When did the Gregorian and Julian calendars come into being? Julian and Gregorian calendars: differences from each other

Calendar- a table of days, numbers, months, seasons, years familiar to all of us - ancient invention humanity. It records the frequency natural phenomena, based on the pattern of movement heavenly bodies: Sun, Moon, stars. The earth rushes on its own solar orbit, counting down 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 rather, 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 before the birth of Christ, according to the flesh, a calendar was used, which was based on a four-year lunar-solar cycle, which gave a discrepancy with the value of 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. The solar year was taken as the size of the calendar year, which was slightly larger 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 of the Catholic Church was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII new style 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 in some years the Gregorian calendar violates one of the basic church rules for the date of celebration of Easter - it happens that the Catholic Easter falls 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', starting from the 10th century, New Year 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 were clean 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 eliminated three leap years within each 400th anniversary. 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.
The Russian Orthodox Church, following the Ecumenical Councils, uses the Julian calendar - unlike Catholics, who use the Gregorian.

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

07.12.2015

Gregorian calendar – modern system calculus based on astronomical phenomena, namely, on the cyclic revolution of our planet around the Sun. The length of the year in this system is 365 days, with every fourth year becoming a leap year and equal to 364 days.

History of origin

The date of approval of the Gregorian calendar is October 4, 1582. This calendar replaced the Julian calendar in force until that time. Majority modern countries lives precisely according to the new calendar: look at any calendar and you will get a clear idea of ​​the Gregorian system. According to the Gregorian calculus, the year is divided into 12 months, the duration of which is 28, 29, 30 and 31 days. The calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII.

The transition to a new calculation entailed the following changes:

• At the time of adoption, the Gregorian calendar immediately shifted the current date by 10 days and corrected the errors accumulated by the previous system;
• In the new calculus, a more correct rule for determining leap years began to apply;
• The rules for calculating the day of Christian Easter have been modified.

In the year the new system was adopted, Spain, Italy, France, and Portugal joined the chronology, and a couple of years later other European countries joined them. In Russia, the transition to the Gregorian calendar took place only in the 20th century - in 1918. In the territory under the control of Soviet power, it was announced that after January 31, 1918, February 14 would immediately follow. For a long time citizens new country could not get used to the new system: the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in Russia caused confusion in documents and minds. In official papers, dates of birth and others significant events for a long time indicated according to the style and new style.

By the way, the Orthodox Church still lives according to the Julian calendar (unlike the Catholic calendar), so the days of church holidays (Easter, Christmas) in Catholic countries do not coincide with Russian ones. According to the highest clergy of the Orthodox Church, the transition to the Gregorian system will lead to canonical violations: the rules of the Apostles do not allow the celebration of Holy Easter to begin on the same day as the Jewish pagan holiday.

China was the last to switch to the new timekeeping system. This happened in 1949 after the proclamation of the People's Republic of China. In the same year, the world-accepted calculation of years was established in China - from the Nativity of Christ.

At the time of approval of the Gregorian calendar, the difference between the two calculation systems was 10 days. By now, due to different quantities For leap years, the discrepancy increased to 13 days. By March 1, 2100, the difference will already reach 14 days.

Compared to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar is more accurate from an astronomical point of view: it is as close as possible to the tropical year. The reason for the change in systems was the gradual shift of the day of the equinox in the Julian calendar: this caused a discrepancy between the Easter full moons and the astronomical ones.

All modern calendars have a familiar appearance to us precisely because of the transition of the leadership of the Catholic Church to a new time reckoning. If the Julian calendar continued to function, the discrepancies between the real (astronomical) equinoxes and Easter holidays would increase even more, which would introduce confusion into the very principle of determining church holidays.

By the way, the Gregorian calendar itself is not 100% accurate from an astronomical point of view, but the error in it, according to astronomers, will accumulate only after 10,000 years of use.

People continue to use it successfully new system time is already more than 400 years. A calendar is still a useful and functional thing that everyone needs to coordinate dates and plan their business and personal lives.

Modern printing production has reached unprecedented levels technological development. Any commercial or public organization can order calendars with their own symbols from a printing house: they will be produced promptly, with high quality, and at an adequate price.

The converter converts dates to the Gregorian and Julian calendars and calculates the Julian date; for the Julian calendar, the Latin and Roman versions are displayed.

Notes

• Gregorian calendar(“new style”) introduced in 1582 AD. e. Pope Gregory XIII, so that the day of the vernal equinox corresponds on a certain day(March 21). Earlier dates are converted using standard rules for Gregorian leap years. Conversion up to 2400g is possible.
• Julian calendar(“old style”) introduced in 46 BC. e. Julius Caesar and totaled 365 days; Every third year was a leap year. This error was corrected by Emperor Augustus: from 8 BC. e. and until 8 AD e. additional days Leap years were skipped. Earlier dates are converted using standard rules for Julian leap years.
• Roman version The Julian calendar was introduced around 750 BC. e. Due to the fact that the number of days in the Roman calendar year changed, dates before 8 AD. e. are not accurate and are presented for demonstration purposes. The chronology was carried out from the founding of Rome ( ab Urbe condita) - 753/754 BC e. Dates before 753 BC e. not calculated.
• Month names Roman calendar are agreed modifiers (adjectives) with a noun mensis'month':

• Days of the month determined by the phases of the moon. IN different months The Kalends, Nones and Ides fell on different dates:

The first days of the month are determined by counting the days from the upcoming Nons, after the Nons - from the Ides, after the Ides - from the upcoming Kalends. The preposition is used ante‘before’ c accusative case(accusatīvus):

a. d. XI Kal. Sept. (short form);

ante diem undecĭmum Kalendas Septembres (full form).

The ordinal number agrees with the form diem, that is, put in the accusative case singular masculine(accusatīvus singulāris masculīnum). Thus, the numerals take following forms:

If a day falls on the Kalends, Nones or Ides, then the name of this day (Kalendae, Nonae, Idūs) and the name of the month are placed in instrumental case plural feminine(ablatīvus plurālis feminīnum), for example:

The day immediately preceding the Kalends, Nones or Idams is designated by the word pridie(‘the day before’) with the feminine accusative plural (accusatīvus plurālis feminīnum):

Thus, month adjectives can take the following forms:

• Julian date is the number of days that have passed since noon on January 1, 4713 BC. e. This date is arbitrary and was chosen only for coordination various systems chronology.

People have been thinking about the need for chronology for a very long time. It is worth remembering the same Mayan calendar, which a few years ago made a lot of noise all over the world. But almost all world states now live according to a calendar called the Gregorian. However, in many films or books you can see or hear references to the Julian calendar. What is the difference between these two calendars?

This calendar got its name thanks to the most famous Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar. Of course, it was not the emperor himself who was involved in the development of the calendar, but this was done by his decree by a whole group of astronomers. The birthday of this method of chronology is January 1, 45 BC. The word calendar was also born in Ancient Rome. Translated from Latin, it means debt book. The fact is that then interest on debts was paid on kalends (that’s what the first days of each month were called).

In addition to the name of the entire calendar, Julius Caesar also gave the name to one of the months - July, although this month was originally called Quintilis. Other Roman emperors also gave their months their names. But besides July, nowadays only August is used - a month that was renamed in honor of Octavian Augustus.

The Julian calendar completely ceased to be the official calendar in 1928, when Egypt switched to the Gregorian calendar. This country was the last to switch to the Gregorian calendar. Italy, Spain and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were the first to cross in 1528. Russia made the transition in 1918.

These days Julian calendar used only in some Orthodox churches. In such as: Jerusalem, Georgian, Serbian and Russian, Polish and Ukrainian. Also, according to the Julian calendar, holidays are celebrated by the Russian and Ukrainian Greek Catholic churches and the ancient Eastern churches in Egypt and Ethiopia.

This calendar was introduced by the Pope Gregory XIII. The calendar got its name in honor of him. The need to replace the Julian calendar was primarily due to confusion over the celebration of Easter. According to the Julian calendar, the celebration of this day fell on different days weeks, but Christianity insisted that Easter should always be celebrated on Sunday. However, although the Gregorian calendar streamlined the celebration of Easter, with its advent the rest church holidays. Therefore some orthodox churches They still live according to the Julian calendar. A clear example It serves the fact that Catholics celebrate Christmas on December 25, and Orthodox on January 7.

Go to new calendar Not all people took it calmly. Riots broke out in many countries. But in the Russian Orthodox Church, the new calendar was valid for only 24 days. Sweden, for example, completely lived according to its own calendar due to all these transitions.

Common features in both calendars

1. Division. In both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the year is divided into 12 months and 365 days, and 7 days per week.
2. Months. In the Gregorian calendar, all 12 months are called the same as in the Julian calendar. They have the same sequence and the same number of days. There is an easy way to remember what month and how many days. Needs to be compressed own hands into fists. The knuckle on the little finger of the left hand will be considered January, and the following depression will be considered February. Thus, all the dominoes will symbolize months with 31 days, and all the hollows will symbolize months with 30 days. Of course, the exception is February, which has 28 or 29 days (depending on whether it is a leap year or not). Depression after ring finger the right hand and the knuckle of the right little finger are not taken into account, since there are only 12 months. This method is suitable for determining the number of days in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars.
3. Church holidays. All holidays that are celebrated according to the Julian calendar are also celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar. However, the celebration takes place on other days and dates. For example, Christmas.
4. Place of invention. Like the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was invented in Rome, but in 1582 Rome was part of Italy, and in 45 BC it was the center of the Roman Empire.

Differences between the Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar

1. Age. Since some Churches live according to the Julian calendar, we can confidently say that it exists. This means that it is approximately 1626 years older than the Gregorian.
2. Usage. The Gregorian calendar is considered the official calendar in almost all countries of the world. The Julian calendar can be called a church calendar.
3. Leap year. In the Julian calendar, every fourth year is a leap year. In Gregorian leap year the one whose number is a multiple of 400 and 4, but the one that is not a multiple of 100. That is, 2016 is a leap year according to the Gregorian calendar, but 1900 is not.
4. Date difference. Initially, the Gregorian calendar, one might say, was 10 days faster than the Julian calendar. That is, according to the Julian calendar, October 5, 1582 was considered October 15, 1582 according to the Gregorian calendar. However, now the difference between the calendars is already 13 days. Due to this difference in the countries of the former Russian Empire an expression appeared, as in the old style. For example, the holiday called Old New Year is simply New Year, but according to the Julian calendar.

Humanity has been using chronology since ancient times. Take, for example, the famous Mayan circle, which made a lot of noise in 2012. Measuring day by day, the pages of the calendar take weeks, months and years away. Almost all countries of the world today live according to the generally accepted Gregorian calendar, however for many years was state-owned Julian. What is the difference between them, and why is the latter now used only by the Orthodox Church?

Julian calendar

The ancient Romans counted the days by lunar phases. In this simple calendar there were 10 months named after the gods. The Egyptians had the usual modern chronology: 365 days, 12 months of 30 days. In 46 BC. emperor Ancient Rome Gaius Julius Caesar ordered leading astronomers to create a new calendar. Solar year with its 365 days and 6 hours was taken as a model, and the starting date was January 1. New way The calculation of days was then, in fact, called a calendar, from the Roman word “calends” - this was the name given to the first days of each month when interest on debts was paid. In honor of the ancient Roman commander and politician, in order to immortalize his name in the history of a grandiose invention, one of the months was called July.

After the assassination of the emperor, the Roman priests became a little confused and declared every third year to be a leap year in order to equalize the six-hour shift. The calendar was finally aligned under Emperor Octavian Augustus. And his contribution was recorded by the new name of the month - August.

From Julian to Gregorian

For centuries Julian calendar states lived. It was also used by Christians during the First Ecumenical Council, when the date for the celebration of Easter was approved. Interestingly, this day is celebrated differently each year depending on the first full moon after the spring equinox and the Jewish Passover. This rule could only be changed under pain of anathema, but in 1582 the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Gregory XIII, took a risk. The reform was successful: the new calendar, called the Gregorian, was more accurate and returned the equinox to March 21. The hierarchs of the Orthodox Church condemned the innovation: it turned out that the Jewish Easter happened later than the Christian Easter. This was not allowed by the canons of the Eastern tradition, and another point appeared in the discrepancies between Catholics and Orthodox.

Calculation of chronology in Rus'

In 1492, the New Year in Rus' began to be celebrated according to church tradition on September 1, although previously the New Year began simultaneously with spring and was considered “from the creation of the world.” Emperor Peter I established that received from Byzantium Julian calendar on the territory of the Russian Empire is valid, but the New Year is now celebrated without fail on January 1. The Bolsheviks transferred the country to Gregorian calendar, according to which all of Europe has long lived. It is interesting that in this way the then February became the shortest month in the history of chronology: February 1, 1918 turned into February 14.

WITH Julian to Gregorian calendar Greece officially passed in 1924, followed by Turkey, and in 1928 Egypt. In our time, according to the Julian calendar, only a few Orthodox churches live - Russian, Georgian, Serbian, Polish, Jerusalem, as well as eastern ones - Coptic, Ethiopian and Greek Catholic. Therefore, there are discrepancies in the celebration of Christmas: Catholics celebrate the birthday of Christ on December 25, and in the Orthodox tradition this holiday falls on January 7. It’s the same with secular holidays - which confuses foreigners, is celebrated on January 14 as a tribute previous calendar. However, it doesn’t matter who lives by which calendar: the main thing is not to waste precious days.

Kaluga region, Borovsky district, Petrovo village

Welcome to ! On January 6, 2019, the magic of Christmas Eve will envelop the entire park, and its visitors will find themselves in a real winter's tale!

All guests of the park will enjoy an exciting thematic program park: interactive excursions, craft master classes, street games with mischievous buffoons.

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