Which countries use the Julian calendar? Difference between Julian and Gregorian calendar

The Roman calendar was one of the least accurate. At first, it generally had 304 days and included only 10 months, starting from the first month of spring (Martius) and ending with the onset of winter (December - the “tenth” month); In winter there was simply no keeping track of time. King Numa Pompilius is credited with introducing two winter months (Januarius and Februarius). The additional month - Mercedonius - was inserted by the pontiffs at their own discretion, quite arbitrarily and in accordance with various momentary interests. In 46 BC. e. Julius Caesar carried out a calendar reform based on the developments of the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, using the Egyptian solar calendar as a basis.

In order to correct the accumulated errors, he, with his power as the great pontiff, inserted in the transitional year, in addition to Mercedonia, two additional months between November and December; and from January 1, 45, the Julian year was established at 365 days, with leap years every 4 years. In this case, an extra day was inserted between February 23 and 24, as before Mercedonia; and since, according to the Roman calculation system, the day of February 24 was called “the sixth (sextus) from the Kalends of March,” then the intercalary day was called “twice the sixth (bis sextus) from the Kalends of March” and the year, accordingly, annus bissextus - hence, through the Greek language, our word "leap year". At the same time, the month of Quintilius was renamed in honor of Caesar (to Julius).

In the 4th-6th centuries, in most Christian countries, unified Easter tables were established, based on the Julian calendar; Thus, the Julian calendar spread to the entire Christian world. In these tables, March 21 was taken as the day of the vernal equinox.

However, as the error accumulated (1 day in 128 years), the discrepancy between the astronomical vernal equinox and the calendar one became increasingly obvious, and many in Catholic Europe believed that it could no longer be ignored. This was noted by the 13th-century Castilian king Alfonso X the Wise; in the next century, the Byzantine scientist Nikephoros Gregoras even proposed a calendar reform. In reality, such a reform was carried out by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, based on the project of the mathematician and physician Luigi Lilio. in 1582: the next day after October 4th came October 15th. Secondly, a new, more precise rule about leap years began to apply.

Julian calendar was developed by a group of Alexandrian astronomers led by Sosigenes and introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. uh..

The Julian calendar was based on the chronology culture of Ancient Egypt. In Ancient Rus', the calendar was known as the “Peacemaking Circle”, “Church Circle” and “Great Indiction”.

The year according to the Julian calendar begins on January 1, since it was on this day from 153 BC. e. the newly elected consuls took office. In the Julian calendar, a normal year consists of 365 days and is divided into 12 months. Once every 4 years, a leap year is declared, to which one day is added - February 29 (previously, a similar system was adopted in the zodiac calendar according to Dionysius). Thus, the Julian year has an average length of 365.25 days, which differs by 11 minutes from the tropical year.

The Julian calendar is usually called the old style.

The calendar was based on static monthly holidays. The first holiday with which the month began was the Kalends. The next holiday, falling on the 7th (in March, May, July and October) and on the 5th of other months, was Nones. The third holiday, falling on the 15th (in March, May, July and October) and the 13th of other months, was the Ides.

Replacement by the Gregorian calendar

In Catholic countries, the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar in 1582 by decree of Pope Gregory XIII: the next day after October 4 was October 15. Protestant countries abandoned the Julian calendar gradually, throughout the 17th-18th centuries (the last were Great Britain from 1752 and Sweden). In Russia, the Gregorian calendar has been used since 1918 (it is usually called the new style), in Orthodox Greece - since 1923.

In the Julian calendar, a year was a leap year if it ended in 00.325 AD. The Council of Nicaea established this calendar for all Christian countries. 325 g day of the vernal equinox.

Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII on October 4, 1582 to replace the old Julian calendar: the next day after Thursday, October 4, became Friday, October 15 (there are no days from October 5 to October 14, 1582 in the Gregorian calendar).

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

Story

The reason for the adoption of the new calendar was the shift in the day of the vernal equinox, by which the date of Easter was determined. 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 astronomers Christopher Clavius ​​and Luigi Lilio (aka Aloysius Lilius). The results of their work were recorded in a papal bull, named after the first line of the Latin. Inter gravissimas (“Among the most important”).

Firstly, new calendar Immediately at the time of acceptance, I shifted the current date by 10 days due to accumulated errors.

Secondly, a new, more precise rule about leap years began to apply.

A year is a leap year, that is, it contains 366 days if:

Its number is divisible by 4 and not divisible by 100 or

His number is divisible by 400.

Thus, over time, the Julian and Gregorian calendars diverge more and more: by 1 day per century, if the number of the previous century is not divisible by 4. The Gregorian calendar reflects the true state of affairs much more accurately than the Julian. It gives a much better approximation of the tropical year.

In 1583, Gregory XIII sent an embassy to Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople with a proposal to switch to a new calendar. At the end of 1583, at a council in Constantinople, the proposal was rejected as not complying with the canonical rules for celebrating Easter.

In Russia, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1918 by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars, according to which in 1918 January 31 was followed by February 14.

Since 1923, most local Orthodox churches, with the exception of the Russian, Jerusalem, Georgian, Serbian and Athos, have adopted the New Julian calendar, similar to the Gregorian, which coincides with it until the year 2800. It was also formally introduced by Patriarch Tikhon for use in Russian Orthodox Church October 15, 1923. However, this innovation, although it was accepted by almost all Moscow parishes, generally caused disagreement in the Church, so already on November 8, 1923, Patriarch Tikhon ordered “the universal and mandatory introduction of the new style into church use to be temporarily postponed.” Thus, the new style was in effect in the Russian Orthodox Church for only 24 days.

In 1948, at the Moscow Conference of Orthodox Churches, it was decided that Easter, as well as all movable holidays, should be calculated according to the Alexandrian Paschal (Julian calendar), and non-movable ones according to the calendar by which people live. Local Church. The Finnish Orthodox Church celebrates Easter according to the Gregorian calendar.

On what day of September should we celebrate the New Year if we live in the 21st century? When, in our time, Archpriest Avvakum and Boyarina Morozova were born, when St. reposed in the Lord. Kiril Beloezersky? How to recalculate the dates of Russian and Western European history if Russia lived according to the Julian calendar until 1918? This article provides answers to these and other questions.

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Julian calendar, developed by a group of Alexandrian astronomers led by Sosigenes, was introduced Julius Caesar from January 1, 45 BC. e. The year according to the Julian calendar began on January 1, since it was on this day from 153 BC. e. The consuls elected by the people's assembly took office.

IN Kievan Rus The Julian calendar appeared during the times Vladimir Svyatoslavovich with the beginning of the introduction of Christianity. Thus, the Tale of Bygone Years uses the Julian calendar with Roman names of months and the Byzantine era. The calendar was calculated from the Creation of the world, taking 5508 BC as a basis. e. - Byzantine version of this date. It was decided to start the new year from March 1, in accordance with the ancient Slavic calendar.

The Julian calendar, which replaced the old Roman calendar, was known in Kievan Rus under the names of the “Peacemaking Circle”, “Church Circle”, Indiction and “Great Indiction”.

The holiday of the Church New Year, when the year begins on September 1, was established by the holy fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, who decided to begin the calculation from this day church year. In Rus', during Ivan III in 1492, the September style became predominant, replacing the March style, and the beginning of the year was moved to September 1. The scribes of some chronicles took into account the transition to new styles of chronology and made amendments to the chronicles. This explains the fact that the chronology in different chronicles may differ by one or two years. IN modern Russia The Julian calendar is usually called old style.

Currently, the Julian calendar is used by some local Orthodox churches: Jerusalem, Russian, Serbian, Georgian. In 2014, the Polish Orthodox Church returned to the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar is adhered to by some monasteries and parishes in other European countries, as well as in the USA, monasteries and other institutions of Athos, Greek Old Calendarists and other Old Calendarists who did not accept the transition to the New Julian calendar in the Greek Church and other churches in the 1920s.

In a number of countries where the Julian calendar was used until the beginning of the 20th century, such as in Greece, the dates of historical events that occurred before the transition to the new style continue to be nominally celebrated on the same dates on which they occurred according to the Julian calendar. Thus, all Orthodox churches that have adopted the new calendar, except for the Church of Finland, continue to calculate the day of Easter celebration and holidays, the dates of which depend on the date of Easter, according to the Julian calendar.

In the 16th century, astronomical calculations were made in the West, as a result of which it was stated that the Julian calendar is true, although it has some errors - for example, an extra day accumulates every 128 years.

At the time of the introduction of the Julian calendar, the vernal equinox fell on March 21, both according to the accepted calendar system and in fact. But to XVI century The difference between the solar and Julian calendars was already about ten days. As a result, the day of the vernal equinox no longer fell on the 21st, but on the 11th of March.

Because of this, for example, Christmas, which initially almost coincided with the winter solstice, is gradually shifting towards spring. The difference is most noticeable in spring and autumn near the equinoxes, when the rate of change in the length of the day and the position of the sun is maximum. Astronomers took these errors into account, and on October 4, 1582 Pope Gregory XIII introduced a universally binding calendar for all of Western Europe. The preparation of the reform at the direction of Gregory XIII was carried out by astronomers Christopher Clavius And Aloysius Lilius. The results of their work were recorded in a papal bull, signed by the pontiff at Villa Mondragon and named after the first line Inter gravissimas (“Among the most important”). So the Julian calendar was replaced by Gregorian.

The next day after the fourth of October in 1582 was no longer the fifth, but the fifteenth of October. However, the following year, 1583, the Council of Eastern Patriarchs in Constantinople condemned not only the Gregorian Paschal, but also the entire Gregorian month, anathematizing all followers of these Latin innovations. In the Patriarchal and Synodal Sigilion, approved by the three Eastern Patriarchs - Jeremiah of Constantinople, Sylvester of Alexandria And Sophronius of Jerusalem, It was observed:

Whoever does not follow the customs of the Church and the way the Seven Holy Ecumenical Councils ordered us to follow the Holy Paschal and the month and month of goodness, but wants to follow the Gregorian Paschal and the month's word, he, like the godless astronomers, opposes all the definitions of the Holy Councils and wants to change them or weaken - let him be anathema - excommunicated from the Church of Christ and the assembly of the faithful.

This decision was later confirmed by the Councils of Constantinople in 1587 and 1593. At the meetings of the Commission of the Russian Astronomical Society in 1899 on the issue of calendar reform, Professor V. V. Bolotov stated:

The Gregorian reform has not only no justification, but even no excuse... The Council of Nicaea did not decide anything of the sort. I find the very abolition of the Julian style in Russia at all undesirable. I 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 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.

Protestant countries abandoned the Julian calendar gradually, throughout the 17th–18th centuries, the last being Great Britain and Sweden. Often the transition to the Gregorian calendar was accompanied by serious unrest, riots and even murders. Now the Gregorian calendar is officially adopted in all countries except Thailand and Ethiopia. In Russia, the Gregorian calendar was introduced by a decree of January 26, 1918 of the Council of People's Commissars, according to which in 1918 January 31 was followed by February 14.

The difference between the dates of the Julian and Gregorian calendar is constantly increasing due to different rules Definitions of leap years: in the Julian calendar, all years that are divisible by 4 are considered leap years, while in the Gregorian, years that are divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400 are not leap years.

Earlier dates are indicated according to the proleptic calendar, which is used to indicate dates earlier than the date the calendar appeared. In countries where the Julian calendar was adopted, dates before 46 BC. e. are indicated according to the proleptic Julian calendar, and where there was none, according to the proleptic Gregorian calendar.

In the 18th century, the Julian calendar lagged behind the Gregorian calendar by 11 days, in the 19th century - by 12 days, in the 20th century - by 13. In the 21st century, the difference remains 13 days. In the 22nd century, the Julian and Gregorian calendars will diverge by 14 days.

The Orthodox Church of Russia uses the Julian calendar and celebrates the Nativity of Christ and others church holidays according to the Julian calendar, following the decisions of the Ecumenical Councils, and Catholics - according to the Gregorian calendar. However, the Gregorian calendar violates the order of many biblical events and leads to canonical violations: for example, the Apostolic Rules do not allow the celebration of Holy Easter before the Jewish Passover. Due to the fact that the Julian and Gregorian calendars increase the difference in dates over time, Orthodox churches that use the Julian calendar will celebrate Christmas from 2101 not on January 7, as it happens now, but on January 8, and from 9901 the celebration will take place on March 8th. In the liturgical calendar, the date will still correspond to December 25th.

Here is a table for calculating the difference between the dates of the Julian and Gregorian calendars:

In accordance with the generally accepted rule, dates falling between 1582 and the moment the Gregorian calendar was adopted in the country are indicated in both the old and new styles. In this case, the new style is indicated in brackets.

For example, Christmas is celebrated in Russia on December 25 (January 7), where December 25 is the date according to the Julian calendar (old style), and January 7 is the date according to the Gregorian calendar (new style).

Let's consider detailed example. The martyr and confessor Archpriest Avvakum Petrov was executed on April 14, 1682. According to the table, we find the time period that is suitable for this year - this is the very first line. The difference in days between the Julian and Gregorian calendars in this period of time was 10 days. The date of April 14 is indicated here according to the old style, and to calculate the date according to the new style for the 17th century, we add 10 days, it turns out that April 24 is according to the new style for 1682. But in order to calculate the date of the new style for our 21st century, it is necessary to add not 10, but 13 days to the date according to the old style - thus, it will be the date of April 27.

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

The calendar was developed by the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes based on the calendar 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 pope's name, 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, the additional day in the leap year is February 29, and the beginning of the year is 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 Russian Republic Western European calendar" 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 next time Orthodox holiday was celebrated already on January 7, 1919.

The converter converts dates to the Gregorian and Julian calendars and calculates the Julian date;

Maj.

• Jun. Jul. Aug.
• Julian calendar (« Sep. Oct.
• Nov. Dec. ab Urbe condĭta. dies Lunae dies Martis dies Mercurii dies Jovis dies Venĕris dies Saturni dies Solis Julian date (days).
• Notes Gregorian calendar (“new style”) introduced in 1582 AD. e. Pope Gregory XIII so that the vernal equinox corresponds to a specific day (March 21). Earlier dates are converted using standard rules for Gregorian leap years. Conversion up to 2400g is possible.

• old style") introduced in 46 BC. e. Julius Caesar and totaled 365 days; Every third year was a leap year. This error was corrected by Emperor Augustus: from 8 BC. e. and until 8 AD e. Additional days of leap years were skipped. Earlier dates are converted using standard rules for Julian leap years.

Roman version The Julian calendar was introduced around 750 BC. e. Due to the fact that the number of days in the Roman calendar year changed, dates before 8 AD. e. are not accurate and are presented for demonstration purposes. The chronology was carried out from the founding of Rome ( ab Urbe condita

) - 753/754 BC e.

Dates before 753 BC e. not calculated

Month names Roman calendar are agreed modifiers (adjectives) with a noun, that is, it is placed in the accusative case of the masculine singular (accusatīvus singulāris masculīnum). Thus, the numerals take the following forms:

If the day falls on the Kalends, Nones or Ides, then the name of this day (Kalendae, Nonae, Idūs) and the name of the month are put in the instrumental case of the plural female(ablatīvus plurālis feminīnum), for example:

The day immediately preceding the Kalends, Nones or Idams is designated by the word pridie(‘the day before’) with the feminine accusative plural (accusatīvus plurālis feminīnum):

Thus, month adjectives can take the following forms:

• Julian date is the number of days that have passed since noon on January 1, 4713 BC. e. This date is arbitrary and was chosen only for coordination various systems chronology.

The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used chronological system today, named after XII, who insisted on its introduction into Catholic world. Many people mistakenly believe that it was Gregory who came up with this system, however, this is far from true. According to one version, the main inspirer of this idea was the Italian doctor Aloysius, who theoretically substantiated the need to change the chronology that existed before this.

The problem of chronology has always been quite acute, because the development of historical science in the country and even the worldview of ordinary citizens largely depend on what is taken as the starting point and what a day, month and year are equal to.

There were and are many chronological systems: some take as a basis the movement of the moon around the Earth, others consider the creation of the world as the starting point, and others consider the departure of Muhammad from Mecca. In many civilizations, each change of ruler led to a change in the calendar. Moreover, one of the main difficulties is that neither an earthly day nor an earthly year lasts for a round number of hours and days; the whole question is - what to do with the remaining balance?

One of the first most successful systems was the so-called one, named after the reign of which it appeared. The main innovation was that for each fourth year one day began to be added. This year began to be called a leap year.

However, the introduction only temporarily alleviated the problem. On the one hand, the discrepancy between the calendar year and the tropical year continued to accumulate, although not at such a rapid pace as before, and on the other hand, Easter Day fell on different days weeks, although, according to most Catholics, Easter should always fall on Sunday.

In 1582, after numerous calculations and based on clear astronomical calculations, in Western Europe There was a transition to the Gregorian calendar. This year, in many European countries, the fifteenth day came immediately after October 4th.

The Gregorian calendar largely repeats the main provisions of its predecessor: a regular year also consists of 365 days, and a leap year - of 366, and the number of days changes only in February - 28 or 29. The main difference is that the Gregorian calendar excludes all leap years years divisible by one hundred, except those divisible by 400. In addition, if according to the Julian calendar New Year occurred on the first of September or the first of March, then in the new chronological system it was initially declared on December 1, and then shifted another month.

In Russia, under the influence of the church, a new calendar for a long time they did not recognize it, believing that according to it the entire sequence of evangelical events was disrupted. The Gregorian calendar was introduced in Russia only at the beginning of 1918, when the fourteenth day arrived immediately after the first of February.

Despite its much greater accuracy, the Gregorian system is still imperfect. However, if in the Julian calendar an extra day was formed in 128 years, then in the Gregorian calendar this would require 3200.