Gregorian calendar- a time calculation system based on the cyclic circulation of the Earth around the Sun; the duration of the year is taken equal to 365.2425 days; contains 97 leap years for 400 years.

For the first time, the Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in Catholic countries on October 4, 1582 to replace the former Julian: the next day after Thursday, October 4, was Friday, October 15.

The Gregorian calendar is used in most countries of the world.

Structure of the Gregorian calendar

In the Gregorian calendar, the length of a year is 365.2425 days. The duration of a non-leap year is 365 days, a leap year is 366.

$365(,)2425\; =\; 365\; +\; 0(,)25\; -\; 0(,)01\; +\; 0(,)0025\; =\; 365\; +\; \backslash frac(1)(4)\; -\; \backslash frac(1)(100)\; +\; \backslash frac(1\; )(400).$ From here follows the distribution of leap years:

• a year whose number is a multiple of 400 is a leap year;
• the remaining years, the number of which is a multiple of 100, are non-leap years;
• the rest of the 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.

An error of one day compared to the year of the equinoxes in the Gregorian calendar will accumulate in about 10,000 years (in the Julian - in about 128 years). A frequently encountered estimate, leading to a value of the order of 3000 years, is obtained if we do not take into account that the number of days in a tropical year changes over time and, in addition, the ratio between the lengths of the seasons changes.

In the Gregorian calendar, there are leap and non-leap years; the year can begin on any of the seven days of the week. In total, this gives 2 × 7 = 14 calendar options for the year.

Months

According to the Gregorian calendar, the year is divided into 12 months, lasting from 28 to 31 days:

Rule for remembering the number of days in a month

There is a simple rule for remembering the number of days in a month - " knuckle rule».

If you put your fists together in front of you so as to see the backs of the palms, then by the “knuckles” (knuckles) on the edge of the palm and the spaces between them you can determine whether any month is “long” (31 days) or “short” (30 days except February). To do this, you need to start counting the months from January, counting the knuckles and gaps. January will correspond to the first knuckle (long month - 31 days), February - the gap between the first and second knuckles ( short month), March - a knuckle, etc. The next two long months in a row - July and August - fall exactly on the adjacent knuckles of different hands (the gap between the fists is not considered).

There is also a mnemonic rule "Ap-yun-sen-no". The syllables of this word indicate the names of the months, consisting of 30 days. It is known that February, depending on the specific year, contains 28 or 29 days. All other months contain 31 days. The convenience of this mnemonic rule is that there is no need to “count” the knuckles.

Also, to remember the number of days in months, there is an English-language school saying: Thirty days have september, april, june and november. Analog to German: Dreissig Tage hat September, April, June and November.

The difference between the 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 is gradually increasing due to the different number of leap years—in the Gregorian calendar, the closing year of a century, if it is not divisible by 400, is not a leap year (see Leap year)—and today is 13 days.

Story

Prerequisites for the transition to the Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar gives a much more accurate approximation of the tropical year. The reason for the adoption of the new calendar was the gradual shift in relation to the Julian calendar of the day of the vernal equinox, according to which the date of Easter was determined, and the mismatch of the Easter full moons with astronomical ones. Before Gregory XIII, Popes Paul III and Pius IV tried to implement the project, but they did not achieve success. The preparation of the reform, at the direction of Gregory XIII, was carried out by the astronomers Christopher Clavius ​​and Aloysius Lily. The results of their labor were recorded in a papal bull, signed by the pontiff at Villa Mondragone and named after the first line. Inter gravissimas("Among the most important").

The transition to the Gregorian calendar resulted in the following changes:

Over time, the Julian and Gregorian calendars diverge more and more, by three days every 400 years.

Dates for countries to switch to the Gregorian calendar

States switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian in different time :

Transition history

In 1582, Spain, Italy, Portugal, the Commonwealth (Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland), France, Lorraine switched to the Gregorian calendar.

By the end of 1583 they were joined by Holland, Belgium, Brabant, Flanders, Liège, Augsburg, Trier, Bavaria, Salzburg, Regensburg, part of Austria and Tyrol. There were no curiosities. For example, in Belgium and Holland, January 1, 1583 came immediately after December 21, 1582, and the entire population was left that year without Christmas.

In some cases, the transition to the Gregorian calendar was accompanied by serious unrest. For example, when polish king Stefan Batory introduced a new calendar in Riga in 1584, local merchants rebelled, saying that a 10-day shift disrupted their delivery dates and led to significant losses. The rebels destroyed the Riga church and killed several municipal employees. It was only in the summer of 1589 that the "calendar disturbances" were dealt with.

In some countries that switched to the Gregorian calendar, the Julian chronology was subsequently resumed as a result of their accession to other states. In connection with the transition of countries to the Gregorian calendar at different times, factual errors of perception may occur: for example, it is sometimes said that Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died on the same day - April 23, 1616. In fact, Shakespeare died 10 days later than Inca Garcilaso, since in Catholic Spain the new style was in effect from the very introduction of his pope, and Great Britain switched to the new calendar only in 1752, and 11 days later than Cervantes (who died on 22 April, but was buried on April 23).

The introduction of the new calendar also had serious financial consequences for tax collectors. In 1753 - the first full year according to the Gregorian calendar, the bankers refused to pay taxes, waiting for the required 11 days after the usual due date - March 25th. As a result financial year in the UK began only on 6 April. This date has been kept until today, as a symbol big changes that occurred 250 years ago.

The change to the Gregorian calendar in Alaska was unusual, as it was combined there with a date line shift. Therefore, after Friday, October 5, 1867, according to the old style, another Friday, October 18, 1867, according to the new style, followed.

So far, Ethiopia and Thailand have not switched to the Gregorian calendar.

In the booth, which Pierre entered and in which he stayed for four weeks, there were twenty-three captured soldiers, three officers and two officials.
All of them then appeared to Pierre as if in a fog, but Platon Karataev remained forever in Pierre's soul the most powerful and dearest memory and personification of everything Russian, kind and round. When the next day, at dawn, Pierre saw his neighbor, the first impression of something round was completely confirmed: the whole figure of Plato in his French overcoat belted with a rope, in a cap and bast shoes, was round, his head was completely round, back, chest, shoulders, even the arms that he wore, as if always about to embrace something, were round; a pleasant smile and large brown gentle eyes were round.
Platon Karataev must have been over fifty years old, judging by his stories about the campaigns in which he participated as a longtime soldier. He himself did not know and could not in any way determine how old he was; but his teeth, bright white and strong, which kept rolling out in their two semicircles when he laughed (as he often did), were all good and whole; no one gray hair was not in his beard and hair, and his whole body had the appearance of flexibility and especially hardness and endurance.
His face, despite the small round wrinkles, had an expression of innocence and youth; his voice was pleasant and melodious. But main feature his speech was immediacy and argumentative. He apparently never thought about what he said and what he would say; and from this there was a special irresistible persuasiveness in the speed and fidelity of his intonations.
His physical strength and agility were such during the first time of captivity that he did not seem to understand what fatigue and illness were. Every day in the morning and in the evening, lying down, he said: “Lord, put it down with a pebble, raise it up with a ball”; in the morning, getting up, always shrugging his shoulders in the same way, he would say: "Lie down - curled up, get up - shake yourself." And indeed, as soon as he lay down to immediately fall asleep like a stone, and as soon as he shook himself, in order to immediately, without a second of delay, take up some business, the children, having risen, take up toys. He knew how to do everything, not very well, but not badly either. He baked, steamed, sewed, planed, made boots. He was always busy and only at night allowed himself to talk, which he loved, and songs. He sang songs, not like songwriters sing, knowing that they are being listened to, but he sang like birds sing, obviously because it was just as necessary for him to make these sounds, as it is necessary to stretch or disperse; and these sounds were always subtle, tender, almost feminine, mournful, and his face was very serious at the same time.
Having been captured and overgrown with a beard, he, apparently, threw away everything that was put on him, alien, soldierly, and involuntarily returned to the former, peasant, people's warehouse.
“A soldier on leave is a shirt made of trousers,” he used to say. He reluctantly spoke about his time as a soldier, although he did not complain, and often repeated that he had never been beaten during his entire service. When he told, he mainly told from his old and, apparently, dear memories of the "Christian", as he pronounced, peasant life. The sayings that filled his speech were not those for the most part indecent and glib sayings that soldiers say, but these were those folk sayings, which seem so insignificant, taken separately, and which suddenly acquire significance deep wisdom when they are said by the way.
Often he said the exact opposite of what he had said before, but both were true. He loved to talk and spoke well, embellishing his speech with endearing and proverbs, which, it seemed to Pierre, he himself invented; but the main charm of his stories was that in his speech the simplest events, sometimes the very ones that, without noticing them, Pierre saw, took on the character of solemn decorum. He liked to listen to the tales that one soldier told in the evenings (all the same), but most of all he liked to listen to stories about real life. He smiled joyfully as he listened to such stories, inserting words and asking questions that tended to make clear to himself the beauty of what was being told to him. Attachments, friendship, love, as Pierre understood them, Karataev did not have any; but he loved and lived lovingly with everything that life brought him, and especially with a person - not with some famous person, but with those people who were before his eyes. He loved his mutt, loved his comrades, the French, loved Pierre, who was his neighbor; but Pierre felt that Karataev, in spite of all his affectionate tenderness for him (which he involuntarily paid tribute to Pierre's spiritual life), would not have been upset for a minute by parting from him. And Pierre began to experience the same feeling for Karataev.
Platon Karataev was for all the other prisoners the most ordinary soldier; his name was falcon or Platosha, they good-naturedly mocked him, sent him for parcels. But for Pierre, as he presented himself on the first night, an incomprehensible, round and eternal personification of the spirit of simplicity and truth, he remained so forever.
Platon Karataev knew nothing by heart, except for his prayer. When he spoke his speeches, he, starting them, seemed not to know how he would end them.
When Pierre, sometimes struck by the meaning of his speech, asked to repeat what was said, Plato could not remember what he had said a minute ago, just as he could not in any way tell Pierre his favorite song with words. There it was: “dear, birch and I feel sick,” but the words did not make any sense. He did not understand and could not understand the meaning of words taken separately from the speech. Every word of his and every action was a manifestation of an activity unknown to him, which was his life. But his life, as he himself looked at it, had no meaning as a separate life. It only made sense as a part of the whole, which he constantly felt. His words and actions poured out of him as evenly, as necessary and immediately, as a scent separates from a flower. He could not understand either the price or the meaning of a single action or word.

Having received news from Nikolai that her brother was with the Rostovs in Yaroslavl, Princess Mary, despite her aunt's dissuades, immediately prepared to go, and not only alone, but with her nephew. Whether it was difficult, easy, possible or impossible, she did not ask and did not want to know: her duty was not only to be near, perhaps, her dying brother, but also to do everything possible to bring him a son, and she got up. drive. If Prince Andrei himself did not notify her, then Princess Mary explained that either by the fact that he was too weak to write, or by the fact that he considered this long journey too difficult and dangerous for her and his son.
In a few days, Princess Mary got ready for the journey. Her crews consisted of a huge princely carriage, in which she arrived in Voronezh, chaises and wagons. M lle Bourienne, Nikolushka with her tutor, an old nanny, three girls, Tikhon, a young footman and a haiduk, whom her aunt had let go with her, rode with her.
It was impossible to even think of going to Moscow in the usual way, and therefore the roundabout way that Princess Mary had to take: to Lipetsk, Ryazan, Vladimir, Shuya, was very long, due to the lack of post horses everywhere, it is very difficult and near Ryazan, where, as they said, the French showed up, even dangerous.
During this difficult journey, m lle Bourienne, Dessalles and the servants of Princess Mary were surprised by her fortitude and activity. She went to bed later than everyone else, got up earlier than everyone else, and no difficulties could stop her. Thanks to her activity and energy, which aroused her companions, by the end of the second week they were approaching Yaroslavl.
AT recent times of her stay in Voronezh, Princess Marya experienced best happiness In my life. Her love for Rostov no longer tormented her, did not excite her. This love filled her whole soul, became an indivisible part of herself, and she no longer fought against it. Recently, Princess Marya was convinced - although she never clearly said this to herself in words - she was convinced that she was loved and loved. She was convinced of this during her last meeting with Nikolai, when he came to her to announce that her brother was with the Rostovs. Nikolai did not hint in a single word that now (in the event of the recovery of Prince Andrei) the former relations between him and Natasha could be resumed, but Princess Marya saw from his face that he knew and thought this. And, despite the fact that his relationship to her - cautious, tender and loving - not only did not change, but he seemed to be glad that now the relationship between him and Princess Marya allowed him to more freely express his friendship to her love, as she sometimes thought Princess Mary. Princess Mary knew that she loved at first and last time in life, and felt that she was loved, and was happy, calm in this respect.
But this happiness of one side of her soul not only did not prevent her from feeling grief for her brother with all her might, but, on the contrary, it peace of mind in one respect gave her great opportunity surrender to your feelings for your brother. This feeling was so strong in the first minute of leaving Voronezh that those who saw her off were sure, looking at her exhausted, desperate face, that she would certainly fall ill on the way; but it was precisely the difficulties and worries of the journey, which Princess Marya undertook with such activity, saved her for a while from her grief and gave her strength.
As always happens during a trip, Princess Marya thought about only one trip, forgetting what was his goal. But, approaching Yaroslavl, when something that could await her again opened up, and not many days later, but this evening, Princess Mary's excitement reached its extreme limits.
When a haiduk sent ahead to find out in Yaroslavl where the Rostovs were and in what position Prince Andrei was, he met a large carriage driving in at the outpost, he was horrified to see the terribly pale face of the princess, which stuck out to him from the window.
- I found out everything, Your Excellency: the Rostov people are standing on the square, in the house of the merchant Bronnikov. Not far, above the Volga itself, - said the haiduk.
Princess Mary looked frightened and inquiringly at his face, not understanding what he was saying to her, not understanding why he did not answer main question: what brother? M lle Bourienne made this question for Princess Mary.
- What is the prince? she asked.
“Their excellencies are in the same house with them.
“So he is alive,” thought the princess, and quietly asked: what is he?
“People said they were all in the same position.
What did “everything in the same position” mean, the princess did not ask, and only briefly, glancing imperceptibly at the seven-year-old Nikolushka, who was sitting in front of her and rejoicing at the city, lowered her head and did not raise it until the heavy carriage, rattling, shaking and swaying, did not stop somewhere. The folding footboards rattled.
The doors opened. On the left was water - a big river, on the right was a porch; there were people on the porch, servants, and some sort of ruddy-faced girl with a big black plait, who smiled unpleasantly feignedly, as it seemed to Princess Marya (it was Sonya). The princess ran up the stairs, the smiling girl said: “Here, here!” - and the princess found herself in the hall in front of an old woman with oriental type face, which with a touched expression quickly walked towards her. It was the Countess. She embraced Princess Mary and began to kiss her.
- Mon enfant! she said, je vous aime et vous connais depuis longtemps. [My child! I love you and have known you for a long time.]
Despite all her excitement, Princess Marya realized that it was the countess and that she had to say something. She, not knowing how herself, uttered some kind of courteous French words, in the same tone as those who spoke to her, and asked: what is he?
“The doctor says there is no danger,” said the countess, but while she was saying this, she raised her eyes with a sigh, and in this gesture there was an expression that contradicted her words.
- Where is he? Can you see him, can you? the princess asked.
- Now, princess, now, my friend. Is this his son? she said, turning to Nikolushka, who was entering with Desalle. We can all fit, the house is big. Oh what a lovely boy!
The countess led the princess into the drawing room. Sonya was talking to m lle Bourienne. The countess caressed the boy. The old count entered the room, greeting the princess. The old count has changed tremendously since the princess last saw him. Then he was a lively, cheerful, self-confident old man, now he seemed a miserable, lost person. He, speaking with the princess, constantly looked around, as if asking everyone whether he was doing what was necessary. After the ruin of Moscow and his estate, knocked out of his usual rut, he apparently lost consciousness of his significance and felt that he no longer had a place in life.
Despite the excitement in which she was, despite one desire to see her brother as soon as possible and annoyance because at that moment, when she only wants to see him, she is occupied and pretended to praise her nephew, the princess noticed everything that was going on around her, and felt the need for a time to submit to this new order into which she was entering. She knew that all this was necessary, and it was difficult for her, but she did not get annoyed with them.
“This is my niece,” said the count, introducing Sonya, “do you not know her, princess?”
The princess turned to her and, trying to extinguish the hostile feeling for this girl that had risen in her soul, kissed her. But it became difficult for her because the mood of everyone around her was so far from what was in her soul.
- Where is he? she asked again, addressing everyone.
“He’s downstairs, Natasha is with him,” answered Sonya, blushing. - Let's go find out. I think you are tired, princess?
The princess had tears of annoyance in her eyes. She turned away and wanted to ask the countess again where to go to him, when light, swift, as if cheerful steps were heard at the door. The princess looked round and saw Natasha almost running in, the same Natasha whom she did not like so much on that old meeting in Moscow.
But before the princess had time to look at the face of this Natasha, she realized that this was her sincere comrade in grief, and therefore her friend. She rushed to meet her and, embracing her, wept on her shoulder.
As soon as Natasha, who was sitting at the head of Prince Andrei, found out about the arrival of Princess Marya, she quietly left his room with those quick, as it seemed to Princess Marya, as if with cheerful steps, and ran to her.
On her excited face, when she ran into the room, there was only one expression - an expression of love, boundless love for him, for her, for everything that was close to a loved one, an expression of pity, suffering for others and a passionate desire to give herself all for in order to help them. It was evident that at that moment not a single thought about herself, about her relationship to him, was in Natasha's soul.
The sensitive Princess Marya, at the first glance at Natasha's face, understood all this and wept on her shoulder with sorrowful pleasure.
“Come on, let’s go to him, Marie,” Natasha said, taking her to another room.
Princess Mary raised her face, wiped her eyes, and turned to Natasha. She felt that she would understand and learn everything from her.
“What…” she began to question, but suddenly stopped. She felt that words could neither ask nor answer. Natasha's face and eyes should have said everything more clearly and deeply.
Natasha looked at her, but seemed to be in fear and doubt - to say or not to say everything that she knew; she seemed to feel that before those radiant eyes, penetrating into the very depths of her heart, it was impossible not to tell the whole, the whole truth as she saw it. Natasha's lip suddenly trembled, ugly wrinkles formed around her mouth, and she, sobbing, covered her face with her hands.
Princess Mary understood everything.
But she still hoped and asked in words in which she did not believe:
But how is his wound? In general, what position is he in?
“You, you ... will see,” Natasha could only say.
They sat for some time downstairs near his room in order to stop crying and come in to him with calm faces.
- How was the illness? Has he gotten worse? When did it happen? asked Princess Mary.
Natasha said that at first there was a danger from a feverish state and from suffering, but in the Trinity this passed, and the doctor was afraid of one thing - Antonov's fire. But that danger was over. When we arrived in Yaroslavl, the wound began to fester (Natasha knew everything about suppuration, etc.), and the doctor said that suppuration could go right. There was a fever. The doctor said that this fever was not so dangerous.
“But two days ago,” Natasha began, “it suddenly happened ...” She restrained her sobs. “I don't know why, but you'll see what he's become.
- Weakened? lost weight? .. - the princess asked.
No, not that, but worse. You will see. Ah, Marie, Marie, he's too good, he can't, can't live... because...

When Natasha, with a habitual movement, opened his door, letting the princess pass in front of her, Princess Marya already felt ready sobs in her throat. No matter how much she prepared herself, or tried to calm down, she knew that she would not be able to see him without tears.
Princess Mary understood what Natasha meant in words: it happened to him two days ago. She understood that this meant that he suddenly softened, and that softening, tenderness, these were signs of death. As she approached the door, she already saw in her imagination that face of Andryusha, which she had known since childhood, tender, meek, tender, which he had so rarely seen and therefore always had such a strong effect on her. She knew that he would say to her quiet, tender words, like those that her father had said to her before his death, and that she could not bear it and burst into tears over him. But, sooner or later, it had to be, and she entered the room. Sobs came closer and closer to her throat, while with her short-sighted eyes she more and more clearly distinguished his form and searched for his features, and now she saw his face and met his gaze.
He was lying on the sofa, padded with pillows, in a squirrel-fur robe. He was thin and pale. One thin, transparent white hand a handkerchief was holding him; with the other, with quiet movements of his fingers, he touched his thin overgrown mustache. His eyes were on those who entered.
Seeing his face and meeting his gaze, Princess Mary suddenly slowed down the speed of her step and felt that her tears had suddenly dried up and her sobs had stopped. Catching the expression on his face and eyes, she suddenly became shy and felt guilty.
“Yes, what am I guilty of?” she asked herself. “In the fact that you live and think about the living, and I! ..” answered his cold, stern look.
There was almost hostility in the deep, not out of himself, but looking into himself look, when he slowly looked around at his sister and Natasha.
He kissed his sister hand in hand, as was their custom.
Hello Marie, how did you get there? he said in a voice as even and alien as his eyes were. If he had squealed with a desperate cry, then this cry would have horrified Princess Marya less than the sound of this voice.
“And did you bring Nikolushka?” he said, also evenly and slowly, and with an obvious effort of recollection.
- How is your health now? - said Princess Marya, herself surprised at what she said.
“That, my friend, you need to ask the doctor,” he said, and, apparently making another effort to be affectionate, he said with one mouth (it was clear that he did not think at all what he was saying): “Merci, chere amie , d "etre venue. [Thank you, dear friend, for coming.]
Princess Mary shook his hand. He winced slightly as he shook her hand. He was silent and she didn't know what to say. She understood what had happened to him in two days. In his words, in his tone, and especially in that look—a cold, almost hostile look—one could sense an estrangement from everything worldly that is terrible for a living person. He apparently had difficulty understanding now all living things; but at the same time it was felt that he did not understand the living, not because he was deprived of the power of understanding, but because he understood something else, something that the living did not understand and could not understand and that absorbed him all.
- Yes, that's how strange fate brought us together! he said, breaking the silence and pointing to Natasha. - She keeps following me.
Princess Mary listened and did not understand what he was saying. He, sensitive, gentle Prince Andrei, how could he say this in front of the one he loved and who loved him! If he had thought to live, he would not have said it in such a coldly insulting tone. If he did not know that he was going to die, how could he not feel sorry for her, how could he say this in front of her! There could only be one explanation for this, that it was all the same to him, and all the same because something else, something more important, had been revealed to him.
The conversation was cold, incoherent, and interrupted incessantly.
“Marie passed through Ryazan,” said Natasha. Prince Andrei did not notice that she called his sister Marie. And Natasha, calling her that in his presence, noticed this for the first time.
- Well, what? - he said.
- She was told that Moscow was all burned down, completely, as if ...
Natasha stopped: it was impossible to speak. He obviously made an effort to listen, and yet he couldn't.
“Yes, it burned down, they say,” he said. “It’s very pitiful,” and he began to look ahead, absentmindedly smoothing his mustache with his fingers.

citizens Soviet country, having gone to bed on January 31, 1918, woke up on February 14. Entered into force "Decree on the introduction of Russian Republic Western European calendar". Bolshevik Russia switched to the so-called new, or civil, style of calculating time, which coincided with the church Gregorian calendar used in Europe. These changes did not affect our Church: she continued to celebrate her 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 that replaced the Julian style with the Gregorian one. The aim of the reform was to correct the growing gap between astronomical year and calendar.

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 cultural peoples calculation of time "...". At one of the first meetings of the young Soviet government at the beginning of 1918, two projects for the reform of the time were considered. The first involved a gradual transition to the Gregorian calendar, dropping 24 hours each year. This would take 13 years. The second was to do it 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

Historian of religion Alexei Yudin - about how christian churches celebrate Christmas:

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

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

Red Army soldiers take out church property from the Simonov Monastery on a subbotnik (1925). A photo: wikipedia.org

The reform of the calendar, if desired, can, of course, be called a split, 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, the Protestant countries accepted it, but the process of transition took centuries. This is how things were in the West. The East paid no attention to the reform of Pope Gregory XIII.

The Soviet Republic switched to a new style, but this, unfortunately, was due to revolutionary events in Russia, about no pope Gregory XIII the Bolsheviks, of course, did not think, they simply considered the new style to be the most adequate to their worldview. And the Russian Orthodox Church has an additional trauma.

In 1923, at the initiative of the Patriarch of Constantinople, a meeting of Orthodox churches was held, at which a decision was made 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 decision was quickly canceled.

You can see that there were several stages of searching for a match on a calendar basis. But this did not lead to the final result. So far, this issue has not been included in a serious church discussion at all.

Is the Church afraid of another schism? Undoubtedly, some ultra-conservative groups within the Church will say: "The sacred time has been betrayed." Any Church is a very conservative institution, especially when it comes to everyday life and liturgical practices. And they rest against the calendar. And the church-administrative resource in such matters is ineffective.

Every Christmas, the theme of switching to the Gregorian calendar pops up. But this is politics, 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 roughly divided into three categories: those that serve all church holidays according to the new (Gregorian) calendar, those that serve only according to the old (Julian) calendar, and those that mix styles: for example, in Greece, Easter is celebrated according to the old calendar, and all other holidays are celebrated in a new way. Our churches (Russian, Georgian, Jerusalem, Serbian and Athos monasteries) have never changed church calendar and they did not mix it with Gregorian, 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 February 14 came after January 31 in 1918), 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 meaningful 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, in which there is a logic associated with the gospel story 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 fellow citizens have a lot of opportunities, for example, to relax during social events. New Year holidays. But the Church, as one of our rock singers sang, "will not bend under the changing world." Make dependent on ski resort our church life we ​​will not.

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

The solar calendar takes into account the apparent movement of the Sun across the sky and the positions of the stars. It was invented by the Egyptians, observing the appearance of the star Sirius in the sky. But their year lasted exactly 365 days, and the true solar or tropical year is longer (today it is 365.2421897 days). Therefore, over the centuries, an error has accumulated. The Roman calendar was even less accurate, and the dates of religious holidays shifted greatly.

Julius Caesar had the right to introduce a new calendar, since he had the power of the great pontiff - the high priest

A group of Alexandrian astronomers led by Sosigen created a new calendar based on the Egyptian one - Julian. It is named after Julius Caesar, by whose decree this calendar was introduced in Rome from January 1, 45 BC. e.

The year consisted of 365 days, but every fourth was a leap year - 1 day longer. With this amendment, the duration julian year was 365.25 days. It was much more accurate, but a 1-day error accumulated in it every 128 years. And by the 16th century the spring equinox, which is used to determine the day of Easter, came about 10 days earlier than March 21.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar by reducing the number of leap years. Previously, all the so-called age-old years that completed each century were considered as such. Now only those secular years have become leap years, in which the number of hundreds of years is divided without a remainder by four (1600,2000,2400), and the rest (1700,1800,1900,2100) remained simple. New calendar was named Gregorian. The Gregorian year is 365.2425 days long, and an error of 1 day accumulates over about 10,000 years. Often there is another estimate - about 3 thousand years. This number is obtained if we do not take into account changes in the number of days in a tropical year and the relationship between the lengths of the seasons.

Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar. After October 4, 1582, October 15 came. Today, the Gregorian calendar is used in most countries of the world.

Old and new styles

The Gregorian calendar, or, as they say, the new style, came into practice gradually. If the Catholic countries accepted it immediately, then the Protestant and Orthodox continued to live according to the old style. States Northern Germany, Denmark and Norway switched to the new style in 1700, Great Britain - in 1752, Sweden - in 1753, Bulgaria - in 1916, Russia - in 1918, Serbia and Romania - in 1919, Greece - in 1924

The difference between the calendars is increasing all the time and today is 13 days. The Russian Orthodox Church still adheres to the Julian calendar, so we celebrate Christmas not on December 25, but on January 7. And not only church holidays are reminiscent of the old style: it is not for nothing that on the night of January 13-14, it is customary in Russia to celebrate the old New Year.