We have been using a calendar all our lives. This seemingly simple table of numbers with the days of the week has a very ancient and rich history. The civilizations known to us already knew how to divide the year into months and days. For example, in ancient Egypt, based on the pattern of movement of the Moon and Sirius, a calendar was created. A year was approximately 365 days and was divided into twelve months, which in turn were divided into thirty days.

Innovator Julius Caesar

Around 46 BC. e. there was a transformation of chronology. The Roman Emperor Julius Caesar created the Julian calendar. It was slightly different from the Egyptian one: the fact is that, instead of the Moon and Sirius, the sun was taken as a basis. The year was now 365 days and six hours. The first of January was considered the beginning of the new time, and Christmas began to be celebrated on January 7.

In connection with this reform, the Senate decided to thank the emperor by naming one month in his honor, which we know as “July”. After the death of Julius Caesar, the priests began to confuse the months, the number of days - in a word, the old calendar no longer resembled the new one. Every third year was considered a leap year. From 44 to 9 BC there were 12 leap years, which was not true.

After Emperor Octavian Augustus came to power, there were no leap years for sixteen years, so everything returned to normal, and the situation with chronology was corrected. In honor of Emperor Octavian, the eighth month was renamed from Sextilis to Augustus.

When the question arose about the purpose of celebrating Easter, disagreements began. It was this issue that was resolved at the Ecumenical Council. No one has the right to change the rules that were established at this Council to this day.

Innovator Gregory XIII

In 1582, Gregory XIII replaced the Julian calendar with the Gregorian calendar.. The movement of the vernal equinox was the main reason for the changes. It was according to this that the day of Easter was calculated. At the time the Julian calendar was introduced, this day was considered March 21, but around the 16th century the difference between tropical and Julian calendar was about 10 days, therefore, March 21 was replaced by 11.

In 1853 in Constantinople, the Council of Patriarchs criticized and condemned the Gregorian calendar, according to which the Catholic Holy Sunday was celebrated before the Jewish Passover, which was contrary to established rules Ecumenical councils.

Differences between old and new style

So, how does the Julian calendar differ from the Gregorian calendar?

• Unlike Gregorian, Julian was adopted much earlier, and it is 1 thousand years older.
• On at the moment old style(Julian) is used to calculate the celebration of Easter among Orthodox Christians.
• The chronology created by Gregory is much more accurate than the previous one and will not be subject to changes in the future.
• A leap year according to the old style is every fourth year.
• In Gregorian, years that are divisible by four and end in two zeros are not leap years.
• All church holidays are celebrated according to the new style.

As we see, between the Julian calendar and Gregorian difference obvious not only in terms of calculations, but also in popularity.

Gets up interesting question. What calendar do we live by now?

The Russian Orthodox Church uses Julian, which was adopted during the Ecumenical Council, while Catholics use Gregorian. Hence the difference in the dates of celebrating the Nativity of Christ and Easter. Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7, following the decision of the Ecumenical Council, and Catholics on December 25.

These two chronologies were named - old and new style calendar.

The area where the old style is used is not very large: the Serbian, Georgian, Jerusalem Orthodox Churches.

As we see, after the introduction of the new style, the life of Christians around the world changed. Many happily accepted the changes and began to live by it. But there are also those Christians who are faithful to the old style and live according to it even now, albeit in very small quantities.

There will always be disagreements between Orthodox and Catholics, and this has nothing to do with the old or new style of chronology. The Julian and Gregorian calendars - the difference is not in faith, but in the desire to use one or another calendar.

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 the “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 according to the Julian calendar.

Today, many citizens of our country have different attitudes towards the events of the coup. 1917 years. Some consider this a positive experience for the state, others negative. One thing they always agree on is that during that coup, a lot changed, changed forever.
One of these changes was introduced on January 24, 1918 by the Council of People's Commissars, which at that time was the revolutionary government of Russia. A decree was issued on the introduction of the Western calendar in Russia.

This decree, in their opinion, should have contributed to the establishment of closer ties with Western Europe. In the distant past 1582 year, throughout civilized Europe, the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar, and this was condoned by famous astronomers of that time.
Since then, the Russian calendar has had slight differences from the Western one 13 days.

This initiative came from the Pope himself. However, the Russian Orthodox hierarchs were very cool towards their Catholic partners, so for Russia everything remained the same.
This is how the citizens lived different countries with different calendars for almost three hundred years.
For example, when in Western Europe celebrate the New Year, then in Russia it’s only 19 December.
Live and count the days in a new way Soviet Russia started with 1 February 1918 year.

By decree of the SNK (abbreviation of the Council of People's Commissars), which was issued 24 January 1918 year, the day was prescribed 1 February 1918 count years as 14 February.

It should be noted that the arrival of spring in the central part of Russia became completely unnoticeable. Still, it is worth recognizing that it was not for nothing that our ancestors did not want to change their calendar. After all, 1 March, more reminiscent of mid-February. Surely many have noticed that it really starts to smell like spring only from mid-March or the first days of March according to the old style.

Needless to say, not everyone liked the new style.

If you think that it was in Russia that they were so wild that they did not want to accept the civilized calendar, then you are very mistaken. Many countries did not want to accept the Catholic calendar.
For example, in Greece they began to count according to the new calendar in 1924 year, in Turkey 1926 , and in Egypt 1928 year.
A funny detail should be noted, despite the fact that the Egyptians, Greeks and Turks adopted the Gregorian calendar much later than the Russians, no one noticed that they were celebrating the Old and New Year.

Even in the bastion of Western democracy - England, even with great prejudices, they adopted the new calendar in 1752, Sweden followed this example a year later

What is the Julian calendar?

It is named after its creator Julius Caesar. In the Roman Empire, they switched to a new chronology 46 year BC. The year had 365 days and began exactly on January 1. The year that was divisible by 4 was called a leap year.
In a leap year, one more day was added 29 February.

How is the Gregorian calendar different from the Julian calendar?

The only difference between these calendars is that in the calendar of Julius Caesar, each 4th without exception, a year is a leap year, and Pope Gregory’s calendar only has those that can be divisible by 4, but not multiples of one hundred.
Although the difference is almost imperceptible, however, in a hundred years, Orthodox Christmas will not be celebrated 7 January, as usual, and 8th.

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

Difference between Julian and Gregorian calendars

At the time of the introduction of the 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 differences in the rules for determining leap years. Therefore, when determining which date of the “new calendar” a particular date of the “old calendar” falls on, it is necessary to take into account the century in which the event took place. For example, if in the 14th century this difference was 8 days, then in the 20th century it was already 13 days.

This follows the distribution of leap years:

• a year whose number is a multiple of 400 is a leap year;
• other years, the number of which is a multiple of 100, are non-leap years;
• other 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. Also, 2100 will not be a leap year. An error of one day compared to the year of the equinoxes in the Gregorian calendar will accumulate in approximately 10 thousand years (in the Julian calendar - approximately in 128 years).

Time of approval of the Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, adopted in most countries of the world, was not put into use immediately:
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, Rumania.
1927 - Türkiye.
1928 - Egypt.
1929 - Greece.

Gregorian calendar in Russia

As you know, until February 1918, Russia, like most Orthodox countries, lived according to the 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 calendar. As stated in the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars, this decision was made “in order to establish in Russia the same calculation of time with almost all cultural peoples.” In accordance with the decree, the dates of all obligations were considered to have occurred 13 days later. Until July 1, 1918, a kind of transition period was established when it was allowed to use the old style calendar. But at the same time, the document clearly established the order of writing old and new dates: it was necessary to write “after the date 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 necessary to indicate the old and new styles. For example, for anniversaries, major events in all works of a biographical nature and dates of events and documents on history international relations, associated with countries where the Gregorian calendar was introduced earlier than in Russia.

New style date (Gregorian calendar)

JULIAN AND GRIGORIAN CALENDARS

Calendar- the table of days, numbers, months, seasons, years familiar to all of us - the oldest invention of mankind. It records the frequency natural phenomena, based on the pattern of movement of celestial bodies: the Sun, Moon, stars. The Earth rushes along its solar orbit, counting down the years and centuries. It makes one revolution around its axis per day, and around the Sun per year. 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 drawing up a calendar, which must keep the correct time count. Since the time of Adam and Eve, people have used the "cycle" of the Sun and Moon to keep time. The lunar calendar used by the Romans and Greeks was simple and convenient. From one rebirth of the Moon to the next, about 30 days pass, or more precisely, 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes. Therefore, by changes in the Moon it was possible to count days, and then months.

IN 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. IN ancient world from the 3rd century BC according to the flesh, a calendar was used, which was based on a four-year lunisolar cycle, which gave a discrepancy with the solar year by 4 days in 4 years. In Egypt, based on observations of Sirius and the Sun, a solar calendar. The year in this calendar lasted 365 days, it had 12 months of 30 days, and at the end of the year another 5 days were added in honor of the “birth of the gods.”

In 46 BC, the Roman dictator Julius Caesar introduced an accurate solar calendar based on the Egyptian model - Julian. Per size calendar year the solar year was accepted, which was slightly longer than the astronomical one - 365 days 6 hours. January 1 was legalized as the beginning of the year.

In 26 BC. e. The 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. Essentially this was a clarification of the same Julian calendar.

For the Orthodox Church, the calendar was the basis of the annual cycle of worship, and therefore it was very important to establish the simultaneity of holidays throughout the Church. The question of when to celebrate Easter was discussed at the First Ecumenical Council. Cathedral*, as one of the main ones. The Paschalia (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 Catholic Church Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new style of calendar - Gregorian. The purpose of the reform was supposedly more precise definition Easter day so that the spring equinox returns to March 21st. The Council of Eastern Patriarchs in 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 basic church rules for the date of celebration of Easter - it happens that Catholic Easter falls in time earlier than the Jewish one, which is not allowed by the canons of the Church; Petrov’s fast also sometimes “disappears”. 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 calendar and did not recognize it. The new style was introduced by the authority of the Pope in place of the Julian calendar, or the old style, and was gradually adopted in Catholic countries. By the way, modern astronomers also use the Julian calendar in their calculations.

In Rus' Since the 10th century, the New Year has been celebrated on March 1, 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 was celebrated this way for more than 200 years. The months had purely Slavic names, the origin of which was associated with natural phenomena. The years were counted from the creation of the world.

On December 19, 7208 (“from the creation of the world”) Peter I signed a decree on calendar reform. 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 tsar’s decree 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 to be September 1, 5508 BC) should be considered January 1, 1700 from the Nativity of Christ. The decree also ordered that this event be celebrated with particular solemnity: “And as a sign of that good undertaking and the new century, in joy, congratulate each other on the New Year... Along noble and thoroughfares, at the gates and houses, make some decorations from trees and pine branches , spruce and juniper trees... to fire small cannons and rifles, fire rockets, as many as anyone can, and light fires.” The counting of years from the birth of Christ is accepted by most countries of the world. With the spread of godlessness among the intelligentsia and historians, they began to avoid mentioning the name of Christ and replace the counting of centuries from His Nativity with 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 within each 400th anniversary three leap years. Over time, the difference between the Gregorian and 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.
Russian Orthodox Church, following Ecumenical Councils, uses the Julian calendar - unlike Catholics, who use the Gregorian.

At the same time, the introduction of the Gregorian calendar by civil authorities led to some difficulties for Orthodox Christians. The New Year, which is celebrated by the entire civil society, was moved to the Nativity Fast, when it is not appropriate to have fun. In addition, according to church calendar January 1 (December 19, old style) commemorates the holy martyr Boniface, who patronizes people who want to get rid of alcohol abuse - and our entire huge country celebrates this day with glasses in hand. Orthodox people They celebrate the New Year “in the old way”, on January 14.