In what year was the Gregorian calendar introduced? How does the Gregorian calendar differ from the Julian calendar? Julian calendar in Russia

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

Moon calendar

In one day, the Earth makes one complete revolution around its own axis. It passes around the Sun once per year. Solar or lasts three hundred sixty-five days five hours forty-eight minutes forty-six seconds. Therefore, there is no integer number of days. Hence the difficulty in 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 to ancient world an analogue was used based on the four-year lunar-solar cycle, which gave an error in the value of the solar year of one day.

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

History of the Julian calendar

Further changes occurred in the forty-sixth year BC. e. The Emperor of Ancient Rome, Julius Caesar, introduced the Julian calendar based on the Egyptian model. In it, the value of the year was taken solar 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 First and this issue became one of the main ones. The rules established at this Council accurate calculation This celebration cannot be changed under pain of anathema.

Gregorian calendar

Chapter Catholic Church Pope Gregory the Thirteenth in 1582 approved and introduced new calendar. 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 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 of chronology in Rus'

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

On 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 within each four hundred years. It was this that they began to adhere to.

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

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

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

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

in Russia

In our country, the issue of calendar reform has been raised more than once. In 1830 it was staged Russian Academy Sci. 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.

Features of the transition to the Gregorian calendar

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

Gregorian and Julian calendar: differences and similarities

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

According to the Julian calendar, a leap year occurs every three years. In this case, it turns out that 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 that used the Julian calendar by the early twentieth century, such as Greece, the dates of all historical events, which occurred after the fifteenth of October, one thousand five hundred and eighty-two, are nominally celebrated on the same dates when they happened.

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. It's about about rearranging the days of the year so that the beginning of each year falls on one day, for example on Sunday.

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

What new calendar projects exist?

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

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

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

The first month of the quarter has thirty-one days, the next two - thirty. The first day of each year and quarter begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday. In 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 recently this work at the UN has ceased.

Will Russia return to the “old style”

It is quite difficult to explain to foreigners what the concept "Old" means New Year“why we celebrate Christmas later than the 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.

- 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), it was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and replaced the Julian calendar ( old style), which has been in use since the 45th century BC.

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

In the Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar, the average length of 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 all christian church.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The modern structure of the Gregorian calendar also does not fully meet the needs 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 do not 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 State Duma was proposing to return the country to the Julian calendar from January 1, 2008. Deputies Viktor Alksnis, Sergei 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

Before the transition to the Gregorian calendar, which in different countries occurred in different time, the Julian calendar was used everywhere. It is named after the Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar, who is believed to have carried out a calendar reform in 46 BC.

The Julian calendar appears to be based on the Egyptian solar calendar. A Julian year was 365.25 days. But there can only be an integer number of days in a year. Therefore, it was supposed: three years should be considered equal to 365 days, and the fourth year following them equal to 366 days. This year with an extra day.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII issued a bull ordering “the return of the vernal equinox to March 21.” By that time it had moved away from the designated date by ten days, which were removed from that year 1582. And to prevent the error from accumulating in the future, it was prescribed to eliminate three days from every 400 years. Years whose numbers are divisible by 100, but not divisible by 400, are not leap years.

The Pope threatened with excommunication anyone who did not switch to the Gregorian calendar. Almost immediately Catholic countries switched to it. After some time, Protestant states followed their example. In Orthodox Russia and Greece, the Julian calendar was followed until the first half of the 20th century.

Which calendar is more accurate?

The debate about which calendar is Gregorian or Julian, or rather, does not subside to this day. On the one hand, the year of the Gregorian calendar is closer to the so-called tropical year - the period during which the Earth makes a full revolution around the Sun. According to modern data, the tropical year is 365.2422 days. On the other hand, scientists still use the Julian calendar for astronomical calculations.

The goal of the calendar reform of Gregory XIII was not to bring the length of the calendar year closer to the length of the tropical year. In his time, there was no such thing as a tropical year. The purpose of the reform was to comply with the decisions of ancient Christian councils on the timing of Easter celebrations. However, the problem was not completely solved.

The widespread belief that the Gregorian calendar is “more correct” and “advanced” than the Julian calendar is just a propaganda cliche. The Gregorian calendar, according to a number of scientists, is not astronomically justified and is a distortion of the Julian calendar.

People have been thinking about the need for chronology for a very long time. It is worth remembering the same Mayan calendar, which a few years ago made a lot of noise all over the world. But almost all world states now live according to a calendar called the Gregorian. However, in many films or books you can see or hear references to the Julian calendar. What is the difference between these two calendars?

This calendar got its name thanks to the most famous Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar. Of course, it was not the emperor himself who was involved in the development of the calendar, but this was done by his decree by a whole group of astronomers. The birthday of this method of chronology is January 1, 45 BC. The word calendar was also born in Ancient Rome. Translated from Latin, it means debt book. The fact is that then interest on debts was paid on kalends (that’s what the first days of each month were called).

In addition to the name of the entire calendar, Julius Caesar also gave the name to one of the months - July, although this month was originally called Quintilis. Other Roman emperors also gave their months their names. But besides July, nowadays only August is used - a month that was renamed in honor of Octavian Augustus.

The Julian calendar completely ceased to be the official calendar in 1928, when Egypt switched to the Gregorian calendar. This country was the last to switch to the Gregorian calendar. Italy, Spain and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were the first to cross in 1528. Russia made the transition in 1918.

Nowadays, the Julian calendar is used only in some Orthodox churches. In such as: Jerusalem, Georgian, Serbian and Russian, Polish and Ukrainian. Also, according to the Julian calendar, holidays are celebrated by the Russian and Ukrainian Greek Catholic churches and the ancient Eastern churches in Egypt and Ethiopia.

This calendar was introduced by the Pope Gregory XIII. The calendar got its name in honor of him. The need to replace the Julian calendar was primarily due to confusion over the celebration of Easter. According to the Julian calendar, the celebration of this day fell on different days weeks, but Christianity insisted that Easter should always be celebrated on Sunday. However, although the Gregorian calendar streamlined the celebration of Easter, with its advent the rest church holidays. Therefore, some Orthodox churches still live according to the Julian calendar. A clear example It serves the fact that Catholics celebrate Christmas on December 25, and Orthodox on January 7.

Not all people took the transition to the new calendar calmly. Riots broke out in many countries. But in the Russian Orthodox Church, the new calendar was valid for only 24 days. Sweden, for example, completely lived according to its own calendar due to all these transitions.

Common features in both calendars

Division. In both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the year is divided into 12 months and 365 days, and 7 days per week.
Months. In the Gregorian calendar, all 12 months are called the same as in the Julian calendar. They have the same sequence and the same number of days. There is an easy way to remember what month and how many days. Needs to be compressed own hands into fists. The knuckle on the little finger of the left hand will be considered January, and the following depression will be considered February. Thus, all the dominoes will symbolize months with 31 days, and all the hollows will symbolize months with 30 days. Of course, the exception is February, which has 28 or 29 days (depending on whether it is a leap year or not). Indentation after the ring finger right hand and the knuckle of the right little finger are not taken into account, since there are only 12 months. This method is suitable for determining the number of days in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars.
Church holidays. All holidays that are celebrated according to the Julian calendar are also celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar. However, the celebration takes place on other days and dates. For example, Christmas.
Place of invention. Like the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was invented in Rome, but in 1582 Rome was part of Italy, and in 45 BC it was the center of the Roman Empire.

Differences between the Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar

Age. Since some Churches live according to the Julian calendar, we can confidently say that it exists. This means that it is older than the Gregorian by about 1626 years.
Usage. The Gregorian calendar is considered the official calendar in almost all countries of the world. The Julian calendar can be called a church calendar.
Leap year. In the Julian calendar, every fourth year is a leap year. In the Gregorian calendar, a leap year is one whose number is a multiple of 400 and 4, but one that is not a multiple of 100. That is, 2016 according to the Gregorian calendar is a leap year, but 1900 is not.
Date difference. Initially, the Gregorian calendar, one might say, was 10 days faster than the Julian calendar. That is, according to the Julian calendar, October 5, 1582 was considered October 15, 1582 according to the Gregorian calendar. However, now the difference between the calendars is already 13 days. Due to this difference in the countries of the former Russian Empire an expression appeared, as in the old style. For example, the holiday called Old New Year is simply New Year, but according to the Julian calendar.

- 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.

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.

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.

There are four main problems with the Gregorian calendar:

— 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, Sergei 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