Calendar of Events

April 2025

Easter in 2025 is notable for a rare convergence: 20 April 2025 is the same date for Easter in both Western Christianity and Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Christianity has had internal debates regarding the dating of Easter, the central holiday of the Christian faith, as early as the 2^nd century CE. The Council of Nicaea in 325 CE sought to end these disputes by including in its resolutions a formula for determining the date of Easter: the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox.

In 1054 CE, on unrelated matters, the Christian church split into the Western (Catholic) Church and the Eastern (Orthodox) Churches. Tensions remained in place over the centuries, and the Easter calculation dispute was reignited over 500 years later when, in October 1582 CE, the Western Church adopted the modern Gregorian calendar.

Though it is a more mathematically precise dating system, when it was implemented, it offset the calendar by 10 days – people went to sleep on 4 October (Julian) and woke up on 15 October (Gregorian).

This changed the results of the calculation established at the Council of Nicaea, depending on which calendar was used. The Eastern Churches kept the Julian calendar, used during the time of the Council of Nicaea, and the Western Church said the newer, astronomically correct Gregorian calendar was the right date for determining Easter.

Over the centuries the calculations on both calendars have regularly provided a different mathematical date, but occasionally they would synchronize on the same Sunday. One such synchronization happens this year, which is also the 1700^th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

Recent decades have seen dialogue between Catholicism and Orthodoxy on establishing a common date for Easter. Catholic Pope Francis and Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew plan on visiting the original site of the Council of Nicaea this Easter with intent on finally reaching a common date forever. (America Magazine)

Other events in April include: