The figures in the middle column show the calculation for the year 2024. You can use the right-hand column to calculate the date of Julian Easter for a year of your choice.
All of the calculations are done using whole numbers. Whenever you are asked to divide and keep only the whole number, simply ignore the decimal part. For example, in Step 2, you are asked to divide the year by 4. If the year were 2007, this would give 501.75, but you ignore the decimal part and write only 501.
Some steps ask you to divide one number by another and write down the remainder. Suppose you are asked to divide 33 by 7 and write down the remainder. First, divide 33 by 7 to get 4 plus a decimal part. Now subtract 4 times 7 from 33 to get 5. That is the remainder.
| Instructions | For 2024 | For your year |
|---|---|---|
| Step 1: The Dominical Number | ||
| Write the year. | 2024 | |
| Divide the year by 4 and keep only the whole number. | 506 | |
| Add the year to the previous line. | 2530 | |
| Add 4 to the previous line. | 2534 | |
| Divide the previous line by 7 and write down the remainder. | 0 | |
| Subtract the previous line from 7. This is the Dominical Number. Call it L. | L = 7 | L = |
| Step 2: The Golden Number | ||
| Divide the year by 19 and write down the remainder. | 10 | |
| Add 1 to the previous line. This is the Golden Number. Call it G. | G = 11 | G = |
| Step 3: The Julian Epact | ||
| Multiply the Golden Number, G, by 11. | 121 | |
| Subtract 11 from the previous line. | 110 | |
| Divide the previous line by 30 and write down the remainder. This is the Epact. Call it E. | E = 20 | E = |
| Step 4: The date of the Paschal Full Moon | ||
| If the Epact, E, is greater than 16, subtract E from 66, otherwise subtract E from 36. Call this D. | D = 46 | D = |
| If D is less than 32, then the Paschal Full Moon falls on that day in March. If D is 32 or larger, then subtract 31 from D, and the Paschal Full Moon falls on that day in April. Note that this date is expressed in the Julian calendar. |
April 15 | |
| Step 5: The day of the week of the Paschal Full Moon | ||
| Add 3 to D. | 49 | |
| Subtract the Dominical Letter, L, from the previous line. | 42 | |
| Divide the previous line by 7 and write down the remainder. | 0 | |
| Add 1 to the previous line. | 1 | |
| The previous line gives the day of the week on which the Paschal Full Moon falls, where Sunday is the first day of the week. | Sunday | |
| Step 6: The date of Easter | ||
| Easter is the Sunday following the day of the Paschal Full Moon. Note that this date is expressed in the Julian calendar. |
April 22 | |
| Step 7: Converting the date to the Gregorian calendar | ||
| Divide the year by 100 and keep only the whole number. This is the Century Number. Call it C. | C = 20 | C = |
| Subtract 15 from C and multiply the result by 3. | 15 | |
| Divide the previous line by 4 and keep only the whole number. | 3 | |
| Add 10 to the previous line. This is the Gregorian Correction. Call it Q. | Q = 13 | Q = |
| Advance the date of Easter by Q days, to obtain the date in the Gregorian calendar. | May 5 | |
Copyright 1995-2014 by David Harper and Lynne Marie Stockman