When was the Gregorian calendar adopted? Old and new style in historical dates

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 Western Europe celebrates the New Year, in Russia it is only 19 December.
Soviet Russia began to live and count days in a new way with 1 February 1918 of the 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.

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?

How is the Gregorian calendar different from the Julian calendar?

Various nations, religious cults, and astronomers tried to make counting the inexorably current time both the most accurate and simplest for any person. The starting point was the movement of the Sun, Moon, Earth, and the location of the stars. There are dozens of calendars developed and still used today. For the Christian world, there were only two significant calendars used for centuries - the Julian and the Gregorian. The latter is still the basis of chronology, considered the most accurate and not subject to the accumulation of errors. The transition to the Gregorian calendar in Russia occurred in 1918. This article will tell you what this was connected with.

From Caesar to the present day

It was after this multifaceted personality that the Julian calendar was named. The date of its appearance is considered to be January 1, 1945. BC e. based on the emperor's decree. It's funny that the starting point has little to do with astronomy - it is the day the consuls of Rome took office. This calendar, however, was not born out of nowhere:

• The basis for it was the calendar of ancient Egypt, which had existed for centuries, in which there were exactly 365 days, changing seasons.
• The second source for compiling the Julian calendar was the existing Roman one, which was divided into months.

The result is a fairly balanced, thoughtful way of visualizing the passage of time. It harmoniously combined ease of use, clear periods with the astronomical correlation between the Sun, Moon and stars, known for a long time and influencing the movement of the Earth.

The appearance of the Gregorian calendar, completely tied to the solar or tropical year, owes grateful humanity to Pope Gregory XIII, who ordered all Catholic countries to switch to a new time on October 4, 1582. It must be said that even in Europe this process was neither shaky nor slow. Thus, Prussia switched to it in 1610, Denmark, Norway, Iceland - in 1700, Great Britain with all its overseas colonies - only in 1752.

When did Russia switch to the Gregorian calendar?

Thirsty for everything new after having destroyed everything, the fiery Bolsheviks gladly gave the command to switch to a new progressive calendar. The transition to it in Russia took place on January 31 (February 14), 1918. The Soviet government had quite revolutionary reasons for this event:

• Almost all European countries had long ago switched to this method of chronology, and only the reactionary tsarist government suppressed the initiative of peasants and workers who were very inclined to astronomy and other exact sciences.
• The Russian Orthodox Church was against such violent intervention, which violates the sequence of biblical events. But how can the “sellers of dope for the people” be smarter than the proletariat, armed with the most advanced ideas?

Moreover, the differences between the two calendars cannot be called fundamentally different. By and large, the Gregorian calendar is a modified version of the Julian calendar. The changes are mainly aimed at eliminating, reducing the accumulation of temporary errors. But as a result of the dates of historical events that happened long ago, the births of famous personalities have a double, confusing calculation.

For example, the October Revolution in Russia happened on October 25, 1917 - according to the Julian calendar or the so-called old style, which is a historical fact, or on November 7 of the same year in a new way - the Gregorian calendar. It feels like the Bolsheviks carried out the October Rebellion twice - the second time as an encore.

The Russian Orthodox Church, which the Bolsheviks were unable to force either by executions of clergy or by organized robbery of artistic values ​​to recognize the new calendar, did not deviate from the biblical canons, calculating the passage of time and the onset of church holidays according to the Julian calendar.

Therefore, the transition to the Gregorian calendar in Russia is not so much a scientific, organizational event as a political one, which at one time affected the destinies of many people, and its echoes are still heard today. However, against the backdrop of the fun game of “set the time forward/back an hour”, which has not yet completely ended, judging by the initiatives of the most active deputies, this is simply a historical event.

Citizens of the Soviet country, having gone to bed on January 31, 1918, woke up on February 14. The “Decree on the introduction of the Western European calendar in the Russian Republic” came into force. Bolshevik Russia switched to the so-called new, or civil, style of calculating time, which coincided with the Gregorian church calendar used in Europe. These changes did not affect our Church: it continued to celebrate its holidays according to the old Julian calendar.

The calendar split between Western and Eastern Christians (believers began to celebrate the main holidays at different times) occurred in the 16th century, when Pope Gregory XIII undertook another reform, replacing the Julian style with the Gregorian. The purpose of the reform was to correct the growing difference between the astronomical year and the calendar year.

Obsessed with the idea of ​​world revolution and internationalism, the Bolsheviks, of course, did not care about the Pope and his calendar. As stated in the decree, the transition to the Western, Gregorian style was made “in order to establish in Russia the same calculation of time with almost all cultural peoples...” At one of the first meetings of the young Soviet government in early 1918, two time reform projects were considered ". The first envisaged a gradual transition to the Gregorian calendar, dropping 24 hours every year. This would have taken 13 years. The second envisaged doing this in one fell swoop. It was he who liked the leader of the world proletariat, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, who surpassed the current ideologist of multiculturalism, Angela Merkel, in globalist projects.

Competently

Religious historian Alexey Yudin talks about how Christian churches celebrate Christmas:

First of all, let’s make it clear right away: it is incorrect to say that someone celebrates December 25, and someone celebrates January 7. Everyone celebrates Christmas on the 25th, but according to different calendars. In the next hundred years, from my point of view, no unification of Christmas celebrations can be expected.

The old Julian calendar, adopted under Julius Caesar, lagged behind astronomical time. The reform of Pope Gregory XIII, which was called papist from the very beginning, was extremely negatively received in Europe, especially in Protestant countries, where the reformation was already firmly established. Protestants were against it primarily because “it was planned in Rome.” And this city in the 16th century was no longer the center of Christian Europe.

Red Army soldiers take church property out of the Simonov Monastery at a subbotnik (1925). Photo: Wikipedia.org

If desired, the calendar reform can, of course, be called a schism, bearing in mind that the Christian world has already split not only along the “east-west” principle, but also within the west.

Therefore, the Gregorian calendar was perceived as Roman, papist, and therefore unsuitable. Gradually, however, Protestant countries accepted it, but the transition process took centuries. This is how things were in the West. The East did not pay attention to the reform of Pope Gregory XIII.

The Soviet Republic switched to a new style, but this, unfortunately, was connected with the revolutionary events in Russia; the Bolsheviks, naturally, did not think about any Pope Gregory XIII, they simply considered the new style the most adequate to their worldview. And the Russian Orthodox Church has an additional trauma.

In 1923, on the initiative of the Patriarch of Constantinople, a meeting of Orthodox churches was held, at which they decided to correct the Julian calendar.

Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, of course, were unable to travel abroad. But Patriarch Tikhon nevertheless issued a decree on the transition to the “New Julian” calendar. However, this caused protests among believers, and the decree was quickly canceled.

You see that there were several stages of searching for a calendar match. But this did not lead to the final result. So far, this issue is completely absent from serious church discussion.

Is the Church afraid of another schism? Of course, some ultra-conservative groups within the Church will say: “They betrayed sacred time.” Any Church is a very conservative institution, especially with regard to everyday life and liturgical practices. And they rest on the calendar. And the church-administrative resource is ineffective in such matters.

Every Christmas, the topic of switching to the Gregorian calendar comes up. But this is politics, a profitable media presentation, PR, whatever you want. The Church itself does not participate in this and is reluctant to comment on these issues.

Why does the Russian Orthodox Church use the Julian calendar?

Father Vladimir (Vigilyansky), rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana at Moscow State University:

Orthodox churches can be divided into three categories: those that celebrate all church holidays according to the new (Gregorian) calendar, those that serve only the old (Julian) calendar, and those that mix styles: for example, in Greece Easter is celebrated according to old calendar, and all other holidays - in a new way. Our churches (Russian, Georgian, Jerusalem, Serbian and Athos monasteries) never changed the church calendar and did not mix it with the Gregorian calendar, so that there would be no confusion in the holidays. We have a single calendar system, which is tied to Easter. If we switch to celebrating, say, Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar, then two weeks are “eaten up” (remember how in 1918, after January 31, February 14 came), each day of which carries a special semantic significance for an Orthodox person.

The Church lives according to its own order, and in it many significant things may not coincide with secular priorities. For example, in church life there is a clear system of progression of time, which is tied to the Gospel. Every day excerpts from this book are read, which has a logic connected with the gospel history and the earthly life of Jesus Christ. All this lays down a certain spiritual rhythm in the life of an Orthodox person. And those who use this calendar do not want and will not violate it.

A believer has a very ascetic life. The world can change, we see how before our eyes our fellow citizens have a lot of opportunities, for example, for relaxation during the secular New Year holidays. But the Church, as one of our rock singers sang, “will not bend to the changing world.” We will not make our church life dependent on the ski resort.

The Bolsheviks introduced a new calendar "in order to calculate time in the same way as almost all cultural peoples." Photo: Publishing project of Vladimir Lisin "Days of 1917 100 years ago"

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

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

A tropical year has approximately 365.2422 average solar days.

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

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

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

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

© Public Domain

© Public Domain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are four main problems with the Gregorian calendar:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

is a number system for large periods of time, based on the periodicity of the Earth’s movement around the Sun.

The length of a year in the Gregorian calendar is 365.2425 days; there are 97 leap years per 400 years.

The Gregorian calendar is an improvement of the Julian calendar. It was introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, replacing the imperfect Julian.

The Gregorian calendar is usually called the new style, and the Julian calendar is called the old style. 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.

Adoption of the Gregorian calendar in different countries

The Gregorian calendar was introduced at different times in different countries. Italy was the first to switch to the new style in 1582. The Italians were followed by Spain, Portugal, Poland, France, Holland and Luxembourg. In the 1580s, these countries were joined by Austria, Switzerland and Hungary.

Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden introduced the new style in the 18th century. The Japanese introduced the Gregorian calendar in the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, the new style was joined in China, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Greece, Turkey and Egypt.

In Rus', where people lived according to the Julian calendar since the 10th century, the new European chronology was introduced by decree of Peter I in 1700. At the same time, the Julian calendar was preserved in Russia, according to which the Russian Orthodox Church still lives. The Gregorian calendar was introduced after the October Revolution of 1917 - from February 14, 1918.

Disadvantages of the Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is not absolute and has inaccuracies, although it is consistent with natural phenomena. The length of its year 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.

In addition, the Gregorian calendar does not take into account the slowing of the Earth's rotation, which lengthens the day by 0.6 seconds per 100 years.

Also, the Gregorian calendar does not meet the needs of society. Chief among its shortcomings is the variability of the number of days and weeks in months, quarters and half-years.

Problems with the Gregorian calendar

There are four main problems with the Gregorian calendar:

• Inconsistency of the Gregorian calendar with the tropical year. True, such a correspondence is generally unattainable due to the fact that the tropical year does not contain an integer number of days. Because of the need to add extra days 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 - 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.

New calendar projects

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

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