Calculation according to the new and old style. School encyclopedia

For all of us, the calendar is a familiar and even mundane thing. This ancient human invention records days, numbers, months, seasons, and the periodicity of natural phenomena, which are based on the system of movement of the celestial bodies: the Moon, the Sun, and the stars. The Earth rushes through the solar orbit, leaving years and centuries behind.

Lunar calendar

In one day, the Earth makes one complete revolution around its own axis. It passes around the Sun once per year. Solar or lasts three hundred sixty-five days five hours forty-eight minutes forty-six seconds. Therefore, there is no integer number of days. Hence the difficulty in drawing up an accurate calendar for the correct counting of time.

The ancient Romans and Greeks used a convenient and simple calendar. The rebirth of the Moon occurs at intervals of 30 days, or to be precise, at twenty-nine days, twelve hours and 44 minutes. That is why days and then months could be counted by changes in the Moon.

In the beginning, this calendar had ten months, which were named after the Roman gods. From the third century to ancient world an analogue was used based on the four-year lunar-solar cycle, which gave an error in the value of the solar year of one day.

In Egypt they used a solar calendar based on observations of the Sun and Sirius. The year according to it was three hundred sixty-five days. It consisted of twelve months of thirty days. After it expired, another five days were added. This was formulated as “in honor of the birth of the gods.”

History of the Julian calendar

Further changes occurred in the forty-sixth year BC. e. Emperor Ancient Rome Julius Caesar, based on the Egyptian model, introduced the Julian calendar. In it, the solar year was taken as the size of the year, which was slightly larger than the astronomical one and amounted to three hundred sixty-five days and six hours. The first of January marked the beginning of the year. According to the Julian calendar, Christmas began to be celebrated on January 7th. This is how the transition to a new calendar took place.

In gratitude for the reform, the Senate of Rome renamed the month of Quintilis, when Caesar was born, to Julius (now July). A year later, the emperor was killed, and the Roman priests, either out of ignorance or deliberately, again began to confuse the calendar and began to declare each coming third year a leap year. As a result, from forty-four to nine BC. e. Instead of nine, twelve leap years were declared.

Emperor Octivian Augustus saved the situation. By his order, there were no leap years for the next sixteen years, and the rhythm of the calendar was restored. In his honor, the month Sextilis was renamed Augustus (August).

For Orthodox Church simultaneity was very important church holidays. The date of Easter was discussed at First and this issue became one of the main ones. The rules for the exact calculation of this celebration established at this Council cannot be changed under pain of anathema.

Gregorian calendar

Chapter Catholic Church Pope Gregory the Thirteenth approved and introduced a new calendar in 1582. It was called "Gregorian". It would seem that everyone was happy with the Julian calendar, according to which Europe lived for more than sixteen centuries. However, Gregory the Thirteenth considered that reform was necessary to determine more exact date celebration of Easter, and also for the day to return to the twenty-first of March.

In 1583, the Council of Eastern Patriarchs in Constantinople condemned the adoption of the Gregorian calendar as violating the liturgical cycle and calling into question the canons of the Ecumenical Councils. Indeed, in some years he breaks the basic rule of celebrating Easter. It happens that Catholic Bright Sunday falls earlier than Jewish Easter, and this is not allowed by the canons of the church.

Calculation of chronology in Rus'

In our country, starting from the tenth century, the New Year was celebrated on the first of March. Five centuries later, in 1492, in Russia the beginning of the year was moved, according to church traditions, to the first of September. This went on for more than two hundred years.

On December nineteenth, seven thousand two hundred and eight, Tsar Peter the Great issued a decree that the Julian calendar in Russia, adopted from Byzantium along with baptism, was still in force. The start date of the year has changed. It was officially approved in the country. The New Year according to the Julian calendar was to be celebrated on the first of January “from the Nativity of Christ.”

After the revolution on February fourteenth, one thousand nine hundred and eighteen, new rules were introduced in our country. The Gregorian calendar excluded three within each four hundred years. It was this that they began to adhere to.

How are the Julian and Gregorian calendars different? The difference between is in the calculation of leap years. Over time it increases. If in the sixteenth century it was ten days, then in the seventeenth it increased to eleven, in the eighteenth century it was already equal to twelve days, thirteen in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and by the twenty-second century this figure will reach fourteen days.

The Orthodox Church of Russia uses the Julian calendar, following the decisions of the Ecumenical Councils, and Catholics use the Gregorian calendar.

You can often hear the question of why the whole world celebrates Christmas on the twenty-fifth of December, and we celebrate the seventh of January. The answer is completely obvious. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas according to the Julian calendar. This also applies to other major church holidays.

Today the Julian calendar in Russia is called the “old style”. Currently, its scope of application is very limited. It is used by some Orthodox Churches - Serbian, Georgian, Jerusalem and Russian. In addition, the Julian calendar is used in some Orthodox monasteries in Europe and the USA.

in Russia

In our country, the issue of calendar reform has been raised more than once. In 1830 it was staged by the Russian Academy of Sciences. Prince K.A. Lieven, who served as Minister of Education at the time, considered this proposal untimely. Only after the revolution the issue was brought to a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Federation. Already on January 24, Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar.

Features of the transition to the Gregorian calendar

For Orthodox Christians, the introduction of a new style by the authorities caused certain difficulties. The New Year turned out to be shifted to a time when any fun is not welcome. Moreover, January 1 is the day of remembrance of St. Boniface, the patron saint of everyone who wants to give up drunkenness, and our country celebrates this day with a glass in hand.

Gregorian and Julian calendar: differences and similarities

Both of them consist of three hundred sixty-five days in a normal year and three hundred sixty-six in a leap year, have 12 months, 4 of which are 30 days and 7 of 31 days, February is either 28 or 29. The difference lies only in the frequency of leap days years.

According to the Julian calendar, a leap year occurs every three years. In this case it turns out that calendar year longer than astronomical by 11 minutes. In other words, after 128 years there is an extra day. The Gregorian calendar also recognizes that the fourth year is a leap year. The exceptions are those years that are multiples of 100, as well as those that can be divided by 400. Based on this, extra days appear only after 3200 years.

What awaits us in the future

Unlike the Gregorian calendar, the Julian calendar is simpler for chronology, but it is ahead of the astronomical year. The basis of the first became the second. According to the Orthodox Church, the Gregorian calendar violates the order of many biblical events.

Due to the fact that the Julian and Gregorian calendars increase the difference in dates over time, Orthodox churches that use the first of them will celebrate Christmas from 2101 not on January 7, as it happens now, but on January 8, but from nine thousand In the year nine hundred and one, the celebration will take place on March 8th. In the liturgical calendar, the date will still correspond to the twenty-fifth of December.

In countries where the Julian calendar was used by the beginning of the twentieth century, for example in Greece, the dates of all historical events that occurred after the fifteenth of October one thousand five hundred and eighty-two are nominally celebrated on the same dates on which they occurred.

Consequences of calendar reforms

Currently, the Gregorian calendar is quite accurate. According to many experts, it does not need changes, but the issue of its reform has been discussed for several decades. This is not about introducing a new calendar or any new methods for accounting for leap years. This is about rearranging the days of the year so that the beginning of each year falls on one day, such as Sunday.

Today, calendar months range from 28 to 31 days, the length of a quarter ranges from ninety to ninety-two days, with the first half of the year being 3-4 days shorter than the second. This complicates the work of financial and planning authorities.

What new calendar projects exist?

Various projects have been proposed over the past one hundred and sixty years. In 1923, a calendar reform committee was created at the League of Nations. After the end of the Second World War this question was transferred to the Economic and Social Committee of the United Nations.

Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of them, preference is given to two options - the 13-month calendar of the French philosopher Auguste Comte and the proposal of the French astronomer G. Armelin.

In the first option, the month always begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday. One day in the year has no name at all and is inserted at the end of the last thirteenth month. In a leap year, such a day appears in the sixth month. According to experts, this calendar has many significant shortcomings, so more attention is paid to the project of Gustave Armelin, according to which the year consists of twelve months and four quarters of ninety-one days.

The first month of the quarter has thirty-one days, the next two - thirty. The first day of each year and quarter begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday. IN in a normal year one additional day is added after the thirtieth of December, and in a leap year - after the 30th of June. This project was approved by France, India, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and some other countries. For a long time General Assembly delayed approval of the project, and lately this work at the UN ceased.

Will Russia return to the “old style”

It is quite difficult for foreigners to explain what the concept of “Old New Year” means and why we celebrate Christmas later than Europeans. Today there are people who want to make the transition to the Julian calendar in Russia. Moreover, the initiative comes from well-deserved and respected people. In their opinion, 70% of Russian Orthodox Russians have the right to live according to the calendar used by the Russian Orthodox Church.

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 citizens of different countries with different calendars lived 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 in 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 Years.

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, after a hundred years Orthodox Christmas will not celebrate 7 January, as usual, and 8th.

- a number system for large periods of time, based on periodicity visible movements 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 a point spring 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), it was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and replaced the Julian calendar ( old style), which has 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 the 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 seasonal phenomena According to the Julian calendar, they fell on earlier and 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 all christian church.

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.

Gregorian calendar different countries was introduced at various times. 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 October Revolution 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 public 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 final decision the issue was postponed.

In Russia State Duma was proposing to return the country to the Julian calendar from January 1, 2008. Deputies Viktor Alksnis, Sergey Baburin, Irina Savelyeva and Alexander Fomenko proposed to establish 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

Vladimir Gubanov

(In the given statements of the authors, the words in parentheses are the original. The words in rectangular brackets are our explanations, V.G.).

Orthodox Christians New Year begins in the fall, on the 1st day of the month of Septemvria (1st Septemvria according to the old style is September 14 according to the new style): this is according to the month, according to the charter of the Church, which is obligatory for everyone, both priests and laity.

Until 1492, the new year in Russia began in the spring on March 1st. This beginning is ancient and more reasonable than the beginning of the year on September 1st, or even more so on January 1st; but it was abandoned. The fact that previously the new year began in the spring, we see in the Easter liturgical canon, which is used in the Church and according to which the counting is carried out precisely from Easter, from the Resurrection of Christ, it says: “1st resurrection after Easter”, “2nd resurrection after Easter", and so on.

So, there are already three new years: one spring on March 1st, the second autumn on September 1st, and the third winter, civil new year, on January 1st. Taking into account the old and new styles, we get six New Years in one year. What is the meaning of the origin of these chronologies?

Life on earth has not always existed, so it is very reasonable that the beginning of life, the spring of life, is the beginning of the year - this is how the spring New Year appeared. But when the harvest was ripe and harvested, the year naturally ended - and so the autumn New Year appeared. By the way, the children also have a new academic year begins in the fall on September 1st. And the winter, civil New Year was introduced in Russia by decree of Tsar Peter I in 1700, however, by decree of Peter it was allowed to use two calendars at once with two new years, both September and January.

The new calendar, which is used today, was introduced in 1582 by decree of Pope Gregory, and therefore it is called the Gregorian calendar, or new style. By that time, the popes were no longer Orthodox and started wars against Orthodox countries, Byzantium and Russia (and even the Catholic Order of Crusaders fought against Catholic Poland!).

The chronology, which is now called the old style, was introduced on the advice of the astronomer Sosigenes under Julius Caesar (Julius Caesar) in 46–45 BC, and therefore it is called the Julian (or Julian), old style.

The modern calendar - the Gregorian, new style - has many shortcomings: it is more complex than the old, Julian reckoning, and its origin is associated with pagan festivals, pagan Roman calendars, from which the word calendar comes, and the continuous counting of days in the new calendar is broken, it has a year begins in the middle of the season, in winter. (The word “calendar” did not exist for more than a thousand years, neither in the Church nor outside it.)

On the contrary, the spring and autumn new years each begin with the beginning of the season, with the beginning of the season, which is very convenient in everyday life.

Unlike the new style, it is convenient to calculate according to the old style: three years have 365 days each and the fourth, leap year, has 366 days.

But, they say, the old style lags behind the new style. Really? Or maybe the new style is in a hurry? Let's check, and then we will see that, indeed, the old style is more accurate than the new style, and moreover, precisely according to the data of science, astronomy, chronology, mathematics, meteorology, we will see that, from a scientific point of view, the new style is in a hurry. But it’s not the good watches that go fast, but the ones that go accurately.

When in Russia it was discussed whether to introduce the Gregorian, a new calendar for civil use, it was the educated part of society that was mainly against the calendar reform, and at the meetings of the Commission of the Russian Astronomical Society in 1899 on the issue of calendar reform, Professor V.V. Bolotov, expressing the general opinion, said:

“The Gregorian reform has not only no justification, but even an excuse... The Council of Nicea did not decide anything of the kind” (Journal of the 4th meeting of the Commission on the Reform of the Calendar, September 20, 1899, pp. 18-19), and he also said: “I find the very abolition of the Julian style in Russia at all undesirable. I still remain a strong admirer of the Julian calendar. Its extreme simplicity constitutes its scientific advantage over all other corrected calendars. I think that Russia’s cultural mission on this issue is that , in order to keep the Julian calendar in life 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" (Journal of the 8th meeting of the Commission on the issue of calendar reform, February 21, 1900, p. 34 ).

In part, these words turned out to be prophetic: the Gregorian calendar turned out to be unnecessary and now scientists want to replace it or correct it. The new style is already outdated! And the Pope has already expressed his consent to correct the Gregorian calendar, to change the new style. It is no coincidence that the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, although he was a zealous Catholic, refused to replace the old style with a new one and to participate in the compilation of this new calendar, rightly believing that astronomy does not have sufficient accuracy to establish a new time calculation, and this is true to this day .

The Second Vatican Council on December 4, 1963, by a majority vote of 2057 to 4, declared that it “has no objection to the intention to introduce a perpetual calendar in civil society” instead of the modern Gregorian one. So, the Gregorian reform turned out to be unnecessary, not eternal - they want to replace or correct the new style. The new style has neither the scientific precision which it claimed nor the practical convenience for which the old style is prized.

Contrary to false belief, the old style was not canonized. And a scientific discovery or worldview cannot be canonized. For scientific discoveries are updated frequently, and worldviews change even more often. And the Church has always canonized only spiritual and moral rules. For with any change of scientific discoveries, governments, parties, in all centuries, murder remains murder and theft remains theft.

On the contrary, the new style, the Gregorian calendar, was dogmatized by the dogmatic message of the Pope, a bull, which commanded the introduction of a new number in Catholic countries. And now this one modern calendar want to correct or replace - the new style is already outdated! The priest and professor, later a holy martyr, Dimitry Lebedev said this well in his work “Calendar and Paschal”: The new Gregorian style is outdated: its 400-year period is not correct, a 500-year period would be better, but the 128-year period is most accurate.

That is, according to Dimitry Lebedev, all calendars are inaccurate, and it would be most correct to use a more accurate counting instead of the Gregorian style, with thirty-one leap years every 128 years, this is the cycle of a Russian astronomer, German by birth, our professor of Dorpatsky, Yuryevsky, and now foreign Tartu, University of I.G. Medler (1794–1874), proposed by him in 1864.

(Sources:
YES. Lebedev, "Calendar and Easter", M., 1924, p. 30.
I. Medler, “On the reform of the calendar,” Journal of the Ministry of Public Education, January 1864, fourth decade, part CXXI, department VI, St. Petersburg, 1864, p. 9.
Moreover, the idea of introducing a new calendar in Russia was then introduced by the Masonic society, which was called as follows: “German scientific society “das freie Hochstift für Wissenschaften, Künste und allgemeine Bildung in Goethe`s Vaterhause””, ibid., p. 9, translation: "Free high pin for sciences, arts and general education in Goethe's father's house.").

But John Medler was not for the transition to the Gregorian calendar, but for the transition to his, Medler’s, calendar.

And in our opinion, based on the totality of all the scientific advantages, especially for theological reasons, the old style is better, more accurate and more convenient. See the evidence below.

That the old style, the Julian style, was not canonized is also evident from the fact that it was not introduced as a mandatory rule, it was not mentioned in conciliar decrees or in church rules. Anything not mentioned cannot be a canon; there are only written canons, there are no others. That the old style was not canonized is also evident from the fact that the Church threw out everything unnecessary from it and left what was useful. For example, initially in the Julian calendar the new year began in winter in January, but in the Church the new year began in March, and then began to begin in September, as we see now in the calendar. So, the old style was not canonized, it was only more convenient.

Some, very many, believe that the old style lags behind by one day every 128 years. That is, it is believed that the day of the vernal equinox every 128 years falls on a different date according to the old reckoning, shifting by one day. But who said that the vernal equinox should always fall on the same date? and, moreover, precisely on March 21st? (The vernal equinox is when day and night are equal and have 12 hours each). Who said that the spring equinox should always fall on March 21st? The church rules do not say this, and there are no other canons. After all, formally, Easter can be counted from any date that falls on given year the vernal equinox, or better to say: the number has no meaning, because the day of the month itself outside of Easter has no meaning, because in fact Easter is not counted from the number and Easter is not adjusted to the number, but Easter is celebrated according to church rules, according to tradition Orthodox Church. This is the eternal establishment of the Church.

So March 21st is not sacred number sacred month, for in a year all numbers and months are equal, the Church sanctifies the days, and not the days sanctify the Church, and the Orthodox Church has never canonized the calendar. Even the beginning of the year in the churches was different, for example in the Anglican Church the new year began on March 25th, and then the beginning was moved to January 1st.

And in modern names months, in their arrangement, there is not even common sense. For example, September in translation means the seventh month (month of the year), October means the eighth, November means the ninth, and, finally, December means the tenth month, and not the twelfth, as according to the modern calendar. This means that according to the count of months, the year does not end in December and does not begin in January. That is: the year begins in March, as according to the old church calendar.

On the accuracy of the Julian calendar

All calendars are accurate only relatively, conditionally, they do not have perfect accuracy, for the human mind is not perfect after the Fall. And yet, in all respects, the old style, the Julian calendar, is preferable to the modern Gregorian calendar.

The scientist Sergei Kulikov, an expert on calendars, a fan of the Gregorian calendar in everyday life, and not our Julian one, in his work “Calendar Cheat Sheet” says: “The Gregorian calendar is also inaccurate. It is impossible to create an absolutely accurate calendar; a more accurate calendar is also more complex,” that is , less convenient in everyday life.

In his other work, “The Thread of Times. A small encyclopedia of the calendar with notes in the margins of newspapers,” published in 1991 by the Main Editorial Board of Physical and Mathematical Literature, the publishing house “Nauka” (and this is the most scientific publishing house in Russia), on the 6th page, he states: “Generally speaking, of the existing calendars, the simplest is the Julian. Now its scope is very limited: it is used by the Orthodox Church and residents of small areas of the Earth... But because of its simplicity (and slenderness!) It is still It is also used in science, when counting Julian days and in recalculating dates of the lunar and lunisolar calendars." So, our Julian calendar is used in science, which means it is more accurate and convenient than the Gregorian calendar.

The Julian calendar is used, for example, by astronomers when calculating lunar and lunisolar calendars. Sergei Kulikov talks about it this way: "If the current solar calendars[calculated only by the sun - V.G.] are relatively simple in their patterns, then the calendars “with the participation of the Moon” are quite complex, and when translating the dates of the lunar and lunisolar calendars into the Julian (translation is carried out specifically into the Julian calendar, and then amendment is introduced) one has to make painstaking calculations or use several tables" (ibid., p. 225).

On page 7, he also says: “The Julian calendar conquered half the world, having undergone minor changes in the 16th century, and in this new capacity (Gregorian calendar) has already spread to the whole world.” Yes, indeed, the Gregorian calendar is not a new calendar, but only a modified or distorted version of the old calendar, the Julian calendar.

He also talks about the use of the Julian calendar and when calculating the Jewish Passover, here is an example: “23 weeks and 2 days are added to the date of the Julian calendar corresponding to Nisan 15” (ibid., p. 215).

Therefore, says scientist S.S. Kulikov, “The Orthodox Churches in 1903 expressed a categorical denial regarding the adoption of the Gregorian style. The All-Russian Church Council of 1917-1918 in Moscow decided to maintain and preserve the old style for church calculus and for liturgical practice” (ibid., p. 147).

Another Russian scientist, astronomer Alexander Alexandrovich Mikhailov, in his book “The Earth and Its Rotation,” published in 1984, says on page 66: "The old style is simple and quite sufficient in accuracy". This opinion is fair, because the old style is convenient and simple. Indeed, according to astronomy, the old style is sufficient in accuracy, that is, there was no need to introduce a new style. And only the prejudice that the equinox should be exactly on the 21st of March served as the reason for the introduction of a new style and especially served as a reason for throwing out 10 days when introducing a new style, by which the equinox was assigned to the 21st day of the month of March. But here too, Pope Gregory sinned: a year after the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, the spring equinox was on March 20th (New Art.). Moreover, the spring equinox more often occurs on March 20, and not on the 21st (according to the New Art.), - and for what then was the calendar calculated, bringing the equinox to the 21st of March? Why did they throw out 10 days from the account? For the sake of accuracy, which was not achieved!

But further, in the same book by A.A. Mikhailov cites a false opinion, which astronomers and historians copy from each other, he says: “and if a calendar reform was subsequently carried out, it was not at all for practical reasons, but for a religious reason related to Christian holiday Easter. The fact is that the Council of Nicaea is a meeting senior officials Church in 325 in the ancient Byzantine city of Nicaea (now Iznik) in Asia Minor established rules for determining the day of Easter. It was decided to celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the spring full moon, which occurs after the equinox on March 21." Here there is an error upon error. The same errors are in the book of astronomer I.A. Klimishin "Calendar and Chronology", published in 1985 - there is even the city is incorrectly named “Izvik” (instead of Iznik, p. 209). The same errors are also in other books; astronomers and historians probably copy errors from each other, and it is not difficult to expose them. However, Klimishin also has a good review of the old style. : So, on page 56 of the mentioned book he says the following:

"The attractive side of the Julian calendar is its simplicity and the strict rhythm of the change of common and leap years. Each period of time of four years has (365 + 365 + 365 + 366) 1461 days, each century 36525 days. Therefore, it turned out to be convenient for measuring long time intervals ".

So, we see the good opinions of astronomers about the old Julian style, which they use today in the form of Julian days in astronomy. Julian days (or Julian period) were introduced in 1583 by the scientist Joseph Scaliger instead of the abolished old style.

But where do scientists, with such mathematical accuracy of calculations, get such false ideas about the time of celebrating Christian Easter? Firstly, among the 20 rules of the 1st Ecumenical Council, which was held in Nicaea, there is no rule about Easter! Contrary to what A.A. Mikhailov says that this council “established rules for determining the day of Easter” - and even “rules” in plural. But in the rules of this council there is not a single rule about Easter. Take any Book of Rules, which contains all the church decrees for the first millennium of the Christian era, whether published in Greek, or in Slavic, or in Russian, and you will not find in it any rule of the 1st Council of Nicaea on the celebration of Easter. The Council considered this issue, as it considered many other issues, but did not leave any rule about Easter, and was not obliged to leave it. For example, the fifth ecumenical council did exactly the same thing: having resolved some pressing issues, it did not leave any rules at all, not a single one. For all the necessary rules had already been pronounced by previous councils and there was no need to proclaim them again.

So the rule about Easter already existed before the 1st Council of Nicaea: it is found in the Apostolic Rules (this is the 7th rule). In total there were seven ecumenical councils and ten local councils, whose rules or regulations were collected in the Book of Rules, but none of these rules said either about the full moon or about March 21st. That is why, speaking about the 1st Council of Nicea, about the time of the celebration of Easter, slanderers do not cite any evidence from primary sources, no quotes from the Book of Rules, or from interpretations of it: for there was no rule, there is nothing to quote. I.A. Klimishin even falsely claims, with a pseudo-scientific air, that this rule “was not in the archives of the Church of Constantinople already at the beginning of the 5th century” (p. 212). But this is a lie, because this rule never existed there, neither before the 5th century, nor after. And this is not difficult to prove. After all, lists of rules of ecumenical and local councils are the most important documents of the Church, and therefore, after each council, all rules are sent to all churches in all countries, and if the rule disappeared in one archive, other churches would send lists and copies. But the rule could not disappear unnoticed, because it is in the list of rules, linked, numbered and filed, and moreover, all the rules of the councils are signed by all participants in the councils and all lists of rules immediately after the council are sent to all churches for use in church life, they are rewritten for yourself and for use in the temple. But how absurd it is to assume that the rule suddenly disappeared in all churches, from all book depositories, public and private, and, moreover, disappeared imperceptibly and simultaneously from all the lists that are linked, numbered and filed. No, it could not disappear unnoticed, suddenly and simultaneously, this is a lie. And scientists copy this misconception from each other. A thousand years have passed since the writing of the Book of Rules, but during this millennium none of the holy fathers referred to it imaginary rule because he wasn't there. Even the ancient heretics, among whom forged writings also circulated, did not refer to it. It was invented later by Roman Catholics, and now it is supported by learned atheists in order to discredit the church.

So, no rule about the time of celebrating Easter was decreed at the 1st Ecumenical Council, for it was not necessary: this rule had already been spoken before, it is found in the Apostolic Canons and it says the following: “If anyone, a bishop or presbyter , or deacon, will celebrate the holy day of Easter before the spring equinox with the Jews: let him be deposed from the sacred rank" (rule 7). Jews are Jews who did not accept Christ. So, this rule about Easter does not say either about March 21st or the full moon, contrary to false opinion. The rule only prohibits celebrating Passover with Jews. It also prohibits celebrating Easter before the spring equinox, and nothing more. The Church has not canonized astronomical information; it is not in any rule of the universal and local councils, because only spiritual and moral commandments are included in the rule. Astronomical precision cannot be law; it is left to private interpretation or opinion.

Conclusions: the mythical March 21st arose by decree of the Pope, who gave this number undue honor only because it was the spring equinox, during the 1st Ecumenical Council in Nicaea; it took place in the year 325, and in the 4th century the vernal equinox was approximately March 22nd and 21st. But is this cathedral more honorable than other cathedrals? After all, before there was an apostolic council, no less venerable. If there was a need to fix the spring equinox to a certain date, wouldn’t it be better to keep the day of the equinox that was at the birth of Christ or His resurrection? Or the first day of March, the first day of spring? But, as has been said, there could not be such a need, and the universal Church in its rules never canonized the data of astronomy that did not have absolute precision, because church rules must be infallible.

In order to fix the vernal equinox on the twenty-first day of the month of March, although this was not required, the Pope ordered that the supposedly “extra” 10 days “accumulated”, in quotes, since the 1st Council of Nicaea be thrown out of the count of days, and this became a significant drawback modern calendar: it disrupts the continuous counting of days. Another significant drawback: according to the new style, 3 leap years in 4 centuries are destroyed. All this made it impossible to conduct precise calculations. Therefore, the new style is not used in the Church, and in historical chronology, and in astronomy - where precise mathematical calculations are required, but the Julian days are used.

"The disadvantage of the Gregorian style is its unnecessary complexity, which forces us to first make calculations using the Julian calendar, and then convert Julian dates to Gregorian ones. Thanks to the Julian calendar, it is easy to chronologically restore various historical facts, astronomical phenomena in the past, recorded in chronicles or ancient monuments, which cannot be done according to the Gregorian calendar" ("On the Church Calendar", A.I. Georgievsky, Associate Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, Moscow, 1948).

About the Julian days, or the Julian period. When Pope Gregory abolished the old style, the Julian, in 1582, the next year the old style was revived under the name of the Julian period, which was introduced into science by the French scientist Scaliger. This Julian period, or otherwise Julian days (more correctly, Julian days), is used today by all astronomers around the world, although the Julian period is an artificial era and in it the days are counted from a conditional, arbitrary date (noon on January 1, 4713 BC) , and not from the Nativity of Christ or from another historical event. Scaliger, according to him, called his system, where a continuous count of the day is kept, Julian because it counts according to the Julian calendar, according to the old style. Scaliger was against the new style, against the Gregorian calendar, rightly believing that only the Julian calendar retains a continuous count of days. Take any astronomical calendar or astronomical yearbook, published in any country in the world, in any language, in any year, and you will see in it a count of days according to “Julian days” - JD. In addition, in astronomy there is the Julian (Julian) century, the Julian year (365.25 days), and other Julian quantities (those who wish can read about this in more detail in my book “Why the old style is more accurate than the new style. Divine miracles according to the old style.” , Moscow, "Pilgrim", 2002).

So, the Julian calendar, the old style, is used in the Orthodox Church and in astronomy, as well as in historical research, where mathematical calculations are required. For example, you need to find out in what year in the seventh century there was a solar or lunar eclipse in a particular city. This can only be calculated using the old style; and then the calculated Julian dates are converted to dates of the Gregorian calendar. But why convert some numbers into others if you can use the old style without translation? It's easier after all.

That the new style, the Gregorian, modern calendar does not have the astronomical accuracy for which it was introduced, we will provide further evidence from astronomy.

The spring equinox is movable, it does not stand in the sky (a phenomenon of precession), therefore assigning a fixed date to it (the 21st) and thereby linking Easter with it is a gross astronomical and logical mistake.

The book, which is a guide to modern astronomy, because it contains all the basic astronomical and physical information, is “Astrophysical Quantities” (author of the book K.W. Allen, published in 1977, Mir Publishing House, translated from English, page 35), – the length of the year is given in different the most accurate measurements(see table, we present data with minor rounding).

Tropical year (from equinox to equinox)	365.242199 average solar day
Sidereal year (relative to the fixed stars)	365.25636556 days
Time of change in the right ascension of the average sun through 360 degrees, measured relative to the stationary ecliptic	365.2551897 days
Anomalous year (time between successive passages through perihelion)	365.25964134 days
Eclipse (draconic) year	346.620031 days
Julian year	365.25 days
Gregorian calendar year	365.2425 days

TOTAL SEVEN DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS OF THE YEAR. Here you can also add the EIGHTH DIMENSION OF THE YEAR - this is the lunar year, which is equal to 12 lunar synodic months, on average: 354.367 days.

To this you can also add FIVE DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS OF THE MONTH (in the same book, pages 35 and 213):

And in secondary schools, and in higher schools too, stubbornly, like ignorant journalists, they talk only about the tropical or Gregorian year.

Without being able to explain here what it is tropical, ecliptic, perihelion and so on, we must say that all calendars are conditionally divided into solar, in accordance with the annual movement of the sun, lunar, commensurate with the phases of the moon, and solar-lunar, commensurate with the movements of the sun and moon. In modern calendars, the length of the year is usually commensurate with the duration of the so-called tropical year, that is, the year measured from one vernal equinox to the next. But this is not a true tropical year, measured by tropical points (which is not possible to talk about in detail here).

But astronomically the most accurate is not the so-called tropical year, but the sidereal year, that is, the sidereal year, measured by the stars and not by the sun. For the sun is too mobile relative to the stars, and the stars are taken to be motionless during measurements. So it is in astronomy. But practically, in everyday life The most convenient year in its simplicity is the Julian year: three simple years and a fourth leap year.

But the Julian calendar is based on the sidereal year, and not the tropical year (true or so-called, it doesn’t matter)!

And when calculating Easter, the phases of the moon, the full moon, and the time of the equinox are also taken into account. The duration of the solar sidereal year was not known accurately enough in ancient times, but, in the end, by God's providence, the Julian year turned out to be closer to the most accurate sidereal year than the Gregorian year. Look at the table above: the duration of the most accurate sidereal year (365.256-odd days) is closer to the duration of the Julian year (365.25 days), and Gregorian year(365.2425 days) is much further away from the sidereal year. That is, the old style turns out to be more accurate than the new style. And due to the difference in numbers, after a few centuries the old style in the dates of the beginning of the seasons will become equal to the astronomical calendar, but the new style will not be equal even after two thousand years.

So, astronomically the most accurate is not the tropical year (true or so-called), but the sidereal year. But the sidereal, sidereal year is not very convenient in everyday life, for example, just as it is inconvenient to consider that a chicken lays 0.7 eggs daily, because she lays whole eggs, and not different halves. And we are accustomed to integers and to measuring time by the sun, and not by the stars, although the latter is more accurate. So, between the inexact tropical year and the exact sidereal year is the Julian year, which is closer to the sidereal year than the Gregorian calendar year. For this reason, the old style turns out to be more accurate than the new one.

This amazing pattern was not noticed due to the persistent desire to tie the equinox to March 21, because the new style was falsely dogmatized in Roman Catholicism: the “infallible” Pope declared the calendar “corrected” by him to be infallible.

In astronomy, in addition to the Julian days and Julian years, which were mentioned above, there is also, and since the year 2000, the Julian century has again been naturally introduced, that is, the coming century will be Julian, and not Gregorian. You can read about this in the appendix to the above-mentioned book “Astrophysical Quantities” (pp. 434–435) and in the Astronomical Yearbook for 1990 (p. 605; as well as in other publications), where the following is stated:

“The unit of time used in the fundamental formulas for accounting for precession is considered to be the Julian century of 36525 days; so that the epochs (moments) of the beginning of the year differ from the standard epoch by values that are multiples of the Julian year, equal to 365.25 days.”

So, the coming century will be Julian, not Gregorian: that is, the years will be counted according to the old style, in which every three years have 365 days, and the fourth year has 366 days. This use of the Julian century, that is, the account according to the old style, is not at all accidental, but a completely natural phenomenon.

The old style is convenient and simple and not spoiled by false science under the influence of politics.

It is appropriate to repeat here that the new style, that is, the modern calendar, has long been outdated and they want to replace or correct it: for more than a century and a half, discussions have been ongoing among scientists and non-scientists about correcting the modern calendar, the Gregorian, and numerous proposals have already been received, dozens all kinds of calendar projects, and in 1923 a special commission on calendar reform was created under the League of Nations, and the same commission operates in the current United Nations, and many books and articles have already been published with a variety of schedules of the so-called “perpetual calendars” .

However, it should be noted that some projects of “perpetual calendars” provide for calculation both according to the old style, Julian, and the newest, corrected style. That is, the old style does not change, but the new one is subject to change.

One of these new and most accurate calendars of its kind was calculated by the Yugoslav scientist Milutin Milankovic, this is the so-called New Julian calendar, it is 10 times more accurate than the Gregorian calendar. But it is also based on the same so-called tropical year, and not the sidereal year, although calculations based on the stars are more accurate.

Let us give one more scientific evidence that the old style is more accurate than the new one. Using the Astronomical calendar for 1999, you can compare the dates of the beginning of the seasons according to the old style and the new style, and according to astronomy.

From this comparison it is obvious that the old style is more accurate than the new style, because the dates of the beginning of the seasons according to the Gregorian calendar (according to the new style) differ from astronomical dates by three weeks, and the dates of the beginning of the seasons according to the Julian calendar (according to the old style) differ from astronomical dates only for one week. That is, in other words, the old style is three times more accurate than the new one. This means that it is not the old style that is lagging behind, but the new style that is in a hurry. More precisely, both are in a hurry, but the new style is too hasty.

For example: the beginning of spring in 1999 according to the astronomical calendar on March 21 (translated into modern calculus, Gregorian). And according to the official, Gregorian calendar (civil, which is used in European countries, America, Australia and partly in Asia and Africa, in addition to local calendars), the beginning of spring is March 1st - that is, the difference between them is 20 days, almost three weeks.

But according to the old style, Julian (in terms of numbers converted to the new style), the beginning of spring is March 14th - that is, the difference between them is 7 days, one week. And this difference between the new and old style and the astronomical calendar is approximately the same in other dates: the beginning of summer, autumn and winter. The new style is everywhere, the modern calendar is three weeks ahead, and the old style is only one week ahead, compared to the astronomical calendar. So, in counting the dates of the seasons, that is, seasons, the old style is approximately three times more accurate than the new style.

Here science and religion are completely unanimous: the old style is more accurate than the new style, astronomy confirms the truth of the tradition of the Church. Only according to the old style, the church monthly, can one correctly celebrate Holy Easter and all Christian holidays.

On the accuracy of the old style according to the time of the annual stay of the sun in the constellations. Another proof of the accuracy of the old style compared to the new style. In astronomy, it is known that throughout the year the sun passes through the vault of heaven, divided into constellations. Each constellation of the sun takes almost a month, starting with the first constellation, spring, called Aries, and ending with the last constellation, Pisces. Currently, the date of the beginning of the annual entry of the sun into the constellation Aries is April 18th of the new style (see table, from the book of the already mentioned Sergei Kulikov “Calendar Crib Sheet”, Moscow, 1996, publishing house “International Education Program”; pp. 49-50 ):

Constellation:	Entry date sun to constellation:
Aries	April 18
Taurus	May 13
Gemini	June 21
Cancer	July 20
Leo	August 10
Virgo	September 16
Libra	October 30
Scorpio	November 22
Ophiuchus	November 29
Sagittarius	December 17
Capricorn	January 19
Aquarius	February 15
Pisces	March 11

So, it is obvious: April 18 (New Style), the beginning of the annual movement of the sun through the zodiacal constellations, is closer to the start date of the year according to the old style (March 14, in terms of numbers converted to the new style), and not to the start date of the year according to the new style (March 1, new style). That is, here too the old style is more accurate than the new style.

On the accuracy of the old style according to meteorological data. The old style is more accurate than the new style not only astronomically, but also meteorologically, for Russia. For, in addition to astronomical spring, there is also meteorological spring - the day when the average daily, daily air temperature passes through zero, that is, from minus temperatures to plus ones. In Russia, and indeed throughout the entire northern hemisphere, the first day of spring is colder than the first day of autumn, that is, temperatures are not symmetrical: cold winter times are shifted towards summer, and winter begins later and ends not in its own winter time, but in spring. Likewise, meteorological spring comes later than the spring celebrated according to the new style, and later than the spring celebrated according to the old style, and even later than the astronomical spring. Until recently, meteorological spring at the latitude of Moscow began around April 7 according to the new style, or March 25 according to the old style. But the climate is warming, according to scientists, and the date of meteorological spring is approaching the date of astronomical spring. According to the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia, now at the latitude of Moscow, meteorological spring begins on March 27–28 (New Style), which is closer to the date of the beginning of astronomical spring and to the date of the first day of spring according to the church calendar, old style.

So, let's summarize the conclusions: meteorological spring is closer to the date of the beginning of spring according to the old style, and not according to the new style. And this is also by the providence of God, this also proves that the old style is more accurate than the new style.

Question : Why is the sidereal year more accurate than the tropical year?

Answer : Astronomers have calculated: the earth, moving in its orbit around the sun, does not return to its original place in a year (the so-called tropical year), because the sun also does not stand still and moves forward, the sun also moves in its orbit around our center in a year galaxy, and also due to precession, which cuts off about 20 minutes from the sidereal year every year and thereby turns the sidereal year into a tropical year - but these phenomena require a very long and careful explanation, and we omit them here). This is where this difference in duration between the sidereal year and the tropical year appears - this is the time during which the earth needs to travel to its place in order for the circle to close, or, more clearly, for the sun to pass in the sky relative to the stars, and not relative to the equinox points , which, contrary to the Gregorian calendar, do not stand still, but move towards the sun in its annual movement across the sky.

Question : But why do the astronomical dates for the beginning of spring, summer, autumn and winter differ in numbers and do not start from the same number (from the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, again from the 22nd)?

Answer : Because the observed annual movement of the sun around the earth, or, that is, the movement of the earth around the sun, is not strictly circular: the circle is stretched into an uneven ellipse - the sun and the earth either approach each other and move faster, or move away from each other and move slower, hence the unevenness in the duration of seasons, seasons, and the discrepancy between the numbers of dates according to the astronomical calendar.

Question : Will there be a shift in dates according to the old style in such a way that the spring holiday of Easter will be celebrated in the summer or even in the fall?

Answer : Orthodox Easter this is not a spring holiday, but a holiday of the resurrection of Christ; Easter is not a local holiday, but a universal one. In Australia, which today is on the other half globe, on its southern side, as well as in South America, and in southern Africa Easter is now celebrated in the fall. For when it is spring with us, it is autumn with them; When it’s summer for us, it’s winter for them. And vice versa, it’s autumn for us, it’s spring for them.

Question : But after more than a hundred years, the Orthodox Church will still celebrate, for example, the Nativity of Christ no longer on January 7th, but on the 8th, due to the shift in dates by one day every 128 years? So, her month book (calendar) is not correct?

Answer : No, true. Because she does not celebrate January 7th. The Orthodox Church always celebrates the Nativity of Christ according to the church style, according to which the Nativity of Christ is always on December 25th - although according to the new style it can be the 7th, or the 8th, or any day of the month, but this is already sinful style.

So, conclusions: the old style is more convenient and easier for everyday use than the new one, and it is scientifically more accurate. According to it, the structure of the monthly word is clearer, the alternation of holidays and fasts and their timing is clearer. The natural course of nature is inscribed in the monthbook. Many ancient monthly books contained astronomical tables, that is, the information that is now included in calendars, desk calendars, and navigation publications: about the times of sunrise and sunset of the sun and moon, about solar and lunar eclipses, about lunar phases, about the timing of new moons and full moons, about the length of day and night, about the equinoxes. In addition to this information, the monthly book usually contained little-known cosmic cycles, understandable only to those who know astronomy: this is the 28-year cycle of the sun and the 19-year cycle of the moon. These cycles were called: “circle to the sun” and “circle to the moon” (the word “circle” is a translation of the word “cycle”, for the Slavic month book is a translation from the Greek month book). These astronomical cycles, the circle of the sun and the circle of the moon, could be calculated on the fingers - for those who do not know this is difficult, but for those who know it is simple. It was called vrutseleto - summer (year) in hand. Anyone who knew vrutseleto could predict, as if from a book reference book, when and what day would be for a century and a millennium in advance, when Easter would be in what year. And, of course, no matter how accurate astronomy is, for a Christian moral rules are higher than astronomical information.

The spiritual and moral rules of the Ecumenical Orthodox Church, set out in the Book of Rules of the Holy Apostles, Holy Councils and Holy Fathers, are the first reason why Christians should use the church calendar, the old style, and celebrate Easter according to it. And these rules, I am sure, will be observed until the second coming of Christ the Savior, when the entire Church of Christ will be raptured into heaven, “to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:17).

According to the ancients: “man is a microcosm,” that is, man physically is a small world, a small universe. According to the ancient Fathers of the Church: “man is the macrocosm,” that is, man is the universe, the world, the great in the small. In the human body there are all the particles, elements of the world, and there is something that is dearer than the whole world, this is the soul. What good is it to a man if he gains the whole world for himself, but loses his soul? In the Gospel, Jesus Christ says: “I came into this world for judgment” (John chapter 9, verse 39). These words from the Greek original are literally translated as follows: “I came into this space for judgment.” So, except this space, there is another space, other world But the other cosmos is not open to everyone. Such a revelation is given from above, it is “given” and not “achieved”, it is not achieved even by prayer and fasting, it is not achieved even by the feats of mortification of the flesh and cutting off the will. And the saints, whose names are in the Orthodox monthly, reached that world. That peace is partly achieved here too. That world exists in this world. Eternity still exists today. The kingdom of heaven is achieved on earth, in the creation of God's works. Only good deeds done for the sake of God, for the glory of God, in the name of Jesus Christ, Orthodoxy, in accordance with the rules of the Orthodox Church, give a person the grace of God, the Holy Spirit, without which salvation is impossible. No one and nothing will save a person except God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and to Him and from us be glory, honor and worship now and ever, and forever and ever. Amen.

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 with almost all cultural peoples calculation of time." 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 anniversary dates, main events in all works of a biographical nature and dates of events and documents on the history of international relations associated with countries where the Gregorian calendar was introduced earlier than in Russia.

New style date (Gregorian calendar)