An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church

Golden Number

An indication of the date of the full moon which follows the spring equinox (Mar. 21) in a nineteen-year cycle, used in finding the date of Easter Day. The Golden Number is printed before the Sunday Letter in the calendar of the BCP, pp. 21-22, for the dates from Mar. 22 through Apr. 18. The Golden Number is calculated by taking the number of the year, adding 1, and then dividing the sum by 19. The remainder, if any, is the Golden Number. If there is no remainder, 19 is the Golden Number. The Golden Number and the Sunday Letter provide the points of reference necessary to find the date of Easter Day according to the Tables and Rules for Finding the Date of Easter Day, BCP, pp. 880-885.

Glossary definitions provided courtesy of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY,(All Rights reserved) from “An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, A User Friendly Reference for Episcopalians,” Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum, editors.