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. Moreover, the Julian calendar did not contradict astronomical discoveries 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 “ a 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 issue mainly astronomical, and not religious aspect, later discussions appeared about the correctness of this or that 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 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 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.
Often, when reading a historical article about events that took place before 1918, we see the following dates: “The Battle of Borodino took place on August 26 (September 7), 1812.” Why two dates? Which one is correct? What is the difference? Why these brackets? More than one hundred, or even a thousand, people puzzle over these questions every year. But in fact, everything is simple. We will spare you, dear readers, from a lot of numbers and calculations, and explain everything “on your fingers”.
Well, slow down, slow down. The point is calendars. Julian calendar- this is the calendar according to which Russia lived until 1918. In February 1918 we switched to a “new” style - to Gregorian calendar. In Europe it began to spread in the 16th century. and was introduced by order of Pope Gregory XIII (hence the Gregorian).
Sosigenes - Alexandrian astronomer, creator of the “Julian” calendar, adopted by Julius Caesar in 42 BC. 
Pope Gregory XIII is the creator of the “Gregorian” calendar, adopted in 1582. Now let’s remember a few rules, knowing which you will no longer be confused about dates:
1 rule: the dates of all events that occurred before 1918 are written according to the old style, and in brackets the date is given according to the new - Gregorian - calendar: August 26 (September 7), 1812.
Rule 2: if you come across a document written before 1918, and, accordingly, deprived of conversion to the new style, there is no need to go to the Internet - you can calculate it yourself. For this you need this plate:
from 05.10.1582 to 18.02.1700 - add 10 days.
from 02/19/1700 to 02/18/1800 - add 11 days.
from 02/19/1800 to 02/18/1900 - add 12 days.
from 02/19/1900 to 02/01/1918 - add 13 days.
Let's check ourselves:
Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich was born on March 18, 1584 according to the Julian calendar. We look at the table - we need to add 10 days. In total, according to the Gregorian calendar, the birthday of Fyodor Ioannovich is March 28, 1584.
But the Battle of Poltava took place on June 27, 1709. How much should I add? It's been 11 days already. It turns out July 8th.
The Julian calendar continues to be used by the Russian Orthodox Church. Civil chronology in Russia is carried out according to the Gregorian calendar. So how to write dates correctly? historical events? When did the Battle of Borodino take place - August 26 or September 7? There is only one answer, and there cannot be another: it is correct to write the date that corresponded to the calendar that was current at that time. That is, August 26th.
In the halls Historical Museum and museum Patriotic War 1812 you can find documents from different dates and check yourself. As you can see, it's simple. Let's go to the museum!
Speaking about dates, we often come across a common misconception related to the conversion of dates from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar (from the “old style” to the “new”). A significant portion of people believe that this difference is always 13 days. In fact, everything is much more complicated and the difference between calendars changes from century to century.
First of all, it is necessary to explain why the appearance of different calendars is connected. The point is what the earth does full turn around the Sun not in 365 or 366 days, but in 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 45.19 seconds (information for the 2000s).
In the Julian calendar, introduced in 45 AD. and spread throughout Europe, incl. (via Byzantium) - and in Rus', the length of the year is 365 days and 6 hours. The “extra” 6 hours make up 1 day – February 29, which is added once every 4 years.
Thus, the Julian calendar is inaccurate, and over time this inaccuracy became obvious when calculating Christian holidays, especially Easter, which should be celebrated on the first Sunday after spring equinox.
This problem was brought to my attention Catholic Church, and since 1582 it was introduced Gregorian calendar. Pope Gregory XIII issued a bull on October 5, 1582, ordering October 5 to be counted as 15. Thus, the difference between the calendars in the 16th century was 10 days.
The Gregorian calendar is based on the following principles:
- Just like in the Julian calendar, every fourth year is a leap year.
- Years divisible by 400 (for example, 1600 and 2000) are also leap years.
- The exception is for years that are divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400 (for example, 1700, 1800 and 1900): they are not leap years.
Thus, the discrepancy between the Julian and Gregorian calendar as follows:
| XVI century | 10 |
| XVII century | 10 |
| XVIII century | 11 |
| XIX century | 12 |
| XX century | 13 |
| XXI century | 13 |
| XXII century | 14 |
| XXIII century | 15 |
| XXIV century | 16 |
| XXV century | 16 |
| XXVI century | 17 |
In Russia, the Gregorian calendar was introduced by decree of the Council people's commissars dated January 24, 1918. After January 31, 1918, February 14 came.
Thus, most time by which a genealogy can be compiled (XVII - early XX centuries), the Julian calendar was in effect in Russia, and all dates require recalculation in accordance with the table given above. For example, the 150th anniversary of the abolition of serfdom (manifesto of February 19, 1861) - March 3, 2011.
Currently, the Julian calendar continues to be used by some local Orthodox churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church. A significant part of the Orthodox churches (for example, the Greek) adopted the New Julian calendar, which calculates leap years according to another, slightly more complex model. However, until the 29th century there will be no differences between the Gregorian and New Julian calendars.
Since by this time the difference between the old and new styles was 13 days, the decree ordered that after January 31, 1918, not February 1, but February 14. The same decree prescribed, until July 1, 1918, after the date of each day according to the new style, to write in brackets the number according to the old style: February 14 (1), February 15 (2), etc.
From the history of chronology in Russia.
The ancient Slavs, like many other peoples, initially based their calendar on the period of change lunar phases. But already by the time of the adoption of Christianity, i.e. by the end of the 10th century. n. e., Ancient Rus' I used the lunisolar calendar.
Calendar of the ancient Slavs. It was not possible to definitively establish what the calendar of the ancient Slavs was. It is only known that initially time was counted by seasons. Probably, the 12-month period was also used at the same time moon calendar. In later times, the Slavs switched to a lunisolar calendar, in which an additional 13th month was inserted seven times every 19 years.
The most ancient monuments of Russian writing show that the months had purely Slavic names, the origin of which was closely related to natural phenomena. Moreover, the same months, depending on the climate of the places in which different tribes lived, received different names. So, January was called where sechen (the time of deforestation), where prosinets (after winter clouds appeared blue sky), where is the jelly (since it was becoming icy, cold), etc.; February—cut, snowy or severe (severe frosts); March - berezozol (there are several interpretations here: the birch begins to bloom; they took sap from birches; they burned the birch for coal), dry (the poorest in precipitation in the ancient Kievan Rus, in some places the earth was already dry, the sap (a reminder of birch sap); April - pollen (blooming of gardens), birch (beginning of birch flowering), duben, kviten, etc.; May - grass (grass turns green), summer, pollen; June - Cherven (cherries turn red), Izok (grasshoppers chirp - “Izoki”), Mlechen; July - lipets (linden blossoms), cherven (in the north, where phenological phenomena are delayed), serpen (from the word “sickle”, indicating the time of harvest); August - sickle, stubble, roar (from the verb “to roar” - the roar of deer, or from the word “glow” - cold dawns, and possibly from “pasori” - aurora); September - veresen (heather blossoms); Ruen (from Slavic root a word meaning wood that produces yellow dye); October - leaf fall, “pazdernik” or “kastrychnik” (pazdernik - hemp buds, the name for the south of Russia); November - gruden (from the word “heap” - frozen rut on the road), leaf fall (in the south of Russia); December - jelly, chest, prosinets.
The year began on March 1, and around this time agricultural work began.
Many ancient names of months later moved into the series Slavic languages and largely held in some modern languages, in particular in Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish.
At the end of the 10th century. Ancient Rus' adopted Christianity. At the same time, the chronology used by the Romans came to us - the Julian calendar (based on the solar year), with Roman names for the months and a seven-day week. It counted years from the “creation of the world,” which allegedly occurred 5508 years before our chronology. This date - one of the many variants of eras from the “creation of the world” - was adopted in the 7th century. in Greece and for a long time used by the Orthodox Church.
For many centuries, the beginning of the year was considered March 1, but in 1492, in accordance with church tradition, the beginning of the year was officially moved to September 1 and was celebrated this way for more than two hundred years. However, a few months after, on September 1, 7208, Muscovites celebrated their next New Year, they had to repeat the celebration. This happened because on December 19, 7208, a personal decree of Peter I on the reform of the calendar in Russia was signed and promulgated, according to which a new beginning of the year was introduced - from January 1 and new era- Christian chronology (from the “Nativity of Christ”).
Peter's decree was called: "On the writing henceforth of Genvar from the 1st day of 1700 in all papers of the year from the Nativity of Christ, and not from the creation of the world." Therefore, the decree prescribed that the day after December 31, 7208 from the “creation of the world” should be considered January 1, 1700 from the “Nativity of Christ.” In order for the reform to be adopted without complications, the decree ended with a prudent clause: “And if anyone wants to write both those years, from the creation of the world and from the Nativity of Christ, freely in a row.”
Celebrating the first civil New Year in Moscow. The day after the announcement of Peter I’s decree on calendar reform on Red Square in Moscow, i.e. December 20, 7208, a new decree of the tsar was announced - “On the celebration of the New Year.” Considering that January 1, 1700 is not only the beginning of a new year, but also the beginning of a new century (Here a significant mistake was made in the decree: 1700 is last year XVII century, and not the first year of the XVIII century. New Age occurred on January 1, 1701. An error that is sometimes repeated today.), the decree ordered that this event be celebrated with especially solemnity. It gave detailed instructions on how to organize a holiday in Moscow. On New Year's Eve, Peter I himself lit the first rocket on Red Square, giving the signal for the opening of the holiday. The streets were illuminated. The ringing of bells and cannon fire began, and the sounds of trumpets and timpani were heard. The Tsar congratulated the population of the capital on the New Year, and the festivities continued all night. Multi-colored rockets took off from the courtyards into the dark winter sky, and “along the large streets, where there is space,” lights burned—bonfires and tar barrels attached to poles.
The houses of the residents of the wooden capital were decorated with needles “from trees and branches of pine, spruce and juniper.” For a whole week the houses were decorated, and as night fell the lights were lit. Shooting “from small cannons and from muskets or other small weapons,” as well as launching “missiles,” were entrusted to people “who do not count gold.” And “poor people” were asked to “put at least a tree or branch on each of their gates or over their temple.” Since that time, our country has established the custom of celebrating New Year's Day on January 1 every year.
After 1918, there were still calendar reforms in the USSR. In the period from 1929 to 1940, calendar reforms were carried out in our country three times, caused by production needs. Thus, on August 26, 1929, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution “On the transition to continuous production in enterprises and institutions of the USSR,” which recognized the need to begin a systematic and consistent transfer of enterprises and institutions to continuous production starting from the 1929-1930 business year. In the fall of 1929, a gradual transition to “continuous service” began, which ended in the spring of 1930 after the publication of the resolution of the special government commission under the Council of Labor and Defense. This decree introduced a unified production timesheet and calendar. IN calendar year 360 days were provided, i.e. 72 five-day periods. It was decided to consider the remaining 5 days as holidays. Unlike the ancient Egyptian calendar, they were not located all together at the end of the year, but were timed to coincide with the Soviet memorable days and revolutionary holidays: January 22, May 1 and 2, and November 7 and 8.
The workers of each enterprise and institution were divided into 5 groups, and each group was given a day of rest on every five-day week for the whole year. This meant that after four working days there was a day of rest. After the introduction of the “uninterrupted” period, there was no longer a need for a seven-day week, since weekends could fall not only on different numbers month, but also on different days of the week.
However, this calendar did not last long. Already on November 21, 1931, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution “On the intermittent production week in institutions,” which allowed the People's Commissariats and other institutions to switch to a six-day intermittent production week. Permanent days off were established for them. the following numbers months: 6, 12, 18, 24 and 30. At the end of February, the day off fell on the last day of the month or was moved to March 1. In those months that contained 31 days, the last day of the month was considered the same month and was paid specially. The decree on the transition to an intermittent six-day week came into force on December 1, 1931.
Both the five-day and six-day periods completely disrupted the traditional seven-day week with a general day off on Sunday. The six-day week was used for about nine years. Only June 26, 1940 Presidium Supreme Council The USSR issued a decree “On the transition to an eight-hour working day, to a seven-day working week and on the prohibition of the unauthorized departure of workers and employees from enterprises and institutions." In development of this decree, on June 27, 1940, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution in which it established that "in addition to Sundays, non-working days are also:
January 22, May 1 and 2, November 7 and 8, December 5. The same decree abolished the existing rural areas six special days of rest and non-working days on March 12 (Day of the Overthrow of the Autocracy) and March 18 (Paris Commune Day).
On March 7, 1967, the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions adopted a resolution “On the transfer of workers and employees of enterprises, institutions and organizations to a five-day work week with two days off,” but this reform did not in any way affect the structure of the modern calendar."
But the most interesting thing is that passions do not subside. The next revolution is happening in our new time. Sergey Baburin, Victor Alksnis, Irina Savelyeva and Alexander Fomenko contributed to State Duma a bill on the transition of Russia from January 1, 2008 to the Julian calendar. IN explanatory note deputies noted that “there is no world calendar” and proposed to establish transition period from December 31, 2007, when for 13 days chronology will be carried out simultaneously according to two calendars at once. Only four deputies took part in the voting. Three are against, one is for. There were no abstentions. The rest of the elected representatives ignored the vote.
The question of the difference in calendars does not belong to the field of dogma. And therefore, the question is often asked about the advisability of preserving the old style by the majority of Orthodox Christians. Is it really so important what day to celebrate what? And the celebration of Christmas and other holidays on the same day by all Christians would resolve many issues related to both the celebration of the New Year and interfaith relations. Why is it still the old style?
First, a little history:
Julian calendar (old style).
In 46 BC. Roman statesman and the commander Julius Caesar reformed the Roman calendar, which by that time was very chaotic and complex. It's about, naturally, about the solar calendar, i.e. about distribution solar year by calendar days and months. Since the solar year is not divided into an even number of days, the leap year system was adopted, which “catch up” with the length of the solar year.
The Julian year is 365 days and 6 hours long. But this value is greater than the solar (tropical year) by 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Therefore, for every 128 years, a whole day was accumulated. Thus, the Julian calendar was not distinguished by great astronomical accuracy, but on the other hand, and this was the advantage of this calendar, it was distinguished by the simplicity and harmony of the system.
Gregorian calendar (new style).
So, in the “old” calendar, “extra” days accumulated every 128 years. Consequently, astronomical dates (for example, the days of the equinoxes) shifted. At the First Ecumenical Council, which took place in 325, it was decided that all Local Churches should celebrate the day of Easter, the Resurrection of Christ, on the same day. Vernal Equinox (which plays important role when calculating the day of Easter celebration) then fell on March 21. But since every 128 years an error of one day accumulated, the real equinox began to occur earlier. In the 5th century, the moment of the equinox occurred on March 20, then on the 19th, 18th, etc.
By the second half of the 16th century, the error was already ten days: according to the Julian calendar, the moment of the equinox should occur on March 21, but in reality it already occurred on March 11. That is why Pope Gregory XIII undertook a calendar reform in 1582. According to his instructions, the day after Thursday, October 4, was prescribed to be counted not as October 5, but as October 15. Thus, the day of the vernal equinox returned to March 21, where it was during the First Ecumenical (Nicene) Council.
But the Gregorian calendar could not be absolutely accurate, since in principle it is impossible to accurately divide the solar year into the number of days. Were needed additional measures, in order to prevent calendar days from moving forward in the future, and the moment of the vernal equinox, accordingly, backward. For this purpose, not only leap years were introduced, but also, a kind of non-leap centuries. It was decided that those centuries that are not divisible by 4 without a remainder will be simple, and not leap years, as is the case in the Julian calendar. Those. centuries 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100 and so on are simple, that is, in these years there is no insertion of an additional day in February. And therefore, in these centuries, the Julian calendar goes one more day ahead. It so happened that by our time a difference of 13 days has accumulated between the two calendars, which will increase by another day in 2100.
Why does the Russian Orthodox Church live according to the “old style”?
Many chronographers, mathematicians and theologians (Prof. V.V. Bolotov, Prof. Glubokovsky, A.N. Zelinsky) did not approve of the introduction of a new calendar - “a true torment for chronographs.”
The transition to the Gregorian calendar will lead to the fact that in some years the Fast of Peter the Great will disappear from the calendar completely. The new style is significantly inferior to the Julian calendar in liturgical accuracy: after all, it is the Julian calendar that is consistent with the Alexandrian Paschal. That is why in some local churches the services of the Easter circle (Easter and moving holidays) are performed according to the old style, and fixed holidays - according to the new one. This is the so-called Greek style.
The calendar issue is primarily related to the celebration of Easter. “Easter is calculated simultaneously according to two cycles: solar and lunar. All calendars (Julian, New Julian, Gregorian) tell us only about the solar cycle. But Easter Day is a holiday dating back to the Old Testament. And the calendar Old Testament- lunar. Thus, the church Easter is not just a calendar, whatever it may be, but a calculation of a specific day according to rules that depend on both the solar and lunar cycles.”
At the Moscow Meeting in 1948 it was decided official decree, concerning the calendar problem, according to which for everything Orthodox world It is obligatory to celebrate the holiday of Holy Easter only in the old (Julian) style, according to the Alexandrian Paschal, and for fixed holidays, each autocephalous Church can use the calendar existing in this Church, and finally, clergy and laity must follow the calendar or style of that local Church, within the limits which they live.
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