What is the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar. How are the Julian and Gregorian calendars different? Difference between Catholic and Orthodox holidays

Calendar Celebration of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (in memory of the deliverance of Moscow and Russia from the Poles in 1612) Yuri Ruban, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Candidate of Theology, Associate Professor of St. Petersburg State University If we associate October with the Feast of the Intercession, then November, without a doubt, with

Calendar Yuri Ruban, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Candidate of Theology, Associate Professor of St. Petersburg State University As you leaf through the December pages of the Orthodox calendar (December according to the new style according to which we actually live), you involuntarily linger on the name of the Apostle Andrew (December 13). As in

Calendar One of the worst things is diaries, electronic reminders and email. It’s the day of the funeral, and Tolik has a reminder popping up in his calendar to pay for a trip to the sea. The morning after the funeral, a letter arrives confirming the reservation for your loved one.

- a number system for large periods of time, based on the periodicity of the visible movements of celestial bodies.

The most common solar calendar is based on the solar (tropical) year - the period of time between two successive passages of the center of the Sun through the vernal equinox.

A tropical year has approximately 365.2422 average solar days.

The solar calendar includes the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar and some others.

The modern calendar is called the Gregorian (new style) calendar, which was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and replaced the Julian calendar (old style), which had been in use since the 45th century BC.

The Gregorian calendar is a further refinement of the Julian calendar.

In the Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar, the average length of a year in an interval of four years was 365.25 days, which is 11 minutes 14 seconds longer than the tropical year. Over time, the onset of seasonal phenomena according to the Julian calendar occurred on increasingly earlier dates. Particularly strong discontent was caused by the constant shift in the date of Easter, associated with the spring equinox. In 325, the Council of Nicaea decreed a single date for Easter for the entire Christian church.

© Public Domain

© Public Domain

In subsequent centuries, many proposals were made to improve the calendar. The proposals of the Neapolitan astronomer and physician Aloysius Lilius (Luigi Lilio Giraldi) and the Bavarian Jesuit Christopher Clavius ​​were approved by Pope Gregory XIII. On February 24, 1582, he issued a bull (message) introducing two important additions to the Julian calendar: 10 days were removed from the 1582 calendar - October 4 was immediately followed by October 15. This measure made it possible to preserve March 21 as the date of the vernal equinox. In addition, three out of every four century years were to be considered ordinary years, and only those divisible by 400 were to be considered leap years.

1582 was the first year of the Gregorian calendar, called the new style.

The Gregorian calendar was introduced at different times in different countries. The first countries to switch to the new style in 1582 were Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, France, Holland and Luxembourg. Then in the 1580s it was introduced in Austria, Switzerland, and Hungary. In the 18th century, the Gregorian calendar began to be used in Germany, Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, Sweden and Finland, and in the 19th century - in Japan. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in China, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Greece, Turkey and Egypt.

In Rus', along with the adoption of Christianity (10th century), the Julian calendar was established. Since the new religion was borrowed from Byzantium, the years were counted according to the Constantinople era “from the creation of the world” (5508 BC). By decree of Peter I in 1700, the European chronology was introduced in Russia - “from the Nativity of Christ”.

December 19, 7208 from the creation of the world, when the reformation decree was issued, in Europe corresponded to December 29, 1699 from the Nativity of Christ according to the Gregorian calendar.

At the same time, the Julian calendar was preserved in Russia. The Gregorian calendar was introduced after the October Revolution of 1917 - from February 14, 1918. The Russian Orthodox Church, preserving traditions, lives according to the Julian calendar.

The difference between the old and new styles is 11 days for the 18th century, 12 days for the 19th century, 13 days for the 20th and 21st centuries, 14 days for the 22nd century.

Although the Gregorian calendar is quite consistent with natural phenomena, it is also not completely accurate. The length of the year in the Gregorian calendar is 26 seconds longer than the tropical year and accumulates an error of 0.0003 days per year, which is three days per 10 thousand years. The Gregorian calendar also does not take into account the slowing rotation of the Earth, which lengthens the day by 0.6 seconds per 100 years.

The modern structure of the Gregorian calendar also does not fully meet the needs of social life. Chief among its shortcomings is the variability of the number of days and weeks in months, quarters and half-years.

There are four main problems with the Gregorian calendar:

— Theoretically, the civil (calendar) year should have the same length as the astronomical (tropical) year. However, this is impossible, since the tropical year does not contain an integer number of days. Because of the need to add an extra day to the year from time to time, there are two types of years - ordinary and leap years. Since the year can begin on any day of the week, this gives seven types of ordinary years and seven types of leap years—for a total of 14 types of years. To fully reproduce them you need to wait 28 years.

— The length of the months varies: they can contain from 28 to 31 days, and this unevenness leads to certain difficulties in economic calculations and statistics.|

— Neither ordinary nor leap years contain an integer number of weeks. Semi-years, quarters and months also do not contain a whole and equal number of weeks.

— From week to week, from month to month and from year to year, the correspondence of dates and days of the week changes, so it is difficult to establish the moments of various events.

In 1954 and 1956, drafts of a new calendar were discussed at sessions of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), but the final resolution of the issue was postponed.

In Russia, the State Duma was proposing to return the country to the Julian calendar from January 1, 2008. Deputies Viktor Alksnis, Sergei Baburin, Irina Savelyeva and Alexander Fomenko proposed establishing a transition period from December 31, 2007, when, for 13 days, chronology will be carried out simultaneously according to the Julian and Gregorian calendars. In April 2008, the bill was rejected by a majority vote.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

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 once again make a choice between truth and deceit? 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 general holiday. We live in a secular state with its own rules and norms, which in recent years has taken many steps towards the Church. Let these steps correct past mistakes, but if you meet each other halfway, you can meet much faster than by waiting for a meeting and not moving yourself.

Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:

The calendar problem is incomparably more serious than the question of which table we will sit at once a year on New Year’s Eve: fast or fast. The calendar concerns the sacred times of the people, their holidays. The calendar determines the order and rhythm of religious life. Therefore, the issue 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 man could measure and organize time. And God said: Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven to separate the day from the night, and for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years.(Gen.1:14). Systems for counting large periods of time, based on the visible movements of celestial bodies, are usually called calendars (from calendae - the first day of each month among the Romans). The cyclic movement of such astronomical bodies as the Earth, Sun and Moon is of primary 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 unthinkable. However, not only these reasons made the calendar necessary. Without a calendar, the religious life of no people is 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 an intelligent structure of the world.

By the time of the birth of Christian statehood, humanity already had a fairly diverse calendar experience. There were calendars: Jewish, Chaldean, Egyptian, Chinese, Hindu and others. However, according to Divine Providence, the Julian calendar, developed in 46 and coming from January 1, 45 BC, became the calendar of the Christian era. to replace the imperfect lunar Roman calendar. It was developed by the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes on behalf of Julius Caesar, who then combined the power of dictator and consul with the title pontifex maximus (high priest). Therefore, the calendar began to be called Julian. The period of the Earth's complete revolution around the Sun was taken as the astronomical year, and the calendar year was determined to be 365 days in length. 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 in February one day was added. The new calendar also found a place for its outstanding initiator: the Roman month of Quintilius was renamed July (from the name of Julius).

The fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, held in 325 in Nicaea, determined to celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the full moon, which falls after the spring 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 associated with the Death on the Cross and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, took care that the New Testament Easter, while maintaining its historical connection with the Old Testament Easter (which is always celebrated on the 14th of Nisan), would be independent of it and was always celebrated later. If a coincidence occurs, the rules dictate moving to the full moon of the next month. This was so significant for the fathers of the Council that they decided to make this main Christian holiday movable. At the same time, the solar calendar was combined with the lunar calendar: the movement of the Moon with the change of its phases was introduced into the Julian calendar, strictly oriented towards the Sun. To calculate the phases of the Moon, so-called lunar cycles were used, i.e. periods after which the phases of the Moon returned to approximately the same days of the Julian year. There are several cycles. The Roman Church used the 84-year cycle almost until the 6th century. Since the 3rd century, the Alexandrian Church used the most accurate 19-year cycle, discovered by the Athenian mathematician of the 5th century BC. Meton. In the 6th century, the Roman Church adopted the Alexandrian Paschal. This 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 Easter and other holidays was broken. Pope Gregory XIII initiated calendar reform. Its preparation was entrusted to a commission headed by the Jesuit Chrisophus Claudius. The new calendar was developed by a teacher at 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 occurred on March 11), the dates of the month shifted 10 days forward: immediately after the 4th the date should not have been the 5th, as usual, but October 15, 1582. The length 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, the Gregorian calendar has a number of significant shortcomings. Keeping track of large periods using the Gregorian calendar is more difficult than using the Julian calendar. The length of calendar months varies and ranges from 28 to 31 days. Months of different lengths alternate randomly. The length of the quarters varies (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 by 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 wage calculations, make it difficult to compare the results of work for different months, etc.). The Gregorian calendar could not keep the day of the vernal equinox beyond the 21st of March. The shift of the equinox, discovered in the 2nd century. BC by the Greek scientist Hipparchus, in astronomy called precession. It is caused by the fact that the Earth has the shape not of a sphere, but of a spheroid, flattened at the poles. The gravitational forces from the Sun and 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 Earth's axis of rotation describes a cone near the perpendicular to the orbital plane. Due to precession, the point of 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 dissatisfaction as early as the 19th century. Even then, proposals began to be put forward to carry out a new calendar reform. Professor of Dorpat (now Tartu) University I.G. Mädler (1794-1874) proposed in 1864, instead of the Gregorian style, to use a more accurate counting system, with thirty-one leap years every 128 years. 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 calendar reform in Russia. This Commission met from May 3, 1899 to February 21, 1900. The outstanding church researcher Professor V.V. Bolotov took part in the work. He strongly 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 in the following:

a) uneven months should be replaced by uniform ones;

b) according to the standard of the solar tropical year, it should reduce all years of the conventionally accepted chronology;

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

But I myself find the abolition of the Julian style in Russia completely undesirable. I remain a strong admirer of the Julian calendar. Its extreme simplicity constitutes its scientific advantage over all corrected calendars. I think that Russia’s cultural mission on this issue is to keep the Julian calendar alive for a few more centuries and thereby make it easier for Western peoples to return from the Gregorian reform, which 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 calendar for the next 800 years (until 2800). The 11 Local Orthodox Churches, which switched to the New Julian calendar, retained the Alexandrian Paschal, based on the Julian calendar, and immovable holidays began to be celebrated according to Gregorian dates.

First of all, the transition to the Gregorian calendar (this is what is discussed in the letter) means the destruction of that Paschal, which is the 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 carried out in such a way that it still remains unsurpassed. The later Roman Easter, 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 an artistic depiction of the same object. Despite all this, this terribly complex and clumsy machine does not even achieve its intended goal.” (Predtechensky E. “Church time: reckoning and critical review of existing rules for determining Easter.” St. Petersburg, 1892, pp. 3-4).

The transition to the Gregorian calendar will also lead to serious canonical violations, because Apostolic Rules They are not allowed to celebrate Holy Passover earlier than the Jewish Passover and on the same day as the Jews: If anyone, a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, celebrates the holy day of Easter before the vernal equinox with the Jews: let him be deposed from the sacred rank(rule 7). The Gregorian calendar leads Catholics to break this rule. They celebrated the 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, Peter'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. We are talking about those years when there is a late Easter. We also need to think about the fact that the Lord God performs His Sign at the Holy Sepulcher (the descent of the Holy Fire) on Holy Saturday according to the Julian calendar.

How to recalculate the dates of Russian and Western European history if Russia lived according to 1918? We asked these and other questions to the candidate of historical sciences, a specialist in medieval chronology, Pavel Kuzenkov.

As you know, until February 1918, Russia, like most Orthodox countries, lived according to. Meanwhile, in Europe, starting in 1582, it gradually spread, introduced by order of Pope Gregory XIII. In the year the new calendar was introduced, 10 days were missed (instead of October 5, October 15 was counted). Subsequently, the Gregorian calendar skipped leap years in years ending in "00" unless the first two digits of that year formed a multiple of "4." That is why the years 1600 and 2000 did not cause any “movements” in the usual system of translation from the “old style” to the “new”. However, in 1700, 1800 and 1900, leap seasons were skipped and the difference between styles increased to 11, 12 and 13 days respectively. In 2100 the difference will increase to 14 days.

In general, the table of relationships between Julian and Gregorian dates looks like this:

In Soviet Russia, the “European” calendar was introduced by Lenin’s government on February 1, 1918, which began to be considered February 14 “according to the new style.” However, no changes have occurred in church life: the Russian Orthodox Church continues to live according to the same Julian calendar according to which the apostles and holy fathers lived.

The question arises: how to correctly translate historical dates from the old style to the new?

It would seem that everything is simple: you need to use the rule that was in force in a given era. For example, if an event occurred in the 16th-17th centuries, add 10 days, if in the 18th century - 11, in the 19th century - 12, finally, in the 20th and 21st centuries - 13 days.

This is usually done in Western literature, and this is quite true in relation to dates from the history of Western Europe. It should be remembered that the transition to the Gregorian calendar took place in different countries at different times: while Catholic countries almost immediately introduced the “papal” calendar, Great Britain adopted it only in 1752, Sweden in 1753.

However, the situation changes when it comes to events in Russian history. It should be taken into account that in Orthodox countries, when dating an event, attention was paid not only to the actual number of the month, but also to the designation of this day in the church calendar (holiday, memory of a saint). Meanwhile, the church calendar has not undergone any changes, and Christmas, for example, was celebrated on December 25 300 or 200 years ago, and is celebrated on the same day now. Another thing is that in the civil “new style” this day is designated as “January 7”.

Please note that when converting the dates of holidays and memorial days to the new style, the Church is guided by the current conversion rule (+13). For example: the transfer of the relics of St. Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow, is celebrated on July 3, Art. Art. - or July 16 AD Art. - although in 1652, when this event occurred, in theory Julian July 3 corresponded to Gregorian July 13. But just theoretically: at that time, this difference could have been noticed and recorded only by ambassadors of foreign states that had already switched to the “papal” calendar. Later, ties with Europe became closer, and in the 19th - early 20th centuries, a double date was given in calendars and periodicals: according to the old and new styles. But even here, in historical dating, priority should be given to the Julian date, since it was precisely this that contemporaries were guided by. And since the Julian calendar was and remains the calendar of the Russian Church, there is no reason to translate dates differently than is customary in modern church publications - that is, with a difference of 13 days, regardless of the date of a particular event.

Examples

The Russian naval commander died on October 2, 1817. In Europe this day was designated as (2+12=) October 14. However, the Russian Church celebrates the memory of the righteous warrior Theodore on October 2, which in the modern civil calendar corresponds to (2+13=) October 15.

The Battle of Borodino took place on August 26, 1812. On this day the Church celebrates in memory of the miraculous deliverance from the hordes of Tamerlane. Therefore, although in the 19th century the 12th Julian August corresponded September 7(and it was this day that was fixed in the Soviet tradition as the date of the Battle of Borodino), for Orthodox people the glorious feat of the Russian army was accomplished on the day of the Presentation - that is 8 September according to Art.

It is hardly possible to overcome the tendency that has become generally accepted in secular publications - namely, to transmit dates in the old style according to the norms adopted for the Gregorian calendar in the era corresponding to the event. However, in church publications one should rely on the living calendar tradition of the Orthodox Church and, taking the dates of the Julian calendar as a basis, recalculate them to the civil style according to the current rule. Strictly speaking, the “new style” did not exist until February 1918 (it’s just that different countries had different calendars). Therefore, we can only talk about dates “according to the new style” in relation to modern practice, when it is necessary to recalculate the Julian date to the civil calendar.

Thus, the dates of events in Russian history before 1918 should be given according to the Julian calendar, indicating in brackets the corresponding date of the modern civil calendar - as is done for all church holidays. For example: December 25, 1XXX (January 7 N.S.).

If we are talking about the date of an international event that was already dated by contemporaries using a double date, such a date can be indicated through a slash. For example: August 26 / September 7, 1812 (September 8 N.S.).