Year of approval of the Julian calendar. Julian and Gregorian calendars: differences from each other

Gregorian calendar

This calculator allows you to convert the date from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, as well as calculate the date of Orthodox Easter according to the old style

* to calculate Easter according to the new style, you must enter the date obtained according to the old style into the calculation form

(amendment + 13 days to the Julian calendar)

2019 non-leap

IN 2019 Orthodox Easter falls on April 15(according to the Julian calendar)

The date of Orthodox Easter is calculated using the algorithm of Carl Friedrich Gauss

Disadvantages of the Julian calendar

In 325 AD e. The Nicene Church Council took place. It adopted the Julian calendar for the entire Christian world, according to which at that time the spring equinox fell on March 21. For the church, this was an important moment in determining the time of celebration of Easter - one of the most important religious holidays. By accepting the Julian calendar, the clergy believed that it was perfectly accurate. However, as we know, for every 128 years an error of one day accumulates.

An error in the Julian calendar led to the fact that the actual time of the vernal equinox no longer coincides with the calendar. The moment of equality between day and night moved to earlier and earlier dates: first to March 20, then to 19, 18, etc. By the second half of the 16th century. the error was 10 days: according to the Julian calendar, the moment of the equinox was supposed to occur on March 21, but in reality it already occurred on March 11.

History of the Gregorian reform.

The inaccuracy of the Julian calendar was discovered in the first quarter of the 14th century. Thus, in 1324, the Byzantine scientist Nikephoros Grigora drew the attention of Emperor Andronikos II to the fact that the spring equinox no longer falls on March 21 and, therefore, Easter will gradually be pushed back to a later time. Therefore, he considered it necessary to correct the calendar and with it the calculation of Easter. However, the emperor rejected Grigor's proposal, considering the reform practically impracticable due to the impossibility of reaching an agreement on this matter between individual Orthodox churches.

The inaccuracy of the Julian calendar was also pointed out by the Greek scientist Matvey Vlastar, who lived in Byzantium in the first half of the 14th century. However, he did not consider it necessary to make corrections, since he saw in this some “advantage”, consisting in the fact that the delay of the Orthodox Easter saves it from coinciding with the Jewish Passover. Their simultaneous celebration was prohibited by the decrees of some “Ecumenical” councils and various church canons.

It is interesting to note that in 1373, the Byzantine scientist Isaac Argir, who more deeply understood the need to correct the Julian calendar and the rules for calculating Easter, considered such an event useless. The reason for this attitude towards the calendar was explained by the fact that Argir was deeply confident in the coming “doomsday” and the end of the world in 119 years, since it would be 7000 years “since the creation of the world.” Is it worth it to reform the calendar if there is so little time left for the life of all humanity!

The need to reform the Julian calendar was also understood by many representatives of the Catholic Church. In the XIV century. Pope Clement VI spoke in favor of correcting the calendar.

In March 1414, the calendar issue was discussed at the initiative of Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly. The shortcomings of the Julian calendar and the inaccuracy of the existing Paschals were the subject of discussion at the Council of Basel in March 1437. Here, the outstanding philosopher and scientist of the Renaissance, Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464), one of the predecessors of Copernicus, came up with his project.

In 1475, Pope Sixtus IV began preparations for the reform of the calendar and the correction of Easter. For this purpose, he invited the outstanding German astronomer and mathematician Regiomontanus (1436-1476) to Rome. However, the unexpected death of the scientist forced the pope to postpone the implementation of his intention.

In the 16th century Two more “ecumenical” councils dealt with issues of calendar reform: the Lateran (1512-1517) and the Trent Council (1545-1563). When in 1514 the Lateran Council created a commission to reform the calendar, the Roman Curia invited the then well-known Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) in Europe to come to Rome and take part in the work of the calendar commission. However, Copernicus avoided participating in the commission and pointed out the prematureness of such a reform, since, in his opinion, by this time the length of the tropical year had not been established accurately enough.

Gregorian reform. By the middle of the 16th century. the question of calendar reform became so widespread and the importance of its solution turned out to be so necessary that postponing this issue further was considered undesirable. That is why in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII created a special commission, which included Ignatius Danti (1536-1586), a famous professor of astronomy and mathematics at the University of Bologna at that time. This commission was tasked with developing a draft of a new calendar system.

After reviewing all the proposed options for the new calendar, the commission approved the project, the author of which was the Italian mathematician and physician Luigi Lilio (or Aloysius Lilius, 1520-1576), a teacher of medicine at the University of Perugia. This project was published in 1576 by the scientist’s brother, Antonio Lilio, who, during Luigi’s lifetime, took an active part in the development of the new calendar.

Lilio's project was accepted by Pope Gregory XIII. On February 24, 1582, he issued a special bull (Fig. 11), according to which the count of days was moved forward 10 days and the day after Thursday October 4, 1582, Friday was ordered to be counted not as October 5, but as October 15. This immediately corrected the error that had accumulated since the Council of Nicaea, and the spring equinox again fell on March 21.

It was more difficult to resolve the issue of introducing an amendment to the calendar that would ensure for long periods of time that the calendar date of the vernal equinox coincided with its actual date. To do this, it was necessary to know the length of the tropical year.

By this time, astronomical tables, known as the “Prussian Tables,” had already been published. They were compiled by the German astronomer and mathematician Erasmus Reinhold (1511-1553) and published in 1551. The length of the year in them was taken to be 365 days 5 hours 49 minutes 16 seconds, i.e. more true meaning tropical year by only 30 seconds. The length of the year of the Julian calendar differed from it by 10 minutes. 44 sec. per year, which gave an error per day for 135 years, and for 400 years - slightly more than three days.

Consequently, the Julian calendar moves ahead by three days every 400 years. Therefore, in order to avoid new errors, it was decided to exclude 3 days from the count every 400 years. According to the Julian calendar, there should be 100 leap years in 400 years. To implement the reform, it was necessary to reduce their number to 97. Lilio proposed to consider as simple those century years of the Julian calendar, the number of hundreds in which is not divisible by 4. Thus, in the new calendar, only those century years are considered leap years, the number of centuries of which is divisible by 4 without remainder. Such years are: 1600, 2000, 2400, 2800, etc. The years 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, etc. will be simple.

The reformed calendar system was called the Gregorian or "new style".

Is the Gregorian calendar accurate? We already know that the Gregorian calendar is also not entirely accurate. After all, when correcting the calendar, they began to throw out three days every 400 years, while such an error accumulates only in 384 years. To determine the error of the Gregorian calendar, we calculate the average length of the year in it.

In a period of 400 years there will be 303 years of 365 days and 97 years of 366 days. The total number of days in a four-century period will be 303 × 365 + 97 × 366 == 110,595 + 35,502 = 146,097. Divide this number by 400. Then we get 146097/400 = 365.242500 accurate to the sixth decimal place. This is the average length of a year in the Gregorian calendar. This value differs from the currently accepted value of the length of the tropical year by only 0.000305 average day, which gives a difference of a whole day over 3280 years.

The Gregorian calendar could be improved and made even more accurate. To do this, it is enough to consider one leap year every 4000 years as simple. Such years could be 4000, 8000, etc. Since the error of the Gregorian calendar is 0.000305 days per year, then in 4000 years it will be 1.22 days. If you correct the calendar for one more day in 4000 years, then an error of 0.22 days will remain. Such an error will increase to a full day in only 18,200 years! But such accuracy is no longer of any practical interest.

When and where was the Gregorian calendar first introduced? The Gregorian calendar did not immediately become widespread. In countries where Catholicism was the dominant religion (France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, etc.), it was introduced in 1582 or somewhat later. Other countries recognized it only after tens and hundreds of years.

In states where Lutheranism was highly developed, for a long time were guided by the saying that “it’s better to break up with the Sun than to get back together with dad.” The Orthodox Church opposed the new style even longer.

In a number of countries, great difficulties had to be overcome when introducing the Gregorian calendar. History knows of the “calendar riots” that arose in 1584 in Riga and were directed against the decree of the Polish king Stefan Batory on the introduction of a new calendar not only in Poland, but also in the Duchy of Zadvina, which was at that time under Lithuanian-Polish domination. The struggle of the Latvian people against Polish dominance and Catholicism continued for several years. The “calendar riots” stopped only after the leaders of the uprising, Giese and Brinken, were arrested, severely tortured and executed in 1589.

In England, the introduction of a new calendar was accompanied by a postponement of the start of the new year from March 25 to January 1. Thus, the year 1751 in England consisted of only 282 days. Lord Chesterfield, on whose initiative calendar reform was carried out in England, was pursued by the townspeople shouting: “Give us our three months.”

In the 19th century Attempts were made to introduce the Gregorian calendar in Russia, but each time these attempts failed due to opposition from the church and government. Only in 1918, immediately after the establishment of Soviet power in Russia, was calendar reform implemented.

The difference between the two calendar systems. By the time of the calendar reform, the difference between the old and new styles was 10 days. This amendment remained the same in the 17th century, since 1600 was a leap year both according to the new style and the old one. But in the 18th century. the amendment increased to 11 days in the 19th century. - up to 12 days and, finally, in the 20th century. - up to 13 days.

How to set the date after which the amendment changes its value?

The reason for the change in the magnitude of the correction depends on the fact that in the Julian calendar the years 1700, 1800 and 1900 are leap years, i.e. these years contain 29 days in February, but in the Gregorian calendar they are not leap years and have only 28 days in February.

To convert the Julian date of any event that occurred after the reform of 1582 to the new style, you can use the table:

From this table it is clear that critical days, after which the amendment is increased by one day, are February 29, old style, of those century years in which, according to the rules of the Gregorian reform, one day was removed from the count, i.e., the years 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, etc. Therefore, starting from March 1 of these years, again according to the old style, the amendment increases by one day.

A special place is occupied by the issue of recalculating the dates of events that took place before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century. Such a recount is also important when they are going to celebrate the anniversary of a historical event. Thus, in 1973, humanity celebrated the 500th anniversary of the birth of Copernicus. It is known that he was born on February 19, 1473 according to the old style. But we now live according to the Gregorian calendar and therefore it was necessary to recalculate the date of interest to us to the new style. How was this done?

Since in the 16th century. the difference between the two calendar systems was 10 days, then, knowing the speed with which it changes, it is possible to establish the magnitude of this difference for the various centuries preceding the calendar reform. It should be borne in mind that in 325 the Council of Nicaea adopted the Julian calendar and the spring equinox then fell on March 21. Taking all this into account, we can continue the table. 1 in reverse side and receive the following translation amendments:

From this table it is clear that for the date February 19, 1473, the correction will be +9 days. Consequently, the 500th anniversary of the birth of Copernicus was celebrated on February 19 +9-28, 1973.

Different ways of calculating the calendar. A new style of time calculation was introduced by the Council of People's Commissars - the government Soviet Russia January 24, 1918 “Decree on the introduction of the Western European calendar in the Russian Republic”.

The decree was intended to promote “the establishment in Russia of the same time reckoning with almost all cultural peoples”. Indeed, since 1582, when throughout Europe the Julian calendar, in accordance with the recommendations of astronomers, was replaced by the Gregorian, the Russian calendar turned out to differ from the calendars of civilized states by 13 days.

The fact is that the new European calendar was born through the efforts of the Pope, but the Russian Orthodox clergy had no authority or decree from the Catholic Pope, and they rejected the innovation. So they lived for more than 300 years: in Europe New Year,in Russia it’s still December 19th.

The decree of the Council of People's Commissars (abbreviation of the Council of People's Commissars) dated January 24, 1918, ordered February 1, 1918 to be considered February 14th (in parentheses, we note that, according to many years of observations, the Russian orthodox calendar, that is, “Old style”, is more consistent with the climate of the European part Russian Federation. For example, on March 1, when according to the old style it is still deep February, there is no smell of spring, and relative warming begins in mid-March or its first days according to the old style).

Not everyone liked the new style

However, not only Russia resisted the establishment of the Catholic count of days; in Greece, the “New Style” was legalized in 1924, Turkey - 1926, Egypt - 1928. At the same time, it is not heard that the Greeks or Egyptians celebrated, as in Russia, two holidays: New Year and Old New Year, that is, New Year according to the old style.

It is interesting that the introduction of the Gregorian calendar was accepted without enthusiasm in those European countries where the leading religion was Protestantism. So in England they switched to a new account of time only in 1752, in Sweden - a year later, in 1753.

Julian calendar

It was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. Started on January 1st. The year had 365 days. A year number divisible by 4 was considered a leap year. One day was added to it - February 29. The difference between the calendar of Julius Caesar and the calendar of Pope Gregory is that the first has a leap year every fourth year without exception, while the second has leap years only those years that are divisible by four, but not divisible by a hundred. As a result, the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars is gradually increasing and, for example, in 2101, Orthodox Christmas will be celebrated not on January 7, but on January 8.

There are no problems with measuring certain quantities. When it comes to length, volume, weight - no one has any disagreements. But as soon as you touch the dimension of time, you will immediately encounter different points vision. Special attention should be paid to what the Julian and Gregorian calendars are; the difference between them has really changed the world.

Difference between Catholic and Orthodox holidays

It's no secret that Catholics celebrate Christmas not on January 7, like the Orthodox, but on December 25. The situation is the same with other Christian holidays.

A whole series of questions arises:

• Where did these 13 days difference come from?
• Why can't we celebrate the same event on the same day?
• Will the 13 day difference ever change?
• Maybe it will shrink over time and disappear altogether?
• At least find out what it's all about?

To answer these questions we will have to mentally travel to pre-Christian Europe. However, there was no talk of any integral Europe at that time; civilized Rome was surrounded by many disparate barbarian tribes. Subsequently, they were all captured and became part of the Empire, but that's another conversation.

However, history is written by the victors, and we will never know to what extent “ barbaric"were neighbors of Rome. It's no secret that great rulers have a hand in all events in the state. Julius Caesar was no exception when I decided to introduce a new calendar - Julian .

What calendars did you use and for how long?

The ruler cannot be denied modesty, but he made too much of a contribution to the history of the whole world to be criticized over trifles. The calendar he proposed:

1. It was much more accurate than previous versions.
2. All years consisted of 365 days.
3. Every fourth year there was 1 more day.
4. The calendar was consistent with astronomical data known at that time.
5. For one and a half thousand years, not a single worthy analogue has been proposed.

But nothing stands still; at the end of the 14th century, a new calendar was introduced, with the help of the then pope, Gregory XIII. This version of the countdown boiled down to the fact that:

• A normal year has 365 days. A leap year contains the same 366.
• But now not every fourth year was considered a leap year. Now if the year ends with two zeros, and at the same time divisible by both 4 and 100, it is not a leap year.
• For simple example, 2000 was a leap year, but 2100, 2200 and 2300 will not be leap years. Unlike 2400.

Why was it necessary to change something, was it really impossible to leave everything as it was? The fact is that, according to astronomers, The Julian calendar is not entirely accurate.

The error is only 1/128 of a day, but over 128 years a whole day accumulates, and over five centuries - almost four full days.

How does the Julian calendar differ from the Gregorian calendar?

Fundamental differences between the two calendars are that:

• Julian was adopted much earlier.
• It lasted 1000 years longer than the Gregorian.
• Unlike the Gregorian calendar, the Julian calendar is now almost never used anywhere.
• The Julian calendar is used only for calculating Orthodox holidays.
• The Gregorian calendar is more accurate and avoids minor errors.
• The calendar adopted by Gregory XIII is presented as the final version, absolutely correct system reference that will not change in the future.
• In the Julian calendar, every 4th year is a leap year.
• In Gregorian, years that end in 00 and are not divisible by 4 are not leap years.
• Almost every century ends with the difference between the two calendars increasing by another day.
• The exception is centuries divisible by four.
• According to the Gregorian calendar, almost all Christians in the world celebrate church holidays - Catholics, Protestants, Lutherans.
• According to Julian Orthodox Christians celebrate, guided by apostolic instructions.

What could an error of several days lead to?

But is it really so important to maintain this precision; maybe it’s better to pay tribute to traditions? What terrible thing will happen if in five centuries the calendar shifts by 4 days, is it noticeable?

In addition, those who decide to make changes will certainly not live to see the time when “ wrong“The calculation option will differ by at least a day.

Just imagine that already in February the weather warms up and the first flowering begins. But despite all this, the ancestors describe February as a harsh and frosty winter month.

At this point there may already be a slight misunderstanding about what is happening to nature and the planet? Especially if in November there are snowdrifts instead of fallen leaves. And in October, the variegated foliage on the trees is not pleasing to the eye, because all of it has been rotting on the ground for a long time. This seems insignificant at first glance, when the error is only 24 hours in 128 years.

But calendars regulate, among other things, the most important events in the life of many civilizations - sowing and harvesting. The more accurately all adjustments are made, the more O Larger food supplies will be available next year.

Of course, now this is not so important, in an era of rapid development of scientific and technological progress. But once upon a time it was a matter of life and death for millions of people.

Significant differences between calendars

Distinguishing between the two calendars:

1. More accurate measurement using Gregorian.
2. The irrelevance of the Julian calendar: besides the Orthodox Church, almost no one uses it.
3. The universal use of the Gregorian calendar.
4. By removing the 10 day lag and introducing a new rule - all years ending in 00 and not divisible by 4 are now not leap years.
5. Thanks to this, the difference between calendars is inexorably increasing. For 3 days every 400 years.
6. Julian was adopted by Julius Caesar, still 2 thousand years ago.
7. Gregorian is more “young”, it is not even five hundred years old. And Pope Gregory XIII introduced it.

What are the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the difference between them and the reasons for their introduction can be known for general development. IN real life this information will never be useful. Unless you want to impress someone with your erudition.

Video about the differences between Gregorian and Julian

In this video, Priest Andrei Shchukin will talk about the main differences between these two calendars from the point of view of religion and mathematics:

The Russian Orthodox Church uses in its liturgical life the Julian calendar (the so-called old style), developed by a group of Alexandrian astronomers led by the famous scientist Sosigenes and introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. e.

After the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in Russia on January 24, 1918, the All-Russian Local Council decided that “during 1918, the Church in its daily life will be guided by the old style.”

On March 15, 1918, at a meeting of the Department on worship, preaching and church, the following decision was made: “In view of the importance of the issue of calendar reform and the impossibility, from the church-canonical point of view, of a quick independent decision his Russian Church, without prior communication on this issue with representatives of all autocephalous Churches, to leave in the Russian Orthodox Church the Julian calendar in its entirety.” In 1948, at the Moscow Conference of Orthodox Churches, it was established that Easter, like all movable church holidays, should be calculated according to the Alexandrian Paschal (Julian calendar), and non-movable ones - according to the calendar adopted in the local church. According to the Gregorian calendar, Easter is celebrated only by the Finnish Orthodox Church.

Currently, the Julian calendar is used only by some local authorities. orthodox churches: Jerusalem, Russian, Georgian and Serbian. It is also adhered to by some monasteries and parishes in Europe and the USA, the monasteries of Athos and a number of monophysic churches. However, all Orthodox churches that have adopted the Gregorian calendar, except for the Finnish one, still calculate the day of Easter celebration and holidays, the dates of which depend on the date of Easter, according to the Alexandrian Paschal and the Julian calendar.

To calculate the dates of moving church holidays, calculus is used based on the date of Easter, determined by the lunar calendar.

The accuracy of the Julian calendar is low: every 128 years it accumulates an extra day. Because of this, for example, Christmas, which initially almost coincided with winter solstice, gradually shifts towards spring. For this reason, in 1582, in Catholic countries, the Julian calendar was replaced by a more accurate one by a decree of Pope Gregory XIII. Protestant countries abandoned the Julian calendar gradually.

The difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars is constantly increasing due to different rules for determining leap years: in the 14th century it was 8 days, in the 20th and XXI centuries- 13, and in the 22nd century the gap will be equal to 14 days. Due to the increasing change in the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, Orthodox churches using the Julian calendar, starting from 2101, will celebrate the Nativity of Christ not on January 7 according to the civil (Gregorian) calendar, as in the 20th–21st centuries, but on January 8, but , for example, since 9001 - already March 1 (new style), although in their liturgical calendar this day will still be marked as December 25 (old style).

For the above reason, one should not confuse the recalculation of real historical dates of the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar style with the recalculation to the new style of dates of the Julian church calendar, in which all days of celebration are fixed as Julian (that is, without taking into account which Gregorian date a particular holiday or memorial day corresponded to) ). Therefore, to determine the date, for example, of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary according to the new style in the 21st century, it is necessary to add 13 to 8 (the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is celebrated according to the Julian calendar on September 8), and in the XXII century it is already 14 days. The translation to the new style of civil dates is carried out taking into account the century of a particular date. So, for example, the events of the Battle of Poltava took place on June 27, 1709, which according to the new (Gregorian) style corresponds to July 8 (the difference between the Julian and Gregorian styles in the 18th century was 11 days), and, for example, the date of the Battle of Borodino is August 26, 1812 year, and according to the new style it is September 7, since the difference between the Julian and Gregorian styles in the 19th century is already 12 days. Therefore, civil historical events will always be celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar at the time of year in which they occurred according to the Julian calendar (the Battle of Poltava - in June, the Battle of Borodino - in August, the birthday of M.V. Lomonosov - in November, etc. ), and the dates of church holidays are shifted forward due to their strict link to the Julian calendar, which quite intensively (on a historical scale) accumulates calculation errors (in a few thousand years, Christmas will no longer be a winter holiday, but a summer holiday).

To quickly and conveniently transfer dates between different calendars, it is advisable to use

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

Maj.

• Jun. Jul. Aug.
• 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. Julian calendar(“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

Names of the months

ante diem undecĭmum Kalendas Septembres (full form).

The ordinal number agrees with the form diem, 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, Nonas or Ides, then the name of this day (Kalendae, Nonae, Idūs) and the name of the month are placed in the feminine plural instrumental case (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 to harmonize various chronology systems.