This year, Christians worldwide will celebrate Easter on 20 April, an occurrence that takes place only once every four or five years. Usually, Eastern and Western churches mark the resurrection of Jesus on different days due to differences between the Coptic and Gregorian calendars.
Last month, Pope Tawadros II, pope of Alexandria and patriarch of the See of St Mark, called for the unification of the Easter celebratory date worldwide during a reception at St Mark’s Cathedral in Abbasiya of a delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy. The pope pointed out that the unification of the date is an expression of the unity of Christians’ faith.
During the meeting, Loan Volbosqua, president of the General Assembly and member of the Romanian Parliament, made the same proposal.
Pope Tawadros explained that according to the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, the Church of Alexandria was entrusted with determining the date of Easter each year. The task was fulfilled by pope Alexander, one of the attending patriarchs, and later by pope Athanasius and their successors, who annually sent the Easter date to churches worldwide through the Easter Letters.
The Egyptian Church had long excelled in astronomy and mathematics, lending it the expertise to carry out this duty, Pope Tawadros added.
The pope noted that the Church of Alexandria determined the date of Easter based on three guiding principles: that the celebration takes place after the vernal equinox, that it occurs following the Jewish Passover — not before or during it — and that it falls on a Sunday.
Both Pope Tawadros and Pope Francis, the pope of the Vatican, are in agreement on the unification of an Easter date although some churches are still deliberating the matter, such as in Ukraine and Russia, said Father Rafik Greish, editor of the Catholic newspaper Le Messager.
Unifying the Easter date has a spiritual benefit, enabling Christians across the world to celebrate simultaneously, Father Greish said. He noted that in many families, there are both Orthodox and Catholic Christians, and the varying dates for Easter often lead to differing family celebrations.
Father Moussa Ibrahim, the spokesman for the Coptic Orthodox Church, said Easter is a principal celebration for Christians, asserting the need for unifying the date of its marking across all denominations.
While asserting that the primary issue concerns astronomical calculations and calendars rather than matters of faith, “differing celebration dates leave a negative impact”, he stated.
The Easter matter is of importance particularly for Egyptian communities abroad who celebrate according to the date observed by their home church, often skipping the celebration in their countries of residence.
Pope Tawadros has been calling for unifying the date of Easter celebrations for more than 10 years. In 2014, he suggested celebrating Easter on the third Sunday of April annually. He assigned Bishop Bishoi, bishop of Damietta and former secretary of the Holy Synod, with preparing a comprehensive study on its feasibility. Bishop Bishoi passed away in October 2018.
The study, a copy of which was sent to world churches, reported that in the early centuries of Christianity’s expansion, church traditions avoided celebrating Easter on the same date as the Jewish Passover. The discrepancies in Easter dates across the Christian world were motivated by a desire to resist attempts at Judaisation among Christians, the study added.
“Currently, there is no threat of fixing a date for Easter celebrations because Christianity has firmly established itself, and early Judaisation concerns no longer pose a risk to the Christian faith,” the study stated.
In 2018, during one of Pope Tawadros’ pastoral visits abroad, he said: “We proposed that the unified date be set for the third Sunday of April, while some churches suggest it should be on the second Sunday. We are awaiting the consensus of all churches.”
The following year, a Coptic channel in Germany discussed with Pope Tawadros the issue, especially since Copts in the Eastern world celebrate Christmas on 7 January while the majority of the West mark the occasion on 25 December.
“In Egypt, 7 January is an official holiday. Egyptian Copts residing abroad feel like a minority in their new societies because this date is a regular working day in the West. This is an issue we wish to study within the Holy Synod to explore what can be done to assist our Copts in adapting to their new circumstances,” Pope Tawadros said.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 10 April, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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