What is Orthodox Easter?
Orthodox Easter, called Pascha in the Orthodox tradition, is the feast of the resurrection of Jesus as celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox churches. It is the high point of the church year, preceded by Great Lent and Holy Week, and it is celebrated with a long night service that usually begins late on Saturday evening and reaches its climax at midnight with the proclamation that Christ is risen. Orthodox Easter is also the reference point for the dates of Great Lent, Palm Sunday, Ascension and Pentecost in the Orthodox calendar. In 2027 it falls on 2 May.
On this site the day is listed for Belarus and Eritrea. In Eritrea, where Orthodox Christians form a large community, it is a public holiday called Fasika. In Belarus, where the largest church is Orthodox, Easter Sunday is not itself a statutory non-working day; the day off tied to Easter is Radunitsa, the ninth day after Easter, which in 2027 is Tuesday 11 May, when families visit cemeteries to share the news of the resurrection with their dead. Typical Easter customs include blessing of baskets with food, red eggs, special breads and the greeting Christ is risen, with the reply Truly he is risen.
Why it is observed
The Orthodox churches kept the Julian calendar when the Catholic Church adopted the Gregorian reform in 1582, and most still use it to work out Easter. In 1923 a congress in Constantinople proposed a Revised Julian calendar, which was later adopted for fixed feasts by the churches of Constantinople, Greece, Cyprus, Romania and others, but its proposed astronomical rule for Easter was adopted by no church. Adopting churches kept the traditional Julian reckoning of Pascha, partly to preserve unity. The Julian calendar now runs 13 days behind the civil one, which is why the Orthodox date is later than the Western one in most years.
How the date is set
Orthodox Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March, with both the equinox date and the moon calculated on the Julian calendar. In the civil calendar it falls between 4 April and 8 May. In some years it coincides with Western Easter, and in others it comes up to five weeks later.
How it is observed
The practical effect of Orthodox Easter depends on the country. Eritrea lists it as a public holiday. In Belarus Easter falls on a Sunday and the statutory day off is Radunitsa on the following Tuesday, though the exact days off in any year, including any transferred working days, are set by the government; the site also lists Orthodox Easter itself on 2 May 2027. Shops and offices close on holidays, and many people travel to visit relatives and graves. Orthodox Easter dates are calculated by rule and published years in advance. Pay, days off and substitutions depend on the country and the contract.
Sources
Belarus