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Next: 2 May 2027

Orthodox Easter

Pascha: midnight candles, "Christ is risen" and the breaking of the long fast with red eggs and lamb.

Eastern Orthodox Church: St. George church at Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople
Photo: Klearchos Kapoutsis, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

When is Orthodox Easter in 2027?

Orthodox Easter 2027 is on Sunday, 2 May 2027. Other years: 2026, Sunday, 12 April 2026; 2028, Sunday, 16 April 2028.

About Orthodox Easter

Orthodox Christians keep Easter, Pascha, by the Julian calendar's computation, so it often falls a week or more after Western Easter. After Holy Week and Lent, the Saturday night service begins in darkness. At midnight, the priest brings out a single flame and the congregation passes it candle to candle, then walks around the church in procession and sings, "Christ is risen, truly He is risen." Believers then go home to break the fast. In Greece, the first dish is magiritsa, a lamb offal soup, then roast lamb on a spit, and red eggs are cracked against each other in a game of tsougrisma. In Russia and Ukraine, a rich bread, kulich, and a cheese dessert, paska, are blessed in church baskets.

Orthodox Easter dates: 2026, 2027, 2028

YearOrthodox Easter date
2026Sunday, 12 April 2026
2027Sunday, 2 May 2027
2028Sunday, 16 April 2028

What is eaten

  • magiritsa
  • roast lamb
  • tsoureki
  • kulich
  • paskha
  • red eggs

Traditions of Orthodox Easter

Holy FireThe flame shared at Jerusalem and across the Orthodox world.

Also part of it, and being written: Kulich (The tall Easter bread of Russia.), Tsougrisma (The Greek egg-cracking game.), Paska (The sweet Easter bread.).

About this page

Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background: "Eastern Orthodox Church" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly EveryParampara

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