Why doesn't the Orthodox Church switch to the Gregorian calendar? Many are sincerely convinced that there are two Christmases - Catholic on December 25 and Orthodox on January 7. Wouldn't switching to the Gregorian calendar save a person from having to do once again choice between truth and slyness? My friend's mother is a sincere believer, and all the years that I have known her, for her, the New Year is a contradiction between fasting and a universal holiday. We live in a secular state with its own rules and regulations, which in last years took many steps towards the Church. Let these steps correct past mistakes, but if you go towards each other, you can meet much faster than waiting for a meeting and not moving yourself.

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

The calendar problem is incommensurably more serious than the question of which table we will sit at once a year in new year's eve: for fast or lean. The calendar concerns the sacred times of the people, their holidays. The calendar determines the order and rhythm of religious life. Therefore, the question of calendar changes seriously affects the spiritual foundations of society.

The world exists in time. God the Creator established a certain periodicity in the movement of the luminaries so that a person could measure and organize time. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to separate the day from the night, and for signs, and times, and days, and years.(Gen. 1:14). Long time counting systems based on apparent motions celestial bodies, it is customary to call calendars (from calendae - the first day of each month among the Romans). The cyclic movement of such astronomical bodies as the Earth, the Sun and the Moon is of major importance for the construction of calendars. The need to organize time appears already at the dawn of human history. Without this, the social and economic-practical life of any people is inconceivable. However, not only these reasons made the calendar necessary. Without a calendar, the religious life of any nation is not possible. In the worldview of ancient man, the calendar was a visible and impressive expression of the triumph of Divine order over chaos. The majestic constancy in the movement of the heavenly bodies, the mysterious and irreversible movement of time suggested the rational structure of the world.

By the time of the birth of Christian statehood, humanity already had a fairly diverse calendar experience. There were calendars: Hebrew, Chaldean, Egyptian, Chinese, Hindu and others. However, according to Divine Providence, the calendar of the Christian era was the Julian calendar, developed in 46 and which came from January 1, 45 BC. to replace the imperfect lunar Roman calendar. It was developed by the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigen on behalf of Julius Caesar, which then connected the power of the dictator and consul with the title of pontifex maximus (high priest). Therefore, the calendar began to be called Julian. The period of complete revolution of the Earth around the Sun was taken as the astronomical year, and the calendar year was determined to be 365 days long. There was a difference with the astronomical year, which was slightly longer - 365.2425 days (5 hours 48 minutes 47 seconds). To eliminate this discrepancy, a leap year (annus bissextilis) was introduced: every four years, one day was added in February. In the new calendar, there was a place for its outstanding initiator: the Roman month of Quintilius was renamed July (on behalf of Julius).

The fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council, held in Nicaea in 325, decided to celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the full moon, which falls on the period after the vernal equinox. At that time, according to the Julian calendar, the spring equinox fell on March 21. The Holy Fathers of the Council, based on the gospel sequence of events connected with the death of the Cross and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, took care that the New Testament Pascha, while maintaining its historical connection with the Old Testament Pascha (which is always celebrated on Nisan 14), would be independent of it and always celebrated later. If there is a match, then the rules prescribe to move to the full moon of the next month. This was so significant for the fathers of the Council that they agreed to ensure that this main Christian holiday was mobile. At the same time, the solar calendar was combined with the lunar calendar: in Julian calendar, strictly oriented to the Sun, the motion of the Moon with a change in its phases was introduced. To calculate the phases of the moon, the so-called cycles of the moon were used, that is, the periods after which the phases of the moon returned approximately to the same days of the Julian year. There are several cycles. The Roman Church used the 84-year cycle until almost the 6th century. Since the 3rd century, the Alexandrian church has used the most accurate 19-year cycle, discovered by the Athenian mathematician of the 5th century BC. Metonome. In the 6th century, the Roman Church adopted the Alexandrian Paschalia. It was a fundamentally important event. All Christians began to celebrate Easter on the same day. This unity continued until the 16th century, when the unity of Western and Eastern Christians in the celebration of Holy Pascha and other holidays was broken. The calendar was reformed by Pope Gregory XIII. Its preparation was entrusted to a commission headed by the Jesuit Chrysophus Claudius. Developed new calendar teacher of the University of Perugia Luigi Lilio (1520-1576). Only astronomical considerations were taken into account, not religious ones. Since the day of the vernal equinox, which during the Council of Nicaea was March 21, shifted by ten days (by the second half of the 16th century, according to the Julian calendar, the moment of the equinox came on March 11), the numbers of the month shifted 10 days forward: immediately after the 4th the number should have been not the 5th, as usual, but October 15th, 1582. The duration of the Gregorian year became equal to 365.24250 days of the tropical year, i.e. more by 26 seconds (0.00030 days).

Although the calendar year as a result of the reform has become closer to the tropical year, however, the Gregorian calendar has a number of significant shortcomings. It is more difficult to keep track of long periods in the Gregorian calendar than in the Julian. The duration of calendar months is different and ranges from 28 to 31 days. Months of different lengths alternate randomly. The duration of quarters is different (from 90 to 92 days). The first half of the year is always shorter than the second (by three days in a simple year and two days in a leap year). The days of the week do not coincide with any fixed dates. Therefore, not only years, but also months begin on different days of the week. Most months have "split weeks". All this creates considerable difficulties for the work of planning and financial bodies (they complicate the calculation of wages, make it difficult to compare the results of work for different months, etc.). Could not keep the Gregorian calendar for the 21st of March and the day of the spring equinox. The offset of the equinox, discovered in the II century. BC Greek scientist Hipparchus, in astronomy is called precession. It is caused by the fact that the Earth has the shape not of a ball, but of a spheroid, oblate at the poles. Attractive forces from the Sun and the Moon act differently on different parts of the spheroidal Earth. As a result, with the simultaneous rotation of the Earth and its movement around the Sun, the axis of rotation of the Earth describes a cone near the perpendicular to the plane of the orbit. Due to precession, the vernal equinox moves along the ecliptic to the west, i.e., towards the apparent movement of the Sun.

The imperfections of the Gregorian calendar caused discontent as early as the 19th century. Even then, proposals began to be put forward for a new calendar reform. Professor of Dorpat (now Tartu) University I.G. Medler (1794-1874) suggested in 1864 that instead of the Gregorian style, a more accurate account be used, with thirty-one leap years every 128 years. The American astronomer, founder and first president of the American Astronomical Society, Simon Newcomb (1835-1909), advocated a return to the Julian calendar. Thanks to the proposal of the Russian Astronomical Society in 1899, a special Commission was formed under it on the issue of the reform of the calendar in Russia. This Commission met from May 3, 1899 to February 21, 1900. Prominent church researcher Professor VV Bolotov took part in the work. He resolutely advocated the preservation of the Julian calendar: “If it is believed that Russia should abandon the Julian style, then the reform of the calendar, without sinning against logic, should be expressed as follows:

a) uneven months should be replaced by uniform ones;

b) by the measure of a solar tropical year, it should reduce all years of the conventional accepted chronology;

c) Medler's amendment should be preferred to the Gregorian one, as more accurate.

But I myself find the abolition of the Julian style in Russia by no means undesirable. I still remain a determined admirer of the Julian calendar. Its extreme simplicity is its scientific advantage over all corrected calendars. I think that the cultural mission of Russia on this issue is to keep the Julian calendar alive for a few more centuries and through this to make it easier for Western peoples to return from the Gregorian reform that no one needs to the unspoiled old style. In 1923 the Church of Constantinople introduced New Julian calendar. The calendar was developed by the Yugoslav astronomer, professor of mathematics and celestial mechanics at the University of Belgrade, Milutin Milanković (1879 - 1956). This calendar, which is based on a 900-year cycle, will coincide completely with the Gregorian for the next 800 years (until 2800). The 11 Local Orthodox Churches that switched to the New Julian calendar retained the Alexandrian Paschalia based on the Julian calendar, and fixed feasts began to be celebrated on Gregorian dates.

First of all, the transition to the Gregorian calendar (which is what the letter is talking about) means the destruction of that paschal, which is a great achievement of the holy fathers of the 4th century. Our domestic scientist-astronomer Professor E.A. Predtechensky wrote: “This collective work, in all likelihood by many unknown authors, was made in such a way that it still remains unsurpassed. The later Roman Paschalia, now adopted by the Western Church, is, in comparison with the Alexandrian, so heavy and clumsy that it resembles a popular print next to an artistic depiction of the same subject. For all that, this terribly complex and clumsy machine still does not achieve its intended goal. (Predtechensky E. "Church time: reckoning and critical review existing rules definitions of Easter. St. Petersburg, 1892, p. 3-4).

The transition to the Gregorian calendar will also lead to serious canonical violations, because Apostolic Canons it is not allowed to celebrate Holy Pascha before the Jewish Passover and on the same day with the Jews: If anyone, a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, celebrates the holy day of Pascha before the spring equinox with the Jews: let him be expelled from the sacred order(rule 7). The Gregorian calendar leads Catholics to break this rule. They celebrated Passover before the Jews in 1864, 1872, 1883, 1891, together with the Jews in 1805, 1825, 1903, 1927 and 1981. Since the transition to the Gregorian calendar would add 13 days, Petrovsky's fast would be reduced by the same number of days, since it ends annually on the same day - June 29 / July 12. In some years, the Petrovsky post would simply disappear. It's about about those years when there is a late Easter. It is also necessary to think about the fact that the Lord God performs His Sign at the Holy Sepulcher (descent of the Holy Fire) on Holy Saturday according to the Julian calendar.

For all of us, the calendar is a familiar and even ordinary thing. This ancient human invention fixes days, numbers, months, seasons, periodicity of natural phenomena, which are based on the system of movement of celestial bodies: the Moon, the Sun, the stars. The Earth sweeps through the solar orbit, leaving years and centuries behind.

Moon calendar

In one day the Earth makes one full turn around its own axis. It goes around the sun once a year. A solar or astronomical year lasts three hundred and sixty-five days, five hours, forty-eight minutes, and forty-six seconds. Therefore, there is no integer number of days. Hence the difficulty in drawing up an accurate calendar for the correct timing.

The ancient Romans and Greeks used a convenient and simple calendar. The rebirth of the moon occurs at intervals of 30 days, and to be precise, in twenty-nine days, twelve hours and 44 minutes. That is why the days, and then the months, could be counted according to the changes of the moon.

In the beginning, this calendar had ten months, which were named after the Roman gods. From the third century to ancient world an analogue based on a four-year lunisolar cycle was used, which gave an error in the value solar year one day.

In Egypt, they used a solar calendar based on observations of the Sun and Sirius. The year according to it was three hundred and sixty-five days. It consisted of twelve months of thirty days. After its expiration, five more days were added. This was formulated as "in honor of the birth of the gods."

History of the Julian calendar

Further changes took place in 46 BC. e. Emperor ancient rome Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar following the Egyptian model. In it, the solar year was taken as the value of the year, which was slightly longer than the astronomical one and was three hundred and sixty-five days and six hours. The first of January was the beginning of the year. Christmas according to the Julian calendar began to be celebrated on the seventh of January. So there was a transition to a new chronology.

In gratitude for the reform, the Senate of Rome renamed the month Quintilis, when Caesar was born, into Julius (now it is July). A year later, the emperor was killed, and the Roman priests, either out of ignorance or deliberately, again began to confuse the calendar and began to declare every third year a leap year. As a result, from the forty-fourth to the ninth year BC. e. instead of nine, twelve leap years were declared.

The Emperor Octivian August saved the situation. By his order, there were no leap years for the next sixteen years, and the rhythm of the calendar was restored. In his honor, the month of Sextilis was renamed Augustus (August).

For the Orthodox Church, the simultaneity of church holidays was very important. The date of the celebration of Easter was discussed at the First and this issue became one of the main ones. The rules established at this Council for the exact calculation of this celebration cannot be changed under pain of anathema.

Gregorian calendar

The head of the Catholic Church, Pope Gregory the Thirteenth, approved and introduced a new calendar in 1582. It was called "Gregorian". It would seem that the Julian calendar was good for everyone, according to which Europe lived for more than sixteen centuries. However, Gregory the Thirteenth considered that the reform was necessary to determine a more accurate date for the celebration of Easter, as well as to ensure that the day returned to the twenty-first of March.

In 1583, the Council of the Eastern Patriarchs in Constantinople condemned the adoption of the Gregorian calendar as violating the liturgical cycle and calling into question the canons of the Ecumenical Councils. Indeed, in some years it violates the basic rule of celebrating Easter. It happens that Bright Sunday Catholic falls in time earlier than Jewish Easter, and this is not allowed by the canons of the church.

The chronology in Russia

On the territory of our country, starting from the tenth century, the New Year was celebrated on the first of March. Five centuries later, in 1492, in Russia, the beginning of the year was moved, according to church traditions, to the first of September. This went on for over two hundred years.

On December 19, seven thousand two hundred and eight, Tsar Peter the Great issued a decree that the Julian calendar in Russia, adopted from Byzantium along with baptism, was still valid. The start date has changed. It has been officially approved in the country. New Year according to the Julian calendar was to be celebrated on the first of January "from the Nativity of Christ".

After the revolution of the fourteenth of February, one thousand nine hundred and eighteen, new rules were introduced in our country. The Gregorian calendar ruled out three within each four hundred years. It was this that was adopted.

What is the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars? The difference between in the calculation of leap years. It increases over time. If in the sixteenth century it was ten days, then in the seventeenth it increased to eleven, in the eighteenth century it was already equal to twelve days, thirteen in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and by the twenty-second century this figure will reach fourteen days.

The Orthodox Church of Russia uses the Julian calendar, following the decisions of the Ecumenical Councils, and the Catholics use the Gregorian.

You can often hear the question of why the whole world celebrates Christmas on the twenty-fifth of December, and we - on the seventh of January. The answer is quite obvious. The Orthodox Russian Church celebrates Christmas according to the Julian calendar. This also applies to other major church holidays.

Today, the Julian calendar in Russia is called the "old style". At present, its scope is very limited. It is used by some Orthodox Churches - Serbian, Georgian, Jerusalem and Russian. In addition, the Julian calendar is used in some Orthodox monasteries in Europe and the United States.

in Russia

In our country, the issue of calendar reform has been raised repeatedly. In 1830 it was set Russian Academy Sciences. Prince K.A. Lieven, who at that time was the Minister of Education, considered this proposal untimely. Only after the revolution, the issue was submitted to a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars Russian Federation. Already on January 24, Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar.

Features of the transition to the Gregorian calendar

For Orthodox Christians, the introduction of a new style by the authorities caused certain difficulties. The new year turned out to be shifted into when any fun is not welcome. Moreover, January 1 is the day of memory of St. Boniface, who patronizes everyone who wants to give up drunkenness, and our country celebrates this day with a glass in hand.

Gregorian and Julian calendar: differences and similarities

Both of them consist of three hundred and sixty-five days in a normal year and three hundred and sixty-six in a leap year, have 12 months, 4 of which are 30 days and 7 are 31 days, February is either 28 or 29. The difference lies only in the frequency of leap years. years.

According to the Julian calendar, a leap year occurs every three years. In this case, it turns out that the calendar year is 11 minutes longer than the astronomical year. In other words, after 128 years there is an extra day. The Gregorian calendar also recognizes that the fourth year is a leap year. The exceptions are those years that are a multiple of 100, as well as those that can be divided by 400. Based on this, an extra day appears only after 3200 years.

What awaits us in the future

Unlike the Gregorian, the Julian calendar is simpler for chronology, but it is ahead of the astronomical year. The basis of the first became the second. According to the Orthodox Church, the Gregorian calendar violates the sequence of many biblical events.

Due to the fact that the Julian and Gregorian calendars increase the difference in dates over time, Orthodox churches that use the first of them will celebrate Christmas from 2101 not on January 7, as it happens now, but on January 8, but from nine thousand of the nine hundred and first year, the celebration will take place on the eighth of March. In the liturgical calendar, the date will still correspond to the twenty-fifth of December.

In countries where the Julian calendar was used by the beginning of the twentieth century, such as Greece, the dates of all historical events that occurred after October fifteenth, one thousand five hundred and eighty-two, are nominally noted on the same dates when they happened.

Consequences of calendar reforms

Currently, the Gregorian calendar is fairly accurate. According to many experts, it does not need to be changed, but the question of its reform has been discussed for several decades. In this case, we are not talking about the introduction of a new calendar or any new methods of accounting for leap years. It is about rearranging the days of the year so that the beginning of each year falls on one day, such as Sunday.

Today, calendar months are from 28 to 31 days, the length of a quarter ranges from ninety to ninety-two days, with the first half of the year shorter than the second by 3-4 days. This complicates the work of financial and planning authorities.

What are the new calendar projects

Over the past one hundred and sixty years, various projects have been proposed. In 1923, a calendar reform committee was created under the League of Nations. After the end of the Second World War, this issue was referred to the Economic and Social Committee of the United Nations.

Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of them, preference is given to two options - the 13-month calendar of the French philosopher Auguste Comte and the proposal of the French astronomer G. Armelin.

In the first variant, the month always starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday. In a year, one day has no name at all and is inserted at the end of the last thirteenth month. In a leap year, such a day occurs in the sixth month. According to experts, this calendar has many significant shortcomings, so more attention is paid to the project of Gustave Armelin, according to which the year consists of twelve months and four quarters of ninety-one days each.

In the first month of the quarter there are thirty-one days, in the next two - thirty. The first day of each year and quarter begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday. In a normal year, one extra day is added after December 30th, and in a leap year after June 30th. This project has been approved by France, India, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and some other countries. For a long time the General Assembly delayed the approval of the project, and recently this work in the UN has stopped.

Will Russia return to the "old style"

It is rather difficult for foreigners to explain what the concept of "Old New Year" means, why we celebrate Christmas later than Europeans. Today there are people who want to make the transition to the Julian calendar in Russia. Moreover, the initiative comes from well-deserved and respected people. In their opinion, 70% of Russian Orthodox Russians have the right to live according to the calendar used by the Russian Orthodox Church.

13 February 2012

Why do we have the October Revolution in November, Christmas is not with everyone, and there is a strange holiday under the no less strange name “Old New Year"? And what happened in Russia from the first to the fourteenth of February 1918? Nothing. Because this time was not in Russia - neither the first of February, nor the second, nor further until the fourteenth did not happen that year. According to the "Decree on the introduction of the Western European calendar in the Russian Republic."