Literary and historical notes of a young technician. How does the Julian calendar differ from the Gregorian calendar?

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

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

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

As in other Christian countries, from the end of the 10th century in Rus' the Julian calendar was used, based on observations of visible movement Sun across the sky. It was introduced in Ancient Rome by Gaius Julius Caesar in 46 BC. e.

The calendar was developed by the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes based on the calendar of Ancient Egypt. When Rus' adopted Christianity in the 10th century, the Julian calendar came with it. However, the average length of a year in the Julian calendar is 365 days and 6 hours (that is, there are 365 days in a year, with an additional day added every fourth year). While the duration of the astronomical solar year is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds. That is, the Julian year was 11 minutes 14 seconds longer than the astronomical year and, therefore, lagged behind the real change of years.

By 1582, the difference between the Julian calendar and the real change of years was already 10 days.

This led to a reform of the calendar, which was carried out in 1582 by a special commission created by Pope Gregory XIII. The difference was eliminated when, after October 4, 1582, it was ordered to count not October 5, but immediately October 15. After the name of the pope, the new, reformed calendar began to be called the Gregorian calendar.

In this calendar, unlike the Julian calendar, the final year of the century, if it is not divisible by 400, is not a leap year. Thus, the Gregorian calendar has 3 fewer leap years in each four-hundredth anniversary than the Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar retained the names of the months of the Julian calendar, an additional day in leap year- February 29 and the beginning of the year - January 1.

The transition of countries around the world to the Gregorian calendar was long. First, the reform took place in Catholic countries (Spain, Italian states, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a little later in France, etc.), then in Protestant countries (in Prussia in 1610, in all German states by 1700, in Denmark in 1700, in Great Britain in 1752, in Sweden in 1753). And only in the 19th-20th centuries the Gregorian calendar was adopted in some Asian (in Japan in 1873, China in 1911, Turkey in 1925) and Orthodox (in Bulgaria in 1916, in Serbia in 1919, in Greece in 1924 year) states.

In the RSFSR, the transition to the Gregorian calendar was carried out according to the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR “On the introduction of the Western European calendar in the Russian Republic” dated February 6, 1918 (January 26, old style).

The calendar problem in Russia has been discussed several times. In 1899, a Commission on the issue of calendar reform in Russia worked under the Astronomical Society, which included Dmitry Mendeleev and historian Vasily Bolotov. The commission proposed modernizing the Julian calendar.

“Taking into account: 1) that in 1830 the petition of the Imperial Academy of Sciences for the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in Russia was rejected by Emperor Nicholas I and 2) that the Orthodox states and the entire Orthodox population of the East and West rejected the attempts of representatives of Catholicism to introduce the Gregorian calendar in Russia, the Commission unanimously decided to reject all proposals for the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in Russia and, without being embarrassed by the choice of reform, to settle on one that would combine the idea of ​​​​truth and possible accuracy, both scientific and historical, in relation to Christian chronology in Russia,” reads Resolution of the Commission on the reform of the calendar in Russia from 1900.

Such a long use of the Julian calendar in Russia was due to the position of the Orthodox Church, which had a negative attitude towards the Gregorian calendar.

After the church was separated from the state in the RSFSR, linking the civil calendar to the church calendar lost its relevance.

The difference in calendars created inconvenience in relations with Europe, which was the reason for the adoption of the decree “in order to establish in Russia the same calculation of time with almost all cultural nations.”

The question of reform was raised in the fall of 1917. One of the projects under consideration proposed a gradual transition from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, dropping a day each year. But, since the difference between the calendars by that time was 13 days, the transition would take 13 years. Therefore, Lenin supported the option of an immediate transition to a new style. The church refused to switch to the new style.

“The first day after January 31 of this year should be considered not February 1, but February 14, the second day should be considered the 15th, etc.,” read the first paragraph of the decree. The remaining points indicated how new deadlines for fulfilling any obligations should be calculated and on what dates citizens would be able to receive their salaries.

The change of dates has created confusion with the celebration of Christmas. Before the transition to the Gregorian calendar in Russia, Christmas was celebrated on December 25, but now it has moved to January 7. As a result of these changes, in 1918 there was no Christmas at all in Russia. The last Christmas was celebrated in 1917, which fell on December 25th. And the next time the Orthodox holiday was celebrated on January 7, 1919.

For all of us, the calendar is a familiar and even mundane thing. This ancient invention of man records days, dates, months, seasons, periodicity natural phenomena, which are based on the system of movement of celestial bodies: the Moon, the Sun, the stars. The Earth rushes through the solar orbit, leaving years and centuries behind.
In one day, the Earth makes one complete revolution around its own axis. It passes around the Sun once per year. The solar or astronomical year 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 compiling accurate calendar for correct timing.
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 BC 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. Used in Egypt solar calendar, compiled on the basis of 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 every 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 the Orthodox Church, the simultaneity of church holidays was very important. The date of Easter was discussed at the First Ecumenical Council, 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 the reform was necessary to determine a more accurate date for the celebration of Easter, as well as to ensure that the day of the vernal equinox returned 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 in Rus' On the territory of 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, on the first of September. This went on for more than two hundred years. On the nineteenth of December, 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 of February fourteenth, one thousand nine hundred and eighteen, new rules were introduced in our country. The Gregorian calendar excluded three leap years within each quadrant. This is what 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.

Gregorian calendar 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 Russian Federation. Already on January 24, Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar. Peculiarities 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 the Nativity Fast, 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 are 31 days, February is either 28 or 29 The only difference is the frequency of leap years. According to the Julian calendar, a leap year occurs every three years. In this case, it turns out that the calendar year is 11 minutes longer than the astronomical year. 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 Are There Various designs 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 issue was transferred to the Economic and Social Committee of the UN. 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 a quarter has thirty-one days, the next two have thirty. The first day of each year and quarter begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday. 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 The General Assembly delayed approval of the project, and in 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 “Old” means New Year"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. http://vk.cc/3Wus9M