There are no problems with measuring certain quantities. When it comes to length, volume, weight - no one has any disagreements. But as soon as you touch the dimension of time, you will immediately come across different points of view. Special attention should be paid to what the Julian and Gregorian calendars are; the difference between them has really changed the world.

Difference between Catholic and Orthodox holidays

It's no secret that Catholics celebrate Christmas not on January 7, like the Orthodox, but on December 25. The situation is the same with other Christian holidays.

A whole series of questions arises:

• Where did these 13 days difference come from?
• Why can't we celebrate the same event on the same day?
• Will the 13 day difference ever change?
• Maybe it will shrink over time and disappear altogether?
• At least find out what all this is connected with?

To answer these questions we will have to mentally travel to pre-Christian Europe. However, there was no talk of any kind of integral Europe at that time; civilized Rome was surrounded by many disparate barbarian tribes. Subsequently, they were all captured and became part of the Empire, but that's another conversation.

However, history is written by the victors, and we will never know to what extent “ barbaric"were neighbors of Rome. It's no secret that great rulers have a hand in all events in the state. Julius Caesar was no exception when I decided to introduce a new calendar - Julian .

What calendars did you use and for how long?

The ruler cannot be denied modesty, but he made too much of a contribution to the history of the whole world to be criticized over trifles. The calendar he proposed:

1. It was much more accurate than previous versions.
2. All years consisted of 365 days.
3. Every fourth year there was 1 more day.
4. The calendar was consistent with astronomical data known at that time.
5. For one and a half thousand years, not a single worthy analogue has been proposed.

But nothing stands still; at the end of the 14th century, a new calendar was introduced, with the help of the then pope, Gregory XIII. This version of the countdown boiled down to the fact that:

• A normal year has 365 days. A leap year contains the same 366.
• But now not every fourth year was considered a leap year. Now if the year ends with two zeros, and at the same time divisible by both 4 and 100, it is not a leap year.
• For simple example, 2000 was a leap year, but 2100, 2200 and 2300 will not be leap years. Unlike 2400.

Why was it necessary to change something, was it really impossible to leave everything as it was? The fact is that, according to astronomers, The Julian calendar is not entirely accurate.

The error is only 1/128 of a day, but over 128 years a whole day accumulates, and over five centuries - almost four full days.

How does the Julian calendar differ from the Gregorian calendar?

Fundamental differences between the two calendars are that:

• Julian was adopted much earlier.
• It lasted 1000 years longer than the Gregorian.
• Unlike the Gregorian calendar, the Julian calendar is now almost never used anywhere.
• The Julian calendar is used only for calculating Orthodox holidays.
• The Gregorian calendar is more accurate and avoids minor errors.
• The calendar adopted by Gregory XIII is presented as the final version, absolutely correct system reference that will not change in the future.
• In the Julian calendar, every 4th year is a leap year.
• In Gregorian, years that end in 00 and are not divisible by 4 are not leap years.
• Almost every century ends with the difference between the two calendars increasing by another day.
• The exception is centuries divisible by four.
• According to the Gregorian calendar it is celebrated church holidays Almost all Christians in the world are Catholics, Protestants, Lutherans.
• According to Julian Orthodox Christians celebrate, guided by apostolic instructions.

What could an error of several days lead to?

But is it really so important to maintain this precision; maybe it’s better to pay tribute to traditions? What terrible thing will happen if in five centuries the calendar shifts by 4 days, is it noticeable?

Moreover, those who decide to make changes will certainly not live to see the days when “ wrong“The calculation option will differ by at least a day.

Just imagine that already in February the weather warms up and the first flowering begins. But despite all this, the ancestors describe February as a harsh and frosty winter month.

Here there may already be a slight misunderstanding about what is happening to nature and the planet? Especially if in November there are snowdrifts instead of fallen leaves. And in October, the colorful foliage on the trees is not pleasing to the eye, because all of it has been rotting on the ground for a long time. This seems insignificant at first glance, when the error is only 24 hours in 128 years.

But calendars are regulated, including the most important events in the life of many civilizations - sowing and harvesting. The more accurately all adjustments are made, the more O Larger food supplies will be available next year.

Of course, now this is not so important, in an era rapid development scientific and technological progress. But once upon a time it was a matter of life and death for millions of people.

Significant differences between calendars

Distinguishing between the two calendars:

1. More accurate measurement using Gregorian.
2. The irrelevance of the Julian calendar: besides the Orthodox Church, almost no one uses it.
3. The universal use of the Gregorian calendar.
4. By removing the 10 day lag and introducing a new rule - all years ending in 00 and not divisible by 4 are now not leap years.
5. Thanks to this, the difference between calendars is inexorably increasing. For 3 days every 400 years.
6. Julian was adopted by Julius Caesar, still 2 thousand years ago.
7. Gregorian is more “young”, it is not even five hundred years old. And Pope Gregory XIII introduced it.

What the Julian and Gregorian calendars are, the difference between them and the reasons for their introduction can be known for general development. IN real life this information will never be useful. Unless you want to impress someone with your erudition.

Video about the differences between Gregorian and Julian

In this video, Priest Andrei Shchukin will talk about the main differences between these two calendars from the point of view of religion and mathematics:

God created the world outside of time, the change of day and night, seasons allows people to put their time in order. For this purpose, humanity invented the calendar, a system for calculating the days of the year. The main reason for switching to another calendar was disagreement about the celebration the most important day for Christians - Easter.

Julian calendar

Once upon a time, back during the reign of Julius Caesar, in 45 BC. The Julian calendar appeared. The calendar itself was named after the ruler. It was the astronomers of Julius Caesar who created a chronology system based on the time of successive passage of the equinox by the Sun , therefore the Julian calendar was a “solar” calendar.

This system was the most accurate for those times; each year, not counting leap years, contained 365 days. In addition, the Julian calendar did not contradict the astronomical discoveries of those years. For fifteen hundred years, no one could offer this system a worthy analogy.

Gregorian calendar

However, at the end of the 16th century, Pope Gregory XIII proposed a different chronology system. What was the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, if there was no difference in the number of days between them? Every fourth year was no longer considered a leap year by default, as in the Julian calendar. According to the Gregorian calendar, if a year ended in 00 but was not divisible by 4, it was not a leap year. So 2000 was a leap year, but 2100 will no longer be a leap year.

Pope Gregory XIII was based on the fact that Easter should be celebrated only on Sunday, and according to the Julian calendar, Easter fell on each time different days weeks. 24 February 1582 the world learned about the Gregorian calendar.

Popes Sixtus IV and Clement VII also advocated reform. The work on the calendar, among others, was carried out by the Jesuit order.

Julian and Gregorian calendars – which is more popular?

The Julian and Gregorian calendars continued to exist together, but in most countries of the world it is the Gregorian calendar that is used, and the Julian remains for calculating Christian holidays.

Russia was among the last to adopt the reform. In 1917, immediately after the October Revolution, the “obscurantist” calendar was replaced with a “progressive” one. In 1923, they tried to transfer the Russian Orthodox Church to “ new style”, but even with pressure on His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, there was a categorical refusal from the Church. Orthodox Christians, guided by the instructions of the apostles, calculate holidays according to the Julian calendar. Catholics and Protestants count holidays according to the Gregorian calendar.

The issue of calendars is also a theological issue. Despite the fact that Pope Gregory XIII considered the main issue to be astronomical and not religious, later discussions appeared about the correctness of a particular calendar in relation to the Bible. In Orthodoxy, it is believed that the Gregorian calendar violates the sequence of events in the Bible and leads to canonical violations: Apostolic rules do not allow the celebration of Holy Easter before the Jewish Passover. The transition to a new calendar would mean the destruction of Easter. Scientist-astronomer Professor E.A. Predtechensky in his work “Church Time: Reckoning and Critical Review” existing rules definitions of Easter" noted: “This collective work (Editor's note - Easter), in all likelihood by many unknown authors, was carried out in such a way that it still remains unsurpassed. The later Roman Paschal, now accepted by the Western Church, is, in comparison with the Alexandrian one, so ponderous and clumsy that it resembles a popular print next to artistic depiction the same subject. Despite all this, this terribly complex and clumsy machine does not yet achieve its intended goal.”. In addition, the descent of the Holy Fire at the Holy Sepulcher takes place on Holy Saturday Julian calendar.

Julian calendar IN Ancient Rome from the 7th century BC e. used lunarly solar calendar, which had 355 days, divided into 12 months. The superstitious Romans were afraid of even numbers, so each month consisted of 29 or 31 days. New Year started on March 1st.

In order to bring the year as close as possible to the tropical one (365 and ¼ days), an additional month was introduced every two years - marcedonia (from the Latin "marces" - payment), initially equal to 20 days. This month should have been the end of all cash payments for the past year. However, this measure failed to eliminate the discrepancy between the Roman and tropical years. Therefore, in the 5th century. BC e. Marcedonium began to be administered twice every four years, alternating 22 and 23 additional days. Thus, average year in this 4-year cycle was equal to 366 days and became longer than the tropical year by approximately ¾ days. Using their right to introduce additional days and months into the calendar, the Roman priests - pontiffs (one of the priestly colleges) confused the calendar so much that in the 1st century. BC e. There is an urgent need for its reform.

Such a reform was carried out in 46 BC. e. on the initiative of Julius Caesar. The reformed calendar became known as the Julian calendar in his honor. The Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes was invited to create a new calendar. The reformers faced the same task - to bring the Roman year as close as possible to the tropical one and thereby maintain constant correspondence of certain days of the calendar with the same seasons.

The Egyptian year of 365 days was taken as a basis, but it was decided to introduce an additional day every four years. Thus, the average year in a 4-year cycle became equal to 365 days and 6 hours. The number of months and their names remained the same, but the length of the months was increased to 30 and 31 days. An additional day began to be added to February, which had 28 days, and was inserted between the 23rd and 24th, where marcedonium had previously been inserted. As a result, in such an extended year, a second 24th appeared, and since the Romans kept count of the day in an original way, determining how many days remained until a certain date of each month, this additional day turned out to be the second sixth before the March calendar (before March 1). In Latin, such a day was called "bis sectus" - the second sixth ("bis" - twice, also "sexto" - six). In Slavic pronunciation, this term sounded slightly different, and the word “leap year” appeared in Russian, and the elongated year began to be called a leap year.

In Ancient Rome, in addition to the calends, special names were given to the fifth days of each short (30 day) month or the seventh of a long (31 day) month - nones and the thirteenths of a short or fifteenth long month - ides.

January 1 began to be considered the beginning of the new year, since on this day the consuls and other Roman magistrates began to perform their duties. Subsequently, the names of some months were changed: in 44 BC. e. Quintilis (fifth month) began to be called July in honor of Julius Caesar in 8 BC. e. Sextilis (sixth month) - August in honor of Emperor Octavian Augustus. Due to the change in the beginning of the year, the ordinal names of some months lost their meaning, for example, the tenth month (“December” - December) became the twelfth.

The new Julian calendar took on the following form: January (“Januaris” - named after the two-faced god Janus); February (“februarius” – month of purification); March (“martius” – named after the god of war Mars); April (“Aprilis” – probably got its name from the word “Apricus” – warmed by the sun); May (“Mayus” – named after the goddess Maya); June (“Junius” – named after the goddess Juno); July (“Julius” – named after Julius Caesar); August (“Augustus” – named after Emperor Augustus); September (“September” – seventh); October (“October” – eighth); November (“November” – ninth); December (“december” – tenth).

So, in the Julian calendar, the year became longer than the tropical one, but by an amount significantly less than the Egyptian year, and was shorter than the tropical year. If the Egyptian year was ahead of the tropical year by one day every four years, then the Julian year was behind the tropical one by one day every 128 years.

In 325, the first Ecumenical Council of Nicea decided to consider this calendar mandatory for all Christian countries. The Julian calendar is the basis of the calendar system that most countries in the world now use.

In practice leap year in the Julian calendar is determined by the divisibility of the last two digits of the year designation by four. Leap years in this calendar are also years whose designations have zeros as the last two digits. For example, among the years 1900, 1919, 1945 and 1956, 1900 and 1956 were leap years.

Gregorian calendar In the Julian calendar, the average length of the year was 365 days 6 hours, therefore, it was longer than the tropical year (365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds) by 11 minutes 14 seconds. This difference, accumulating annually, led after 128 years to an error of one day, and after 1280 years to 10 days. As a result, the spring equinox (March 21) at the end of the 16th century. fell on March 11, and this threatened in the future, provided that the equinox on March 21 was preserved, by moving the main holiday of the Christian church, Easter, from spring to summer. According to church rules, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the spring full moon, which falls between March 21 and April 18. Again the need arose for calendar reform. The Catholic Church carried out a new reform in 1582 under Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the new calendar received its name.

A special commission of clergy and astronomers was created. The author of the project was the Italian scientist - doctor, mathematician and astronomer Aloysius Lilio. The reform was supposed to solve two main problems: firstly, to eliminate the accumulated difference of 10 days between the calendar and tropical years, and secondly, to bring the calendar year as close as possible to the tropical one, so that in the future the difference between them would not be noticeable.

The first problem was solved administratively: a special papal bull ordered October 5, 1582 to be counted as October 15. Thus, the spring equinox returned to March 21.

The second problem was solved by reducing the number of leap years in order to reduce the average length of the Julian calendar year. Every 400 years, 3 leap years were thrown out of the calendar, namely those that ended centuries, provided that the first two digits of the year designation were not evenly divisible by four. Thus, 1600 remained a leap year in the new calendar, and 1700, 1800 and 1900. became simple, since 17, 18 and 19 are not divisible by four without a remainder.

The new Gregorian calendar created was much more advanced than the Julian calendar. Each year now lagged behind the tropical one by only 26 seconds, and the discrepancy between them in one day accumulated after 3323 years.

Since different textbooks give different figures characterizing the discrepancy of one day between the Gregorian and tropical years, the corresponding calculations can be given. A day contains 86,400 seconds. The difference between the Julian and tropical calendars of three days accumulates after 384 years and amounts to 259,200 seconds (86400*3=259,200). Every 400 years, three days are removed from the Gregorian calendar, i.e. we can consider that the year in the Gregorian calendar is reduced by 648 seconds (259200:400=648) or 10 minutes 48 seconds. The average length of the Gregorian year is thus 365 days 5 hours 49 minutes 12 seconds (365 days 6 hours - 10 minutes 48 seconds = 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 12 seconds), which is only 26 seconds longer than the tropical year (365 days 5 hours 49 minutes 12 seconds – 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds = 26 seconds). With such a difference, the discrepancy between the Gregorian calendar and the tropical years in one day will occur only after 3323 years, since 86400:26 = 3323.

The Gregorian calendar was initially introduced in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and the Southern Netherlands, then in Poland, Austria, the Catholic states of Germany and several other European countries. In those states where the Orthodox Christian Church dominated, the Julian calendar was used for a long time. For example, in Bulgaria a new calendar was introduced only in 1916, in Serbia in 1919. In Russia, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1918. In the 20th century. the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars had already reached 13 days, so in 1918 it was prescribed to count the day following January 31 not as February 1, but as February 14.

Before the transition to the Gregorian calendar, which different countries happened in different times, the Julian calendar was used everywhere. It is named after the Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar, who is believed to have carried out a calendar reform in 46 BC.

The Julian calendar appears to be based on the Egyptian solar calendar. A Julian year was 365.25 days. But there can only be an integer number of days in a year. Therefore, it was supposed: three years should be considered equal to 365 days, and the fourth year following them equal to 366 days. This year with an extra day.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII issued a bull ordering “the return of the vernal equinox to March 21.” By that time it had moved away from the designated date by ten days, which were removed from that year 1582. And to prevent the error from accumulating in the future, it was prescribed to eliminate three days from every 400 years. Years whose numbers are divisible by 100, but not divisible by 400, are not leap years.

The Pope threatened with excommunication anyone who did not switch to the Gregorian calendar. Almost immediately Catholic countries switched to it. After some time, Protestant states followed their example. IN Orthodox in Russia and Greece adhered to the Julian calendar until the first half of the 20th century.

Which calendar is more accurate?

The debate about which calendar is Gregorian or Julian, or rather, does not subside to this day. On the one hand, the year of the Gregorian calendar is closer to the so-called tropical year - the period during which the Earth makes a full revolution around the Sun. According to modern data, the tropical year is 365.2422 days. On the other hand, scientists still use the Julian calendar for astronomical calculations.

The purpose of the calendar reform of Gregory XIII was not to bring the duration closer calendar year to the size of the tropical year. In his time, there was no such thing as a tropical year. The purpose of the reform was to comply with the decisions of ancient Christian councils on the timing of the celebration of Easter. However, the problem was not completely solved.

The widespread belief that the Gregorian calendar is “more correct” and “advanced” than the Julian calendar is just a propaganda cliche. The Gregorian calendar, according to a number of scientists, is not astronomically justified and is a distortion of the Julian calendar.

The Roman calendar was one of the least accurate. At first, it generally had 304 days and included only 10 months, starting from the first month of spring (Martius) and ending with the onset of winter (December - the “tenth” month); In winter there was simply no keeping track of time. King Numa Pompilius is credited with introducing two winter months(januarium and februarium). The additional month - Mercedonius - was inserted by the pontiffs at their own discretion, quite arbitrarily and in accordance with various momentary interests. In 46 BC. e. Julius Caesar carried out a calendar reform based on the developments of the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, using the Egyptian solar calendar as a basis.

In order to correct the accumulated errors, he, with his power as the great pontiff, inserted in the transitional year, in addition to Mercedonia, two additional months between November and December; and from January 1, 45, a Julian year of 365 days was established, with leap years every 4 years. In this case, an extra day was inserted between February 23 and 24, as before Mercedonia; and since, according to the Roman calculation system, the day of February 24 was called “the sixth (sextus) from the Kalends of March,” then the intercalary day was called “twice the sixth (bis sextus) from the Kalends of March” and the year accordingly annus bissextus - hence, through Greek, our word is “leap year”. At the same time, the month of Quintilius was renamed in honor of Caesar (to Julius).

In the 4th-6th centuries, in most Christian countries, unified Easter tables were established, based on the Julian calendar; Thus, the Julian calendar spread to the entire Christian world. In these tables, March 21 was taken as the day of the vernal equinox.

However, as the error accumulated (1 day in 128 years), the discrepancy between the astronomical vernal equinox and the calendar one became increasingly obvious, and many in Catholic Europe believed that it could no longer be ignored. This was noted by the 13th-century Castilian king Alfonso X the Wise; in the next century, the Byzantine scientist Nikephoros Gregoras even proposed a calendar reform. In reality, such a reform was carried out by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, based on the project of the mathematician and physician Luigi Lilio. in 1582: the next day after October 4th came October 15th. Secondly, a new, more precise rule about leap years began to apply.

Julian calendar was developed by a group of Alexandrian astronomers led by Sosigenes and introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. uh..

The Julian calendar was based on the chronology culture of Ancient Egypt. In Ancient Rus', the calendar was known as the “Peacemaking Circle”, “Church Circle” and “Great Indiction”.

The year according to the Julian calendar begins on January 1, since it was on this day from 153 BC. e. the newly elected consuls took office. In the Julian calendar, a normal year consists of 365 days and is divided into 12 months. Once every 4 years a leap year is announced, to which one day is added - February 29 (previously a similar system was adopted in zodiac calendar according to Dionysius). Thus, the Julian year has an average length of 365.25 days, which differs by 11 minutes from the tropical year.

The Julian calendar is usually called the old style.

The calendar was based on static monthly holidays. The first holiday with which the month began was the Kalends. Next holiday, falling on the 7th (in March, May, July and October) and on the 5th of other months were nones. The third holiday, falling on the 15th (in March, May, July and October) and the 13th of other months, was the Ides.

Replacement by the Gregorian calendar

In Catholic countries, the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar in 1582 by decree of Pope Gregory XIII: the next day after October 4 was October 15. Protestant countries abandoned the Julian calendar gradually, throughout the 17th-18th centuries (the last were Great Britain from 1752 and Sweden). In Russia, the Gregorian calendar has been used since 1918 (it is usually called the new style), in Orthodox Greece - since 1923.

In the Julian calendar, a year was a leap year if it ended in 00.325 AD. The Council of Nicaea established this calendar for all Christian countries. 325 g day of the vernal equinox.

Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII on October 4, 1582 to replace the old Julian: the next day after Thursday, October 4, became Friday, October 15 (there are no days from October 5 to October 14, 1582 in the Gregorian calendar).

In the Gregorian calendar, the length of the tropical year is taken to be 365.2425 days. The duration of a non-leap year is 365 days, a leap year is 366.

Story

The reason for the adoption of the new calendar was the shift in the day of the vernal equinox, by which the date of Easter was determined. Before Gregory XIII, Popes Paul III and Pius IV tried to implement the project, but they did not achieve success. The preparation of the reform, at the direction of Gregory XIII, was carried out by astronomers Christopher Clavius ​​and Luigi Lilio (aka Aloysius Lilius). The results of their work were recorded in a papal bull, named after the first line of the Latin. Inter gravissimas (“Among the most important”).

Firstly, the new calendar immediately at the time of adoption shifted the current date by 10 days due to accumulated errors.

Secondly, a new, more precise rule about leap years began to apply.

A year is a leap year, that is, it contains 366 days if:

Its number is divisible by 4 and not divisible by 100 or

His number is divisible by 400.

Thus, over time, the Julian and Gregorian calendars diverge more and more: by 1 day per century, if the number of the previous century is not divisible by 4. The Gregorian calendar reflects the true state of affairs much more accurately than the Julian. It gives a much better approximation of the tropical year.

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 complying with the canonical rules for celebrating Easter.

In Russia, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1918 by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars, according to which in 1918 January 31 was followed by February 14.

Since 1923, most local Orthodox churches, with the exception of the Russian, Jerusalem, Georgian, Serbian and Athos, have adopted the New Julian calendar, similar to the Gregorian, which coincides with it until the year 2800. It was also formally introduced by Patriarch Tikhon for use in the Russian Orthodox Church on October 15, 1923. However, this innovation, although it was accepted by almost all Moscow parishes, generally caused disagreement in the Church, so already on November 8, 1923, Patriarch Tikhon ordered “the widespread and mandatory introduction of the new style into church use to be temporarily postponed.” Thus, the new style was in effect in the Russian Orthodox Church for only 24 days.

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