The moving calendar
Why some name days move
Most Greek name days sit on a fixed date — St Nicholas is always 6 December. But around two dozen hang off Pascha, the Orthodox Easter, which itself moves by up to five weeks. So they move too. This is the one thing off-the-shelf calendars get wrong. Here is the calculation, in the open.
Pascha
It all hangs off one date
One computed date sets them all. Every movable feast below is counted from Pascha — fix Pascha for a year, and the whole moving calendar falls into place.
Computed with the Meeus algorithm on the Julian paschalion, then converted to the civil calendar — the same method the Church uses, checked in our test suite against six independent published dates.
The year, measured from Pascha
Every moving feast keeps a fixed distance from Pascha — from the Saturday of St Theodore, six weeks before it, to All Saints, eight weeks after. The distance is the rule; the tables below give every date.
The rule in action
The showcase: St George
Georgios and Georgia are kept on 23 April — unless that day falls on or before Pascha, when the feast, and the name day with it, transfers to the Monday after Pascha.
The tables
Feasts that follow Pascha
Each keeps its own fixed distance.
| Feast | Rule | 2026 | 2027 | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday of St Theodore Theodoros · Theodora · Dora · Thodoris | Pascha − 4343 days before Pascha | 28 Feb | 20 Mar | ⚠︎ |
| Sunday of Orthodoxy Orthodoxia · Loxandra · Roxani · Axia | Pascha − 4242 days before Pascha | 1 Mar | 21 Mar | ⚠︎ |
| Gregory Palamas (Lent Sunday 2) Grigorios · Grigoris · Grigoria | Pascha − 3535 days before Pascha | 8 Mar | 28 Mar | ⚠︎ |
| Lazarus Saturday Lazaros · Lazos | Pascha − 88 days before Pascha | 4 Apr | 24 Apr | ⚠︎ |
| Palm Sunday Vaios · Vaia · Vagia · Dafni | Pascha − 77 days before Pascha | 5 Apr | 25 Apr | ⚠︎ |
| Holy Monday Pagkalos | Pascha − 66 days before Pascha | 6 Apr | 26 Apr | ⚠︎ |
| Holy Thursday Alitheia | Pascha − 33 days before Pascha | 9 Apr | 29 Apr | ⚠︎ |
| PASCHA (Resurrection) Anastasios · Anastasia · Tasos · Anestis · Lambros · Lambrini · Paschalis · Paschalina · Lina · Stasinos | PaschaPascha itself | 12 Apr | 2 May | ⚠︎ |
| Bright Tuesday (Sts Raphael, Nicholas & Irene of Lesvos) Raphael · Nikolaos · Eirini | Pascha + 22 days after Pascha | 14 Apr | 4 May | ⚠︎ |
| Bright Wednesday Theocharis | Pascha + 33 days after Pascha | 15 Apr | 5 May | ⚠︎ |
| Zoodochos Pigi (Bright Friday) Zoi · Zois · Pigi · Krini · Zisis · Zisimos · Panagiotis · Panos · Panagiota · Giota · Panagoula | Pascha + 55 days after Pascha | 17 Apr | 7 May | ⚠︎ |
| Thomas Sunday (Antipascha) Thomas · Thomai · Tomas | Pascha + 77 days after Pascha | 19 Apr | 9 May | ✓ |
| Sunday of the Myrrhbearers Myrofora | Pascha + 1414 days after Pascha | 26 Apr | 16 May | ⚠︎ |
| Sunday of the Paralytic Vithesda | Pascha + 2121 days after Pascha | 3 May | 23 May | ⚠︎ |
| Sunday of the Samaritan Woman Fotini | Pascha + 2828 days after Pascha | 10 May | 30 May | ⚠︎ |
| Ascension Nefeli | Pascha + 3939 days after Pascha | 21 May | 10 Jun | ⚠︎ |
| Holy Spirit Monday Triada · Trias · Kori · Korina · Korinos | Pascha + 5050 days after Pascha | 1 Jun | 21 Jun | ⚠︎ |
| All Saints Sunday | Pascha + 5656 days after Pascha | 7 Jun | 27 Jun | ⚠︎ |
✓ confirmed by two independent sources · ⚠ rests on a single source for now
Honesty note: except for Thomas Sunday, confirmed by two independent sources, the distances in the table above currently rest on a single source (namedays.gr). They are shown for reference and held out of the calendar subscriptions until the printed synaxaria confirm them. Low risk is not the same as verified.
Fixed dates that occasionally transfer
A handful of feasts keep a fixed date but step aside when the moving calendar runs over them — or are set to the first Sunday on or after a fixed date.
| Feast | Rule | 2026 | 2027 | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St George the Trophy-bearer | Fixed 23 April; when that falls on or before Pascha, kept on the Monday after Pascha instead | 23 Apr | 3 May | ✓ |
| St Mark the Evangelist | Fixed 25 April; when Pascha falls after 23 April, kept on the Tuesday after Pascha instead | 25 Apr | 4 May | ⚠︎ |
| St Chloe | The first Sunday on or after 13 February | 15 Feb | 14 Feb | ⚠︎ |
| Sunday of the Holy Forefathers Adam · Eva · Sara · David · Daniil · Danai · Rebecca | The first Sunday on or after 11 December | 13 Dec | 12 Dec | ⚠︎ |
You never have to compute any of this. Pick the names you care about once — your own calendar follows the moving feasts for you, every year. No account, nothing stored.