easter be in 2016?

Easter is celebrated annually after the end of Lent - on the first Sunday after the end holy week. This year, true Christian believers fast for forty days, starting from March 14 to April 30.

In 2016, the date of the great church holiday of Easter coincided with the red date production calendar, namely the day of spring and labor. Therefore, Orthodox believers will celebrate Easter on Sunday - the first of May.

Some Easter Sunday traditions:

On this bright day, under no circumstances should you offend other people, swear, be sad or commit any sins;

Indispensable attributes festive table should become painted eggs, blessed Easter cake and sweet buns;

On Sunday night, true believing Christians go to a religious procession, confess their sins, perform a prayer service and receive communion;

On Easter Sunday you cannot clean or do any kind of work;

On this day, it is customary to rejoice, hug and, when meeting another person, say: “Christ is Risen!” - “Truly He is Risen!”

Most of the population of our country professes the Christian faith, but most of these people still wonder why the Nativity of Christ is always celebrated on the same day, regardless of the year, and his Resurrection occurs on different dates? Strange, isn't it? In fact, the reason for this was the differences between the churches, and initially the date of Easter was also fixed.

The first Christians were Jews, and they celebrated the Resurrection of Christ on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan. According to the modern calendar, this period falls in March-April. Already in 325 AD, the Holy Church decided that it would not celebrate Easter with the Jews, and assigned another date to this holiday. It was from this moment that the question arose of how to calculate the date of Easter, because now it has become floating. The first Sunday after the first spring full moon was designated as the main religious event. The latter also changed and was calculated based on the day

According to this conclusion, the time of celebration depended on the solar and lunar calendars and could fall on the period from March 22 to April 25 according to the old style.

Calculation according to the lunar calendar

Before you calculate the day of Easter in the new year yourself, you should remember the main rule on which the calculations of both the Gregorian and Alexandrian Paschals are based: “The Resurrection of the Lord is marked by the first Sunday following the spring full moon.” The full moon in spring is considered the first if it occurs after

How to calculate Easter correctly, according to this requirement? First of all, you need to calculate the position of the Moon, or, more precisely, the date of the full moon in a particular year. For this, the Metonic cycle is used: full moons are repeated every 19 years. In the first year of our era, the Moon was at position 2, therefore, the calculation of the circle of the Moon would look like this:

With the result obtained, the age of the Moon on the first day of March is calculated. First, the golden number of the cycle is determined by adding the number 3 to the result of the previous calculation. After this, the age itself is determined:

(11*golden number)/30,

where 11 is the constant difference between the bases, and 30 is the number of days of the lunar month.

It is important to take into account that you need to get not the result of the calculation itself, but the whole remainder during division, which will be the age.

How to calculate Easter next? It is necessary to subtract the result obtained from 30, and then add 14 to the answer. If this gives a date earlier than the equinox, then Easter must be counted from the next full moon. If the date falls on a Sunday, then the Resurrection of Christ will be celebrated on the next Sunday.

Calculation by formula

In the 18th century, the German mathematician Friedrich Gauss proposed to the Church his formula for calculating the celebration of the Holy Day.

This principle is based solely on mathematical calculations and determines Easter according to the Gregorian calendar. The formula for calculating Orthodox Easter looks similar, only to the result obtained at the very end you need to add the difference between the old and new calendar, which is 2 weeks. So, the actions must be performed in the following sequence:

1. Numeric value the right year divide by 19 and calculate the remainder. He will be the first.
2. Next, the same year is again divided by 4, and the remainder, called the second, is also calculated.
3. The number of the year is once again divided by 7 and the whole remainder is also remembered.
4. The first result obtained is multiplied by 19, 15 is added to it, then everything is divided by 30, and the remainder (fourth) is calculated.
5. The second result is doubled, the third is multiplied by 4, and the fourth by 6, after which all results are added together and 6 is added to them.
6. The final number is divided by 7, and the resulting remainder determines the date of Easter.

If the final result is less than 9, then the holiday is dated March. The exact date is calculated by adding the number 22 and the remainders numbered 4 and 5.

If the result obtained is more than 9, then the Resurrection will be celebrated in April and the exact date is determined by adding the same balances, only with further calculation of the number 9 from them.

Calculation example

In fact, determining the exact date of the main Christian holiday is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. To make it clearer how to calculate Easter without taking into account the position of celestial bodies, below are calculations of the date of the Resurrection of Christ in 2018 according to a mathematical formula.

1. The first action is to divide the year 2018/19 = 106, 21..., which means the remainder will be 4.
2. Now 2018/4 = 504.5. Whole remainder 2.
3. Next 2018/7 = 288.28…. The remainder will be 2.
4. Now you should determine the fourth remainder - ((4 * 19) + 15)/30 = 3.03, the remainder being 1.
5. Next 2 * 2 = 4, 2 * 4 = 8, 1 * 6 = 6. Now 4 + 8 + 6 + 6 = 24.
6. Result 24/7 = 3.43, remainder - 3.
7. 3 + 1 = 18 - the sum of the balances is less than 9, which means the date is in March.

Thus, we find that the Resurrection of Christ this year will be celebrated on March 26 according to the old style and April 8 according to the new style, since 4 + 22 = 26.

More calculation options

The easiest way to determine Easter is to know the exact date Maslenitsa week, after all, precisely on the fortieth day from her last day and is celebrated Bright Resurrection The Lord's.

You can also use the Alexandrian Easter for this. How to calculate Easter this way? It is necessary to calculate the value of the full moon, and if it is less than 32, then the first full moon in the spring will be in March, and if it is more - in April. In the latter case, the exact date is determined by calculating from the result of 31. The formula for this is as follows:

equinox date + ((19 * (Y / 19) + 15) / 30)

Conclusion

It is not difficult to independently calculate the dates of church holidays if you take into account all the rules. Many nuances that only experienced people understand can confuse an inexperienced person. Difficulties can also arise during calculations, because if even one value is incorrectly determined, then the final result will be incorrect.

If such calculations seem too complicated, then you can simply use ready-made calculation results for subsequent years:

• 2019 - 28.04;
• 2020 - 19.04;
• 2021 - 2.05;
• 2022 - 24.04;
• 2023 - 16.04.

If you wish, you can try to calculate further dates yourself or find them on various resources on the Internet.

In fact, the answer is quite simple - it just happened historically. And also because it should traditionally fall on Sunday. But alas, the number 365 is not divisible by 7, so the dates of Sundays also shift. But it's not that simple. Therefore, the site will tell you why Easter is celebrated on different days

A short historical excursion

What exactly is Easter and how could people even determine when it was to be celebrated? All this is described in some detail in the Bible. Still, a more effective source of information regarding early Christian traditions cannot be found. And according to these data, Jesus Christ was captured, convicted and executed immediately after the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Passover, dedicated to the departure of the Jews from Egypt under the leadership of Moses.

But this holiday was tied not to the solar calendar, but to the lunar one, so it also shifted every year. But what prevented Christians from simply clinging to this particular Passover and celebrating Easter the next Sunday after it? The answer is simple - attitude towards the Jews.

Alas, despite common historical and religious roots, these two religions could not exist peacefully for a very long time. Therefore, tie Holy holiday No one wanted the resurrection of the Son of God to something Jewish.

Why is Easter celebrated on different days?

And at the First Ecumenical Council of 325, when all prominent Christian figures gathered to finally jointly decide what the dogmas of Christianity are, the main holidays, features of worship, etc., the issue of celebrating Easter was discussed.

And it was decided that it should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first new moon coming after the spring equinox. Moreover, if the full moon falls on Sunday, then this does not count, and Easter will fall on the next one.

So. The vernal equinox We also have a floating one - most often it falls on March 20, 21 and 22. Full moons, again, are floating. In principle, the lunar calendar and the solar calendar poorly coincide. That is why Easter can be celebrated from April 4th to May 8th. In 2018, for example, this event will be on April 8. And next year 2019 - April 28.

However, this was not the end of the debate about the celebration of Easter. In 664, there was a real conflict between the Christians of the city of Whitby, for whom it was customary to celebrate Easter from the 14th to the 22nd lunar day, albeit on Sunday, and the official church authorities. The dispute ended in favor of the orthodox tradition; the locals had to submit.

We also believe that you would be interested to know why Easter is not always celebrated on the same day. Except for 2025 - then their Easter dates will coincide again.