2027 Orthodox Easter

Orthodox Easter, Paskha, is calculated by the Julian calendar and the older rules of the Council of Nicaea, so it often falls one to five weeks after Western Easter, though in some years the two coincide. It is the most important feast of the Russian Orthodox Church and comes after the seven-week Great Lent. On Holy Saturday people bring baskets of food to church to be blessed, and the celebration begins with a midnight service and a candlelit procession around the church, after which the priest proclaims 'Christ is risen!' and the congregation answers 'Truly He is risen!'. Families then break the fast with kulich, a tall sweet bread, paskha, a pyramid of sweetened farmer's cheese, and dyed eggs, which are cracked against each other in a game. Easter Sunday is not an extra public holiday in Russia, but the day is widely observed, and nine days later, on Radonitsa, families visit cemeteries. This countdown ticks to midnight Moscow time on Orthodox Easter Sunday.