Greek Easter 2021 - Key Dates Of Orthodox Easter Holidays And Why ...

Greek Easter 2021 - Key dates of Orthodox Easter holidays and why it's different

The Eastern Orthodox Church will celebrating Easter on different dates to the western world - but will it also be a bank holiday? Here are the dates to put in your diary

What's OnDavid Bentley Content Writer (Money and Events)13:40, 11 Jun 2020Updated 12:43, 26 Apr 2021The first resurrection of Christ at St Andreas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Birmingham city centre

For most of us, Easter came and went a month ago and those tasty chocolate eggs already seem like a distant memory.

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But this week's supermoon is the sign of a second Easter on the calendar.

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The Pink Supermoon is also being seen as the Paschal Moon that will determine the date of Easter for those in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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This is because of differences between Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity.

Around 2 billion of the world's 2.3 billion Christians follow Western traditions. The remainder follow Eastern traditions.

Whereas the Western Christian Church uses the Gregorian calendar and celebrated Easter on this set of dates, the Eastern Orthodox Church uses the earlier Julian calendar to work out what's called Greek Easter or Orthodox Easter.

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When is Greek Easter in 2021?

In some years - as happened in 2017 - the Western and Eastern dates for Easter are the same.

But in other years, they are different.

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In 2018, 2019 and 2020, Greek Easter was a week later than Western Easter.

In 2021, however, there is a huge difference between the two sets of celebrations.

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The dates for Greek Orthodox Easter in 2021 are:

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Good Friday - April 30

Holy Saturday - May 1

Easter Sunday or Easter Day - May 2

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Easter Monday - May 3

The 2021 dates for Greek Orthodox Easter are two weeks later than in 2020.

More significantly, they are four weeks after the Western Easter celebrations. That's a huge difference.

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This massive gap of one month between western and Greek Easter dates has not happened for a long time.

But it's said they can be separated by as much as five weeks so it's not the biggest gap that could potentially happen.

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Which countries celebrate Orthodox Easter?

Despite it being commonly called Greek Easter, this tradition is celebrated in other places apart from Greece.

Other countries that officially observe Orthodox Easter include Cyprus, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Lebanon and the Republic of Macedonia.

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Is it a bank holiday?

Orthodox Good Friday - also known as Great Friday and in Greek as Megáli Paraskeví - is not a bank holiday in the UK.

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And nor is Orthodox Easter Monday, also known as Bright Monday and in Greek as Deftéra tou Páscha.

There are no Orthodox Easter public holidays in Australia, Canada or the USA either, because - like the UK - they predominantly observe Western Christian traditions.

But those countries named above that officially observe Orthodox Easter as their main Easter will be having public holidays on their equivalent of Good Friday and Easter Monday.

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How is Greek Easter celebrated?

The main date is Easter Sunday, or Easter Day, which is when Christ’s Resurrection took place.

The fasting of Lent continues throughout Holy Week, which ends on Easter Sunday.

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In Greece, preparations begin on Holy Thursday. Easter bread (tsoureki) is baked and eggs are coloured with red dye. Red is the colour of life and also symbolic of the blood of Christ.

Good Friday is a day of mourning. The most devout do not eat or cook at all, but if any cooking must be done, it’s only simple foods such as tahini soup.

Flowers are taken to church to decorate a representation of the body of Christ, which is carried in a procession during a Service of Lamentation.

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On Easter Saturday, families prepare mayiritsa, a soup made from lamb (or goat kid) offal and tripe, cooked on the stove with onions and herbs (plus an egg and lemon sauce that's mixed in at the end). Sometimes it's made with chicken instead. It’s usually left on a low heat when everyone goes to church in the evening so it can be eaten when they get back.

Worshippers go to church with special white candles which are lit just before midnight as the Eternal Flame on the altar is passed around the congregation.

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After midnight, as Easter Day begins, there are early morning prayer services and a communion.

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Traditionally, the worshippers carry their flame home and use it to light other candles in the house. Families then gather around the table and break their fast with soup, bread and eggs.

On Easter Sunday morning, a meal of roast lamb is made and households enjoy a feast of eating and drinking until well into the night.

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In Greece itself, the Eternal Flame arrives by military jet on Easter Saturday and is given to the priests to take to their local churches. At midnight, the whole country comes to life with church bells, ships’ horns, floodlights and fireworks.

Orthodox Easter celebrations can vary in other countries such as Russia.

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Where do the celebrations take place in Birmingham?

In Birmingham, daily services for Orthodox Easter take place throughout Holy Week.

Churches taking part in the city include the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in Erdington, and the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Dormition of Theotokos and St Andreas in Summer Hill, Birmingham city centre.

For people in the Black Country, services are held at the Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God at Walsall.

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There will be differences this year because of coronavirus rules at places of worship and limits on any celebrations planned at home.