Episcopal Press and News

Consensus Building for Fixed, Common Date for Easter

Episcopal News Service. November 21, 1991 [91236C]

The move toward designating a fixed date for Easter gained ground recently when Britain's National Economic Development Office (NEDO) joined most member denominations of the World Council of Churches in welcoming the idea. Momentum is also building among both Western and Orthodox Christian churches for a common Easter date, with the Sunday after the second Saturday in April being the date most widely offered. While NEDO sought a more even distribution of bank holidays throughout the year, a fixed Easter date would allow churches to plan the church year better. Easter is calculated according to principles set forth in 325 at the Council of Nicea. Different interpretations of those principles account for the different dates for Easter observance in the Western and Orthodox churches. Middle East churches have in particular taken firm steps toward a common date for Easter, with member churches of the Middle East Council of Churches nearing final approval for observing the traditional Orthodox Easter.