Why some name days move
Most Greek name days sit on a fixed calendar date — St Nicholas is always 6 December. But around two dozen hang off Pascha (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.
It all hangs off one date
| Year | Pascha (Orthodox Easter) |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Sunday, 12 April 2026 |
| 2027 | Sunday, 2 May 2027 |
Computed with the Meeus algorithm on the Julian paschalion, then converted to the civil calendar — the same method the Church uses, checked against six independent published dates in our test suite.
The showcase: St George
Georgios and Georgia are kept on 23 April — unless that lands in Holy Week (on or before Pascha), when the feast, and the name day with it, transfers to the Monday after Easter.
| Year | Georgios / Georgia celebrate |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Thursday, 23 April 2026 — its usual date |
| 2027 | Monday, 3 May 2027 — transferred from 23 April |
Feasts that follow Pascha
| Feast | When | 2026 | 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday of St Theodore | 43 days before Pascha | 28/02 | 20/03 | ⚠ |
| Sunday of Orthodoxy | 42 days before Pascha | 01/03 | 21/03 | ⚠ |
| Gregory Palamas (Lent Sunday 2) | 35 days before Pascha | 08/03 | 28/03 | ⚠ |
| Lazarus Saturday | 8 days before Pascha | 04/04 | 24/04 | ⚠ |
| Palm Sunday | 7 days before Pascha | 05/04 | 25/04 | ⚠ |
| Holy Monday | 6 days before Pascha | 06/04 | 26/04 | ⚠ |
| Holy Thursday | 3 days before Pascha | 09/04 | 29/04 | ⚠ |
| PASCHA (Resurrection) | Pascha (Easter) itself | 12/04 | 02/05 | ⚠ |
| Bright Tuesday (Sts Raphael, Nicholas & Irene of Lesvos) | 2 days after Pascha | 14/04 | 04/05 | ⚠ |
| Bright Wednesday | 3 days after Pascha | 15/04 | 05/05 | ⚠ |
| Zoodochos Pigi (Bright Friday) | 5 days after Pascha | 17/04 | 07/05 | ⚠ |
| Thomas Sunday (Antipascha) | 7 days after Pascha | 19/04 | 09/05 | ✓ |
| Sunday of the Myrrhbearers | 14 days after Pascha | 26/04 | 16/05 | ⚠ |
| Sunday of the Paralytic | 21 days after Pascha | 03/05 | 23/05 | ⚠ |
| Sunday of the Samaritan Woman | 28 days after Pascha | 10/05 | 30/05 | ⚠ |
| Ascension | 39 days after Pascha | 21/05 | 10/06 | ⚠ |
| Holy Spirit Monday | 50 days after Pascha | 01/06 | 21/06 | ⚠ |
| All Saints Sunday | 56 days after Pascha | 07/06 | 27/06 | ⚠ |
Honesty note: except for Thomas Sunday (confirmed by two independent sources), the offsets in this table currently rest on a single source (namedays.gr). They are shown for reference and held out of calendar feeds until the printed synaxaria confirm them. Low risk is not the same as verified.
Fixed dates that occasionally transfer
| Feast | Rule | 2026 | 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St George the Trophy-bearer | Fixed 04-23, but transfers (fixed <= pascha → pascha+1) when it falls in Holy Week | 23/04 | 03/05 | ✓ |
| St Mark the Evangelist | Fixed 04-25, but transfers (pascha > 04-23 → pascha+2) when it falls in Holy Week | 25/04 | 04/05 | ⚠ |
| St Chloe | The first Sunday on or after 02-13 | 15/02 | 14/02 | ⚠ |
| Sunday of the Holy Forefathers | The first Sunday on or after 12-11 | 13/12 | 12/12 | ⚠ |