Why does Easter fall on different dates?

Answer 1

Easter is calculated to follow Passover which is based on the lunar calendar. Catholics and most Protestants use the new Gregorian calendar decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to calculate the date of Easter. The time of Easter is based on the cycles of the moon, the equinox, and seasons and things in nature. In simple (?) terms Easter occurs on the first Sunday following the first full moon that occurs on or after the day of the vernal equinox (the first day of spring). In 2008 the vernal equinox will be on Thursday, March 20. The first full moon after that will be Friday, March 21. Thus, Easter will be on Sunday, March 23. The earliest Easter can be is March 22 as it was last in 1818 and will be next in 2285. The latest Easter can be is April 25 as it was last in 1943 and will be next in 2038.

Answer 2

Easter Sunday is always the first Sunday, after the first full moon, after the 21st March. This year is the earliest Easter can be, as the first full moon is on the 21st March and so Easter Sunday is on 23rd March 2008.

Answer 3

There is more than one reason, but a main one - and one that applies in 2008 - is that Catholic Easter is the Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. On the Orthodox Calendar, though, it is the Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox AFTER PASSOVER. It MUST follow Passover. That restriction is not followed by Catholics.

Passover falls on the 14th day of Nisan - the third month of the Jewish Year. Since the Jews use lunar months, their year is only 354 days. So in 7 out of 19 years, they place an extra month - Adar 1 - before Nisan, and Nisan becomes the FOURTH month. In those years, Catholic and Orthodox Easter are significantly out of sync, since the Catholics are still calculating Easter like it isn't a Jewish leap year, and the Orthodox are following the Jewish calendar, and placing it after Passover.

Answer 4

Western and Eastern Churches use the same rules to compute the date of Easter/Pascha. The rules involve a fixed date - March 21st. The discrepancy occurs due to the fact that Western Churches use Gregorian Calendar for this date and Eastern Churches use Julian Calendar for it.

Answer 5

Easter is known as a movable feast day. The basic calculation is that Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first Full Moon on or after the Spring Equinox.There are refinements to this.

Answer 6

Because the orthodox use a different calender to the western church