In Europe, starting in 1582, the reformed (Gregorian) calendar gradually spread. The Gregorian calendar gives a much more accurate approximation of the tropical year. For the first time, the Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in Catholic countries on October 4, 1582 to replace the previous one: the next day after Thursday, October 4, was Friday, October 15.
Gregorian calendar (" new style”) is a time calculation system based on the cyclic revolution of the Earth around the Sun. The duration of the year is taken equal to 365.2425 days. The Gregorian calendar contains 97 by 400 years.

The difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars

At the time of introduction Gregorian calendar the difference between it and the Julian calendar was 10 days. However, this difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars gradually increases over time due to the difference in the rules for determining leap years. Therefore, when determining which date of the “new calendar” falls on this or that date of the “old calendar”, it is necessary to take into account the century in which the event took place. For example, if in the XIV century this difference was 8 days, then in the XX century it was already 13 days.

From here follows the distribution of leap years:

• a year whose number is a multiple of 400 is a leap year;
• the remaining years, the number of which is a multiple of 100, are non-leap years;
• the rest of the years, the number of which is a multiple of 4, are leap years.

Thus, 1600 and 2000 were leap years, but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years. Nor will 2100 be a leap year. An error of one day compared to the year of the equinoxes in the Gregorian calendar will accumulate in about 10 thousand years (in the Julian - in about 128 years).

Time of approval of the Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, adopted in most countries of the world, was not immediately put into use:
1582 - Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, France, Lorraine, Holland, Luxembourg;
1583 - Austria (part), Bavaria, Tyrol.
1584 - Austria (part), Switzerland, Silesia, Westphalia.
1587 - Hungary.
1610 - Prussia.
1700 - Protestant German states, Denmark.
1752 - Great Britain.
1753 - Sweden, Finland.
1873 - Japan.
1911 - China.
1916 - Bulgaria.
1918 - Soviet Russia.
1919 - Serbia, Romania.
1927 - Turkey.
1928 - Egypt.
1929 - Greece.

Gregorian calendar in Russia

As you know, until February 1918, Russia, like most Orthodox countries, lived according to julian calendar. The "new style" of chronology appeared in Russia in January 1918, when the Council of People's Commissars replaced the traditional Julian calendar with the Gregorian one. As stated in the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars, this decision was made "in order to establish in Russia the same time calculation with almost all cultural peoples." In accordance with the decree, the terms of all obligations were considered to have come 13 days later. Until July 1, 1918, a kind of transitional period was established, when it was allowed to use the old style chronology. But at the same time, the order of writing old and new dates was clearly established in the document: it was necessary to write “after the number of each day according to the new calendar, in brackets the number according to the calendar that was still in force”.

Events and documents are dated with a double date in cases where it is required to specify the old and new styles. For example, for anniversaries, major events in all biographical works, and dates of events and historical documents international relations associated with countries where the Gregorian calendar was introduced earlier than in Russia.

Date according to the new style (Gregorian calendar)

Calendar- the table of days, numbers, months, seasons, years familiar to all of us is the oldest invention of mankind. It fixes the frequency natural phenomena, based on the laws of motion of heavenly bodies: the Sun, the Moon, the stars. The earth rushes along its solar orbit, counting the years and centuries. In a day, it makes one revolution around its axis, and in a year - around the Sun. The astronomical or solar year lasts 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds. Therefore, there is no whole number of days, which is where the difficulty arises in compiling a calendar that should keep a correct count of time. Since the time of Adam and Eve, people have used the "circle" of the Sun and Moon to keep track of time. The lunar calendar used by the Romans and Greeks was simple and convenient. From one revival of the moon to the next, about 30 days pass, or rather, 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes. Therefore, according to the changes of the moon, it was possible to count the days, and then the months.

AT lunar calendar at first there were 10 months, the first of which were dedicated to the Roman gods and supreme rulers. For example, the month of March was named after the god Mars (Martius), the month of May is dedicated to the goddess Maia, July is named after the Roman emperor Julius Caesar, and August is named after the emperor Octavian Augustus. AT ancient world from the 3rd century BC, according to the flesh, a calendar was used, which was based on a four-year luni-solar cycle, which gave a discrepancy with the solar year by 4 days in 4 years. In Egypt, a solar calendar was compiled from observations of Sirius and the Sun. The year in this calendar lasted 365 days, it had 12 months of 30 days, and at the end of the year 5 more days were added in honor of the “birth of the gods”.

In 46 BC, the Roman dictator Julius Caesar introduced an exact solar calendar following the Egyptian model - Julian. For the value of the calendar year was taken solar year, which was a little more than astronomical - 365 days 6 hours. January 1 was legalized as the beginning of the year.

In 26 BC. e. Roman emperor Augustus introduced the Alexandrian calendar, in which 1 more day was added every 4 years: instead of 365 days - 366 days a year, that is, 6 extra hours annually. For 4 years, this amounted to a whole day, which was added every 4 years, and the year in which one day was added in February was called a leap year. In essence, this was a refinement of the same Julian calendar.

For the Orthodox Church, the calendar was the basis of the yearly cycle of worship, and therefore it was very important to establish the simultaneity of holidays throughout the Church. The question of the time of the celebration of Easter was discussed at the First Ecumenical. Cathedral *, as one of the main ones. Paschalia (the rules for calculating the day of Easter) established at the Council, together with its basis - the Julian calendar - cannot be changed under pain of anathema - excommunication and rejection from the Church.

In 1582, the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Gregory XIII, introduced a new calendar style - Gregorian. The purpose of the reform was allegedly to more accurately determine the day of the celebration of Easter, so that the spring equinox would return by March 21. The Council of the Eastern Patriarchs of 1583 in Constantinople condemned the Gregorian calendar as violating the entire liturgical cycle and the canons of the Ecumenical Councils. It is important to note that the Gregorian calendar in some years violates one of the main church rules on the date of the celebration of Easter - it happens that the Catholic Easter falls earlier than the Jewish one, which is not allowed by the canons of the Church; also sometimes "disappears" Petrov post. At the same time, such a great learned astronomer as Copernicus (being a Catholic monk) did not consider the Gregorian calendar more accurate than the Julian, and did not recognize it. The new style was introduced by the authority of the Pope in place of the Julian calendar, or old style, and was gradually adopted in the Catholic countries. By the way, modern astronomers also use the Julian calendar in their calculations.

In Russia since the 10th century New Year March 1st was celebrated when, according to biblical tradition, God created the world. 5 centuries later, in 1492, in accordance with church tradition, the beginning of the year in Russia was moved to September 1, and they celebrated this way for more than 200 years. The months had purely Slavic names, the origin of which was associated with natural phenomena. Years were counted from the creation of the world.

December 19, 7208 ("from the creation of the world") Peter I signed a decree on the reform of the calendar. The calendar remained Julian, as before the reform, adopted by Russia from Byzantium along with baptism. A new beginning of the year was introduced - January 1 and the Christian chronology "from the Nativity of Christ." The decree of the king prescribed: “The day after December 31, 7208 from the creation of the world (the Orthodox Church considers the date of the creation of the world - September 1, 5508 BC) to be considered January 1, 1700 from the birth of Christ. The decree also ordered to celebrate this event with special solemnity: “And as a sign of that good undertaking and the new centenary century, in fun, congratulate each other on the New Year ... On the noble and passing streets at the gates and houses, make some decoration from pine trees and branches , spruce and juniper ... repair shooting from small cannons and guns, launch rockets, as many as anyone happens to, and light fires. The account of years from the Nativity of Christ is accepted by most states of the world. With the spread of atheism among the intelligentsia and historians, they began to avoid mentioning the name of Christ and replace the countdown of the centuries from His Nativity to the so-called "our era."

After the great October socialist revolution, the so-called new style (Gregorian) was introduced in our country on February 14, 1918.

The Gregorian calendar excluded three leap years within each 400th anniversary. With the passage of time, the difference between the Gregorian and the Julian calendar increases. The initial value of 10 days in the 16th century subsequently increases: in the 18th century - 11 days, in the 19th century - 12 days, in the 20th and XXI centuries- 13 days, in XXII - 14 days.
The Russian Orthodox Church, following the Ecumenical Councils, uses the Julian calendar, unlike the Catholics, who use the Gregorian.

At the same time, the introduction of the Gregorian calendar by the civil authorities led to some difficulties for Orthodox Christians. The New Year, which is celebrated by all civil society, has been moved to Advent, when it is inappropriate to have fun. In addition, by church calendar January 1 (December 19, old style) marks the memory of the holy martyr Boniface, who patronizes people who want to get rid of alcohol abuse - and our entire vast country celebrates this day with glasses in their hands. Orthodox people celebrate the New Year "in the old way", on January 14th.

Notes

1. Gregorian calendar("new style") introduced in 1582 AD. by Pope Gregory XIII so that the day of the vernal equinox corresponds to a certain day (March 21). Earlier dates are converted using the standard rules for Gregorian leap years. Attention! Can be converted up to 2400

2. Julian calendar ("old style") was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and consisted of 365 days; every third year was a leap year. This error was corrected by Emperor Augustus: from 8 BC to 8 AD. extra days leap years were skipped. Attention! Earlier dates are converted using the standard rules for Julian leap years.

3. Roman version the Julian calendar was introduced around 750 BC. Due to the fact that the number of days in the Roman calendar year varied, dates before 8 AD. are not accurate and are for demonstration purposes only. The chronology was conducted from the foundation of Rome (ab Urbe condita) - 753/754 BC. Attention! Dates prior to 753 BC not calculated.

4. Month names Roman calendar are agreed definitions for the word mensis - month: m. Januarius; m. Februarius; m. Martius; m. Aprilis; m. majus; m. Junius; m. Julius; m. Augustus; m. September; m. October; m. November; m. December.

The god of time - Janus two-faced and Maya - the goddess of fertile land

The Romans, like us, had 12 months (or rather, we, almost all modern world borrowed these months from them, often with names), but their year began in March. The months got their name from the names of gods, people, holidays and just numbers:

5. Numbers of the month determined by the phases of the moon. The first day of the month (new moon) was called the Kalendae; The 5th or 7th day of the month (the second phase of the moon) was called Nona (Nonae); The 13th or 15th day of the month (third phase, full moon) was called the Idus. Nones on the 7th, and Ides on the 15th day fell in March, May, July and October, in the remaining months of Nona - on the 5th, and Ides - on the 13th.
For example, August 22, 80 AD. designated as follows: eleven days before the September Kalends (ante diem XI Kalendas Septembres).

The first days of the month were determined by counting the days from the upcoming Nons, then, when the Nons passed - from the Ids, and last days were determined from future Kalends. If the day fell on Kalends, Nonas or Ides, then the name of this day was put in abl.pl., for example: February 1st - Kalendis Februariis, March 15th - Idibus Martiis, April 5th - Nonis Aprilibus. The day immediately preceding the Kalends, Nonams or Idams was denoted by the word pridie (on the eve) with acc.: January 31st - pridie Kalendas Februarias, March 14th - pridie Idus Martias, April 4th - pridie Nonas Apriles.

6. Days of the week. Seven days of the week became standard around the 3rd century AD. The names of the days of the week were given by celestial bodies:

7.Julian date is the number of days since noon on January 1, 4713 BC. This date is arbitrary and was chosen by historians only to harmonize various systems of chronology.

8. lillian date- this is an astronomical way of measuring time, which counts the number of days that have passed since the introduction of the Gregorian calendar (00:00:00 October 15, 1582). The date changes at midnight Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The Lillian date of October 15, 1582 has serial number 1. The Lillian date can be obtained from the Julian date by subtracting 2,299,160.5 and eliminating the decimal fraction from the result.
(c) The basis of the script is taken from the currently non-existent site http://www.24hourtranslations.co.uk/dates.htm

Why introduced a new style?

The Gregorian calendar gives a much more accurate approximation of the actual length of the year. Over the centuries, astronomical days were gradually shifted to which agricultural work and religious holidays were tied: the spring and autumn equinoxes, etc.

The main reason for the intervention of the Pope and the adoption of a new calendar was the gradual shift in relation to the Julian calendar of the day of the vernal equinox, which determined the date of Easter. Prior to Gregory XIII, Popes Paul III and Pius IV had already tried to update the calendar, but they were not successful. The preparation of the reform at the direction of Gregory XIII was carried out by the astronomers Christopher Clavius ​​and Aloysius Lily.

In 1583, Gregory XIII sent an embassy to Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople with a proposal to switch to a new calendar. At the end of 1583, at a council in Constantinople, the proposal was rejected as not in accordance with the canonical rules for celebrating Easter.

The transition to the Gregorian calendar resulted in the following changes:

• the new calendar immediately at the time of adoption shifted the current date by 10 days and corrected the accumulated errors;
• in the new calendar, a new, more accurate rule about a leap year began to operate - a leap year, that is, it contains 366 days if:
  1. year number is a multiple of 400 (1600, 2000, 2400);
  2. other years - the year number is a multiple of 4 and not a multiple of 100 (... 1892, 1896, 1904, 1908 ...);
  3. the rules for calculating the Christian Easter were modified.
• Over time, the Julian and Gregorian calendars diverge more and more, by three days every 400 years.

The transition to the Gregorian calendar

In some cases, the transition to the Gregorian calendar was accompanied by serious unrest. For example, when the Polish King Stefan Batory introduced a new calendar in Riga in 1584, local merchants rebelled, claiming that a 10-day shift disrupted their delivery schedules and resulted in significant losses. The rebels destroyed the Riga church and killed several municipal employees. It was only in the summer of 1589 that the "calendar disturbances" were dealt with.

In some countries that switched to the Gregorian calendar, the Julian chronology was subsequently resumed as a result of their accession to other states.

In Britain, which switched by decision of King George II to the Gregorian calendar on September 2, 1752, the date had to be shifted forward not by 10, but by 11 days, since a whole century had already passed since the entry into force of the new calendar in continental Europe and another extra day had accumulated . After the 2nd immediately came September 14th. The subjects were dissatisfied with the decision that made them older. Protests were seen in the country under the slogan: “Give us back our eleven days!”, which is present in particular on one of the engravings of the Election series created by William Hogarth. At times, riots broke out, sometimes leading to death, for example, in Bristol.

The introduction of the new calendar also had serious financial implications. In 1753 - the first full year according to the Gregorian calendar, the bankers refused to pay taxes, waiting for the required 11 days after the usual due date - March 25th. As a result, the financial year in the UK did not start until 6 April. This date has survived to this day as a symbol of the great changes that took place 250 years ago.

In Sweden, they decided to switch to the new calendar gradually, canceling leap days from 1700 to 1740. In 1700, the first leap day was abolished. Then the war started and they forgot about the translation. Thus, the country lived according to its own Swedish calendar. In 1711, Charles XII recognized this as impractical and decided to return to the old style and add 2 days in February. Therefore, in Sweden it was February 30, 1712. Only in 1753 a new style was introduced. At the same time, after February 17, March 1 immediately followed.

Some countries switched to a new style in parts, for example, various cantons of Switzerland adopted a calendar reform for almost 120 years!

The transition to the Gregorian calendar in Alaska after its sale by Russia was unusual, since there it was combined with the transfer of the date line. Therefore, after Friday, October 5, 1867, according to the old style, another Friday, October 18, 1867, according to the new style, followed.

In 1872, Japan decided to switch from the traditional (lunisolar) calendar to the Gregorian calendar, so that the day after "the second day of the twelfth month of the fifth year of Meiji" became January 1, 1873, as a result of which the Japanese calendar was brought into line with the calendar major Western powers (with the exception of Russia). However, official documents continue to use the nengō system at the same time. For example, the year 1868 could be written as the first year of Meiji, 1912 as Taishō 1, 1926 as Showa 1, 1989 as Heisei 1, and so on. In common practice, however, the chronology from the Nativity of Christ is used according to the “Western calendar” (seireki), which became the main one in Japan during the 20th century.

Korea adopted the Gregorian calendar on January 1, 1896. Although according to the adopted calendar, the correct numbering of months and days was established, but even in the continuation of 1895-1897, the old numbering of years continued according to the first year of the reign of the Joseon dynasty, according to which 1896 of the Gregorian calendar corresponded to 1392 of Joseon. Then counts of years from various historical events were used, until from 1962 a count of years identical to the Gregorian calendar was established. AT North Korea Since July 8, 1997, a new "Juche reckoning" has been adopted, the beginning of which is 1912 - the year of Kim Il Sung's birth.

The Republic of China officially adopted the Gregorian calendar at its proclamation on January 1, 1912. With the unification of China under the Kuomintang in October 1928, the National Government decreed that the Gregorian calendar would be used from January 1, 1929. Nevertheless, China retained the Chinese tradition of numbering months, and the first year of the proclamation of the Republic of China - 1912 - was appointed as the beginning of the chronology. This system is still used in Taiwan, which considers itself the successor to the Republic of China. After the proclamation in 1949 of the Chinese People's Republic, mainland China continued to use the Gregorian calendar, but the numbering and chronology introduced by the previous government was canceled, and a correspondence was established with the chronology from the Nativity of Christ, adopted in the USSR and in the West.

In Russia(in the territory under the control of the Soviets) the Gregorian calendar was introduced by a decree of January 26, 1918 of the Council of People's Commissars, according to which in 1918 after January 31, February 14 will follow. In the territories of the former Russian Empire under the control of others state formations that arose after the fall of the Provisional Government, the dates of the official introduction of the new style are different. So, the Provisional Siberian Government introduced a new style by decree of August 31, 1918, deciding to consider October 1, 1918 as the day of October 14, 1918.

The last to adopt the Gregorian calendar were Greece in 1924, Turkey in 1926 and Egypt in 1928. Until now, only Ethiopia and Thailand have not switched to the Gregorian calendar.

Religions

Since 1923, most of the local Orthodox churches, with the exception of the Russian, Jerusalem, Georgian and Serbian, have adopted a similar to the Gregorian "new Julian" calendar, more accurate and coinciding with the Gregorian until 2800.

Also the Gregorian calendar was introduced by Patriarch Tikhon for use in the Russian Orthodox Church on October 15, 1923.

Patriarch Tikhon

However, this innovation, although it was accepted by almost all parishes, caused confusion among many hierarchs of the church, which was unnecessary at this difficult time, so already on November 8, 1923, Patriarch Tikhon ordered "the universal and mandatory introduction of a new style into church use is temporarily postponed." Thus, the new style was valid in the Russian Orthodox Church for only 24 days.

In 1948, at the Moscow Conference of Orthodox Churches, it was decided that Easter, like all movable holidays, should be calculated according to the Alexandrian Paschalia (Julian calendar), and non-transitory ones - according to the calendar according to which the Local Church lives.

How to recalculate past dates?

If historians around the world did not agree on how and which calendar to use to date historical events, this would lead to inconsistency and confusion in determining dates.

What are the errors in date conversion?

1. In connection with the transition of countries to the Gregorian calendar at different times, factual errors of perception may occur: for example, it is sometimes said that Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died on the same day - April 23, 1616. In fact, Shakespeare died 10 days later than Inca Garcilaso, since in Catholic Spain the new style was in effect from the very introduction of his pope, and Great Britain switched to the new calendar only in 1752, and 11 days later than Cervantes (who died on 22 April, but was buried on April 23).
2. There are other kinds of errors when, for some reason, to get the date of a historical event according to the Gregorian calendar, they add the number of days that made up the difference between the calendars at the time the country switched to a new calendar style. That is, they spread the difference in the number of days of calendars into the depths of centuries.

   Our State Duma demonstrated such a mistake, appointing a public holiday on November 4 - the deputies added 13 days to the date of the capture of Kitay-Gorod on October 22, 1612, although the difference between the calendars then was only 10 days. This is not to mention the fact that the Kremlin itself, or rather the Kremlin garrison of Polish troops, surrendered much later than this date.

   In addition, the State Duma also thoughtlessly appointed some memorable military dates:
   The battle on the ice took place on April 5, 1242, a memorable date was set for April 28 (the difference is again 13 days);
   Victory Day of the Russian regiments led by Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy over the Mongol-Tatar troops in the Battle of Kulikovo; happened on September 8, 1380, for some reason the date was set for September 21 (13 days);

   Moreover, these errors are selective, most of the dates are correctly calculated, which especially emphasizes the carelessness of recalculating the previously mentioned dates:
   Victory Day of the Russian army under the command of Peter the Great over the Swedes in the Battle of Poltava; happened on June 27, 1709, the date was rightly set for July 8 (11 days);
   Day of the Borodino battle of the Russian army under the command of M. I. Kutuzov with the French army; happened on August 26, 1812, the date was correctly set for July 5-7 (12 days);

3. If two countries that switched to a new style in different centuries participated in a historical event, careless historians of both countries can make even more confusion, unknowingly recalculating the old date each in their own way. The same Swedes, the date of the Battle of the Neva (July 15, 1240 according to the Julian calendar) could incorrectly recalculate to July 26 according to the Gregorian calendar (+11 days), and our same unfortunate historians would recalculate to July 28 (+13 days).

To avoid such confusion date translation rules adopted:

• To designate all dates before 1582 AD. the most commonly used is the Julian calendar, introduced only from January 1, 45 BC. e.
• Dates before the introduction of the Julian calendar on January 1, 45 BC. e. are designated by the so-called. proleptic Julian calendar. Proleptic (from the Greek. "anticipating") calendar - a calendar extended for the period before its introduction. Simply put, the dates are calculated according to the Julian calendar, despite the fact that the calendar has not even been invented yet.
• To recalculate dates after 1582 in those countries where the Julian calendar continued to operate at the time of the historical event, the date is recalculated to the Gregorian calendar by adding the number of days by which the calendars differed at the time of the event.
• In regions where the Julian calendar was not used, the dating of all events is made according to the proleptic Gregorian calendar (which determines the dating of events according to the rules of the Gregorian calendar before its appearance on October 15, 1582).