Holidays

When we switched to a new style. Our calendars: why does the Russian Church live according to the old style? Gregorian calendar and Orthodoxy

Before going to gregorian calendar, which occurred in different countries at different times, the Julian calendar was used everywhere. It is named in honor of the Roman emperor Guy Julius Caesar, who carried out, as is believed, in 46 BC, a calendar reform.

The Julian calendar is apparently based on the Egyptian solar calendar. The year on the Julian calendar was 365.25 days. But a year can only be an integer day. Therefore, it was supposed: three years to be considered equal to 365 days, and the next fourth year after them equal to 366 days. This year, with an additional day, they began to call it a leap year.

B. met a conscious post. Another date associated with Christmas is January. “The fact that in some countries, such as Spain, Christmas presents are celebrated in January, is simply based on regional customs,” says Libor Olaf Lumma. "In the early period - up to a century - but January was in the church calendar in a certain competition." In Latin Christianity, that is, in Western Europe and Western North Africa, December was more firmly established as a holiday, in Greek-speaking Christianity - it was the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean - rather January. “The development ultimately led to both days being celebrated in both Latin and Greek regions,” Lumma explains.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII issued a bull ordering "to return the vernal equinox on March 21." It by that time had gone from the indicated date for ten days, which were withdrawn from that 1582 year. And so that the error would not accumulate in the future, it was prescribed to throw out three days out of every 400 years. Not leap years became, the numbers of which are divisible by 100, but not divisible by 400.

In the churches of the Latin tradition - Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Old Catholic - the birth of Jesus Christ in December and the worship of Christ by three sages are celebrated in December. The churches of the Greek tradition - for example, the Orthodox monuments in December of both birth and adoration by the three sages, and the peculiarity is the ancient tradition of Armenia, which celebrates only January as a holiday - and, according to the Julian Census, Conclusion: Much more important than a specific date and the ubiquitous the consumer world surrounding Christmas is the faith expressed in this holiday: God becomes a man among people.

Dad threatened to excommunicate anyone who did not switch to the Gregorian calendar. Almost immediately, Catholic countries crossed over to him. After some time, Protestant states followed suit. In Orthodox Russia and Greece, the Julian calendar was adhered to until the first half of the 20th century.

Which calendar is more accurate

Disputes about which of the calendars - Gregorian or Julian, more precisely, do not cease to this day. On the one hand, the year of the Gregorian calendar is closer to the so-called tropical year - the interval during which the Earth makes a complete revolution around the Sun. According to modern data, the tropical year is 365.2422 days. On the other hand, scientists in astronomical calculations and currently use the Julian calendar.

In a picture that was already widespread in the early Church, one can say: "God is pouring out of love for a person in order to raise people to him." A century added this little mistake in ten days. The night matches that took place at the Nicene Council in 325 on.

An exception to this was the years, which were divided not only by 100, but also by 400. But the Protestant countries had problems with “papist” regulation. For more than a hundred years, the Germans counted on two different calendars, which may have caused some confusion. In other European countries, it took a little longer.

The goal of the calendar reform of Gregory XIII was not to bring the duration of the calendar year closer to the size of the tropical year. In his time, such a concept as a tropical year did not exist. The aim of the reform was to comply with the decisions of ancient Christian cathedrals on the timing of the celebration of Easter. However, the task was not completely solved.

Orthodox Eastern Europe, which adhered to the Julian calendar until the turn of the century, did the most difficult. By the way, Russian Christmas falls on. No answer has been selected. No messages. . Send a request We look forward to your contributions to our articles and wish you a fun exchange of views on our pages! Check out our commentary recommendations.

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The widespread belief that the Gregorian calendar is “more correct” and “advance” the Julian calendar is just a propaganda stamp. The Gregorian calendar, according to some scientists, is astronomically unjustified and is a distortion of the Julian calendar.

The Gregorian calendar is currently the most common chronological system, named after Pope Gregory XII, who insisted on its introduction in the Catholic world. Many mistakenly believe that it was Gregory who invented this system, however, this is far from the case. According to one version, the main inspirer of this idea was the Italian physician Aloysius, who theoretically substantiated the need to change the pre-existing calendar.

Calendar A personal calendar created by its user Johann Jacob Ashmann. BC. Julian K. reformed in use. The Julian year was considered an average of 365 days 6 hours and was compared with an astronomer. The year is too long 11 minutes 13 seconds; every fourth year was a leap year. As for the beginning of the year, various types were used. The natal style was also used in the French-speaking part of the Lausanne diocese in the nineteenth century; over the course of a century, Easter style was introduced.

A year over the astronomical, to eliminate, he missed ten days. From now on, the omission of three leap days for 400 years, the difference between citizens. and an astronomer. The year will be reduced to 26 seconds. A month later, Obvalden and Nidwalden adopted the new To. After overcoming the resistance among the people. In Valis, the efforts of the Sitten Bf began. In Graubünden, the absence of a central government and confessional separation did not give unity.

The problem of chronology at all times was quite acute, because the development of historical science in the country, and even the worldview of ordinary citizens, largely depend on what is taken as a reference point and what day, month and year are equal.

Many chronological systems existed and exist: some take the movement of the moon around the Earth as the basis, others consider the creation of the world as the starting point, and others as the departure of Muhammad from Mecca. In many civilizations, each change of ruler led to a change of calendar. At the same time, one of the main difficulties is that neither earthly days, nor earthly years last a round number of hours and days, the whole question is - what to do with the remaining balance?

Regulation of the calendar issue: In the book. Reformed followed only in the Council, accepting new style   and therefore was lost. How many days do you have a year? The answer is almost up to 2 2, but who decided how 365 days were built? We are currently using, practically all over the world, a system for measuring the passage of time and its origin in Europe.

The origin of this change was the result of agreements in the Trent Council. The goal was to bridge the gap that had arisen since the time of the first Council of Nicaea, while the days were set on which Easter was to be celebrated and, therefore, other religious holidays. That is, what had to be done was to adapt the civil calendar to the tropical year.

One of the first most successful systems was the so-called so by name in the board of which he appeared. The main innovation was the fact that one day was added to every fourth year. This year began to be called a leap year.

However, the introduction only temporarily alleviated the problem. On the one hand, the discrepancy between the calendar year and the tropical one continued to accumulate, although not as fast as before, and on the other hand, Easter day fell on different days of the week, although, according to most Catholics, Easter should always be on Sunday .

The origin of the Gregorian calendar

The opening of this gap came from the University of Salamanca, where several studies on the passage of days were conducted. The Julian calendar is marked on January 1 as the beginning of the year, but with 365 days and six hours. The leap year trying to restore this watch included a day between February 25 and 24. Also in years divisible by four. But the Julian calendar had an error of 11 minutes and 14 seconds. In addition, the days were inappropriate.

This directly contradicted what was written in the Bible. It states that Jesus died in the Jewish month of Nisan. Therefore, the pope also decided to leave on March 21 to celebrate Easter in the spring. Before the current calendar spread around the world, dozens coexisted on all continents. different ways   counting time, many of which remain in use to a greater or lesser extent. The unification of time had a number of consequences of a wide variety, but today we will talk about one of them: the days that have disappeared.

In 1582, after numerous calculations and based on clear astronomical calculations, a transition to the Gregorian calendar occurred in Western Europe. This year in many European countries, immediately after October 4, the fifteenth came.


The Gregorian calendar repeats in many respects the main provisions of its predecessor: the usual year also consists of 365 days, and the leap year consists of 366, and the number of days only changes in February - 28 or 29. The main difference is that the Gregorian calendar excludes everything from the leap year years that are multiples of a hundred, with the exception of those divisible by 400. In addition, if the Julian calendar New Year   Since September 1st or March 1st, then in the new chronological system it was initially announced on December 1st, and then shifted for another month.

The origins of the Gregorian calendar date back to the reform that Julius Caesar made of the Roman calendar in the year 706 of the Roman era, which is equivalent to 46 BC. By that time, the official calendar in the Empire was already twelve months, but only 355 days, which caused an obvious gap between the duration of the calendar year and the solar year. Since it was a syndicate, no matter where you looked, Julio Cesar, advised by Egyptian astronomers, reformed the Roman calendar to adapt it as much as possible to the real duration of the year.

In Russia, under the influence of the church new calendar   For a long time they did not recognize it, believing that according to it the whole sequence of evangelical events was broken. The Gregorian calendar in Russia was introduced only at the beginning of 1918 after when, immediately after the first of February, the fourteenth arrived.

Despite much greater accuracy, the Gregorian system is still imperfect. However, if in the Julian calendar an extra day was formed in 128 years, then in the Gregorian calendar it will require 3200.

Thus born julian calendar with its 365 days and its leap years 366 times in four years, which will be used in almost all of Europe for more than one and a half millennia. The Julian calendar had a slight discrepancy. He believed that the duration of the year is 365 days and six hours, so every four years these six hours will be added to form a new day. But the actual sunny year lasts a little less, which does not matter at that time when one or two generations pass on the surface of the earth, but on a millennium scale, something less than the lag day for each century since the reform ultimately was added.