Easter 2025: When Is It Celebrated?
In 2025, Orthodox and Greek Catholic Easter, according to the Julian calendar, falls on April 20. This holiday remains a symbol of spiritual rebirth, the victory of life over death — and it gains special significance during a time of full-scale war, which Russia has been waging against Ukraine since 2022.
Easter in Ukraine: Faith Greater Than Explosions
Despite constant shelling, power outages, and losses, Ukrainians continue to celebrate Easter — perhaps even more profoundly and sincerely than ever before. For many, this holiday has become not only a religious event but also an act of resilience, indomitable spirit, and national unity.
In villages and cities where possible, people bake Easter bread (paskas), dye pysanky (decorated eggs), and weave baskets. In churches, even under air raid sirens, the greeting “Christ is Risen!” echoes. The blessing of Easter baskets often takes place outdoors — near churches, in basements, or shelters. In frontline zones, chaplains conduct services for soldiers, and these celebrations take on particularly deep meaning.
Especially touching are scenes where children make pysanky for defenders and send letters with wishes for peace and victory. Easter 2025 will once again prove that in Ukraine, even during war, faith lives — and it overcomes fear.
Easter in the USA: The Ukrainian Spirit Amidst Foreign Spring
For millions of Ukrainians forced to leave their homes due to Russian aggression, Easter 2025 will be a holiday of memory and hope. In the United States, numerous Ukrainian communities have formed — not only traditional, longstanding ones but also new migrant centers that arrived after 2022.
In Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Seattle, and other cities, Ukrainian churches have become centers of unity, support, and faith. Here, Easter fairs are prepared, joint prayers are held, and pottery masterclasses for children — displaced by war — are organized. Many parishes hold night services in Ukrainian, as well as joint blessing of Easter baskets — either in churches or simply in the courtyards near temples.
New refugees — mostly women with children, who had to leave front-line or occupied regions — bring with them living memories of Ukrainian Easter, its soulful depth, and symbolism. Their baskets contain not only paskas and painted eggs but also photos of loved ones left at home, postcards with wishes for peace, and candles in memory of the fallen.
Easter as a Bridge Between Continents
This year’s Easter celebration unites Ukrainians — in Ukraine, the USA, Europe, and all over the world — in the unified heartbeat of the nation. Some celebrate by the stove in a village in Cherkasy region, some in a shelter in Lviv, some in a small rented apartment in Pittsburgh. But all hear one thing: “Christ is Risen!” — “He is Truly Risen!”.
It's more than just words. It’s a survival code, a memory, a testament of faith and victory. Easter 2025 isn’t about elaborate tables. It’s about the warmth of the heart that never fades, even in the darkest times. It’s about children celebrating for the first time without a father at the front. About grandmothers making varenyky in volunteer centers. About those who are far from home but do not lose their roots.
