The Gregorian calendar was introduced Pope Gregory XIII in Catholic countries October 4, 1582 instead of the old Julian: the next day after Thursday, October 4, was Friday, October 15.
Reasons for switching to the Gregorian calendar
The reason for the adoption of the new calendar was the gradual shift in 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. Julian calendar error at 11 min. 14 sec. in the year neglected by Sosigen, to XVI century led to the fact that the spring equinox fell not on March 21, but on the 11th. The shift led to the correspondence of the same days of the year to other natural phenomena. Year by julian calendar v 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 46 seconds, as later scientists found out, was 11 minutes 14 seconds longer than the present solar year. "Extra" days ran for 128 years. So, for a millennium and a half, humanity lagged behind the real astronomical time by as much as ten days! Reform of Pope Gregory XII I was intended to eliminate this error.
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 Gregorian calendar is much more accurate than the Julian calendar: it gives a much better approximation to the tropical year.
The new calendar immediately at the time of adoption shifted the current date by 10 days and corrected the accumulated errors.
In the new calendar, a new, more precise rule about a leap year began to operate. A leap year has 366 days if:
- year number is a multiple of 400 (1600, 2000, 2400);
- other years - the number of the year is a multiple of 4 and not a multiple of 100 (… 1892, 1896, 1904, 1908…).
The rules for calculating Christian Easter have been modified. Currently, the date of Christian Easter in each particular year is calculated according to the lunisolar calendar, which makes Easter a transitional holiday.
Switching to the Gregorian calendar
Go to new calendar carried out gradually, mostly European countries this happened during the 16th and 17th centuries. And not everywhere this transition went smoothly. Spain, Italy, Portugal, the Commonwealth (Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland), France, Lorraine were the first to switch to the Gregorian calendar. In 1583, Gregory XIII sent an embassy to Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople with a proposal to switch to a new calendar, the proposal was rejected as not in accordance with the canonical rules for celebrating Easter. 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 known that Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616. In fact, these events took place with a difference of 10 days, since in Catholic Spain new style acted from the very introduction of it by the pope, and Great Britain switched to the new calendar only in 1752. There were cases when the transition to the Gregorian calendar was accompanied by serious unrest.
In Russia, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1918: in 1918, January 31 was followed by February 14. That is, in a number of countries, as in Russia, in 1900 there was a day on February 29, while in most countries it was not. In 1948, at the Moscow Conference of the Orthodox Churches, it was decided that Easter, like all passing holidays, should be calculated according to the Alexandrian Paschalia (Julian calendar), and non-passing according to the calendar by which he lives local church. Finnish Orthodox Church celebrates Easter by Gregorian calendar.
About the style difference in the calendar
The difference in style arises from the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian.
Julian calendar (" old style") - a calendar adopted in Europe and Russia before the transition to the Gregorian calendar. Introduced in the Roman Republic by Julius Caesar on January 1, 45 BC, or 708 from the founding of Rome.
The Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. The Pope dropped 10 days from this year (from October 4 to 14), and also introduced a rule that in the future, out of every 400 years of the Julian calendar, 3 days will be thrown out to align with the tropical year.
According to the Julian calendar, every 4th year (which is divisible by 4) is a leap year, i.e. contains 366 days, not 365 as usual. This calendar lags behind the solar one by 1 day in 128 years, i.e. for about 3 days in 400 years. This lag was taken into account in the Gregorian calendar ("new style"). To do this, "hundredths" (ending in 00) years are not leap years, unless their number is divisible by 400.
Leap years were 1200, 1600, 2000 and will be 2400 and 2800, and 1300, 1400, 1500, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300, 2500, 2600 and 2700 are normal. Each leap year ending in 00 increases the difference between the new and old styles by 1 day. Therefore, in the 18th century the difference was 11 days, in the 19th century it was 12 days, but in the 20th and XXI centuries the difference is the same - 13 days, since 2000 was a leap year. it will increase only in the 22nd century to 14 days, then in the 23rd century to 15, and so on.
The common translation of dates from the old style to the new style takes into account whether the year was a leap year and uses the following difference in days.
Difference in days between "old" and "new" styles
| Century | Years according to the "old style" | Difference | |
| from March 1 | to February 29 | ||
| I | 1 | 100 | -2 |
| II | 100 | 200 | -1 |
| III | 200 | 300 | 0 |
| IV | 300 | 400 | 1 |
| V | 400 | 500 | 1 |
| VI | 500 | 600 | 2 |
| VII | 600 | 700 | 3 |
| VIII | 700 | 800 | 4 |
| IX | 800 | 900 | 4 |
| X | 900 | 1000 | 5 |
| XI | 1000 | 1100 | 6 |
| XII | 1100 | 1200 | 7 |
| XIII | 1200 | 1300 | 7 |
| XIV | 1300 | 1400 | 8 |
| XV | 1400 | 1500 | 9 |
| XVI | 1500 | 1600 | 10 |
| XVII | 1600 | 1700 | 10 |
| XVIII | 1700 | 1800 | 11 |
| XIX | 1800 | 1900 | 12 |
| XX | 1900 | 2000 | 13 |
| XXI | 2000 | 2100 | 13 |
| XXII | 2100 | 2200 | 14 |
Historical dates after the 3rd century AD are translated into modern chronology by adding to the date the difference characteristic of this century. For example, the Battle of Kulikovo, according to chronicles, took place on September 8, 1380, in the 14th century. Therefore, according to the Gregorian calendar, its anniversary should be celebrated on September 8 + 8 days, that is, September 16.
But not all historians agree with this.
"An interesting thing is happening.
Let's take an actual example: A.S. Pushkin was born on May 26, 1799 according to the old style. Adding 11 days for the 18th century, we get June 6 according to the new style. Such a day was then Western Europe, for example, in Paris. However, imagine that Pushkin himself celebrates his birthday in the circle of friends already in the 19th century - then it is still May 26 in Russia, but already June 7 in Paris. Today, May 26 of the old style corresponds to June 8 of the new one, however, Pushkin's 200th anniversary was still celebrated on June 6, although Pushkin himself never celebrated it on this day.
The meaning of the error is clear: until 1918, Russian history lived according to the Julian calendar, and therefore its anniversaries should also be celebrated according to this calendar, thus coordinating with church year. More better connection historical dates and the church calendar is visible from another example: Peter I was born on the feast day of Saint Isaac of Dalmatia (from where Saint Isaac's Cathedral In Petersburg). Therefore, even now we must celebrate his birthday on this holiday, which falls on May 30 of the old / June 12 of the new style. But if we translate Peter's birthday according to the above rule, "and what day was then in Paris", we get June 9, which, of course, is erroneous.
The same thing happens with the famous holiday of all students - Tatian's Day - the day of the founding of Moscow University. By church calendar it falls on January 12 of the old / January 25 of the new style, which is how we celebrate it now, while the erroneous rule, adding 11 days for the 18th century, would require it to be celebrated on January 23.
So, the correct celebration of anniversaries should take place according to the Julian calendar (i.e. today, to translate them into a new style, 13 days should be added, regardless of the century). In general, the Gregorian calendar in relation to Russian history, in our opinion, is completely unnecessary, just as double dating of events is not needed, unless the events are immediately related to Russian and European history: For example, battle of Borodino it is legitimate to date August 26 according to the Russian calendar and September 7 according to the European one, and it is these dates that appear in the documents of the Russian and French armies.
Andrey Yurievich Andreev, candidate historical sciences, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Associate Professor, Faculty of History, Moscow State University.
In Russia, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1918. The Orthodox Church continues to use the Julian calendar. Therefore, the easiest way is to translate the dates of church events. Just add 13 days and that's it.
In our calendar, the generally accepted system of style translation (different increase in days in different centuries) is used where it was possible. If the source does not indicate which style the date is celebrated in, then the date is given according to this source without changes.
Different peoples, religious cults, astronomers tried to make the calculation of the inexorably current time both the most accurate and simple for any person. The starting point was the movement of the Sun, Moon, Earth, the location of the stars. There are dozens of calendars developed and used so far. For the Christian world, there were only two significant calendars used for centuries - Julian and Gregorian. The latter is still the basis of the chronology, which is considered the most accurate, not subject to the accumulation of errors. The transition to the Gregorian calendar in Russia occurred in 1918. With what it was connected, this article will tell.
From Caesar to the present day
The Julian calendar was named after this multifaceted personality. The date of its appearance is considered to be January 1, 45. BC e. by decree of the emperor. It's funny that the starting point has little to do with astronomy - this is the day the consuls of Rome take office. This calendar, however, was not born from scratch:
- It was based on the calendar ancient egypt, which has existed for centuries, in which there were exactly 365 days, the change of seasons.
- The second source for compiling the Julian calendar was the existing Roman one, where there was a division into months.
It turned out to be a fairly balanced, thoughtful way of visualizing the flow of time. It harmoniously combined ease of use, clear periods with astronomical correlation between the Sun, Moon and stars, known for a long time and influencing the movement of the Earth.
The appearance of the Gregorian calendar, completely tied to the solar or tropical year, is due to grateful humanity to Pope Gregory XIII, who indicated that all Catholic countries should switch to a new time on October 4, 1582. It must be said that even in Europe this process was neither shaky nor rough. So, Prussia switched to it in 1610, Denmark, Norway, Iceland - in 1700, Great Britain with all overseas colonies - only in 1752.
When did Russia switch to the Gregorian calendar?
Thirsty for everything new after everything was destroyed, the fiery Bolsheviks gladly gave the command to switch to a new progressive calendar. The transition to it in Russia took place on January 31 (February 14), 1918. Reasons for this event Soviet government were quite revolutionary.
- Almost all European countries have long since switched to this method of reckoning, and only the reactionary tsarist government clamped down on the initiative of those very inclined to astronomy, other exact sciences peasants and workers.
- The Russian Orthodox Church was against such violent intervention, which violated the sequence of biblical events. And how can "sellers of dope for the people" be smarter than the proletariat armed with the most advanced ideas.
Moreover, the differences between the two calendars cannot be called fundamentally different. By by and large The Gregorian calendar is a modified version of the Julian. The changes are mainly aimed at eliminating, less accumulation of temporary errors. But as a result of the date long gone historical events, birth famous people have a double, confusing calculus.
For example, the October Revolution in Russia happened on October 25, 1917 - according to the Julian calendar or according to the so-called old style, which is historical fact or November 7 of the same year in a new way - Gregorian. It feels like the Bolsheviks carried out the October uprising twice - the second time for an encore.
The Russian Orthodox Church, which the Bolsheviks were not able to force to recognize the new calendar either by executions of clergy or by organized robbery of artistic values, did not deviate from the biblical canons, counting the passage of time, the offensive church holidays according to the Julian calendar.
Therefore, the transition to the Gregorian calendar in Russia is not so much a scientific, organizational event as a political one, which at one time affected the fate of many people, and its echoes are still heard today. However, against the background fun game in the “move the time forward / backward an hour”, which is still not completely over, judging by the initiatives of the most active deputies, this is already just a historical event.
Since by this time the difference between the old and new styles was 13 days, the decree ordered that after January 31, 1918, not February 1, but February 14 be counted. By the same decree, until July 1, 1918, after the number of each day according to the new style, in brackets, write the number according to the old style: February 14 (1), February 15 (2), etc.
From the history of chronology in Russia.
The ancient Slavs, like many other peoples, initially based their calendar on a period of change lunar phases. But already by the time of the adoption of Christianity, that is, by the end of the tenth century. n. e., Ancient Russia used the lunisolar calendar.
Calendar of the ancient Slavs. It was not finally possible to establish what the calendar of the ancient Slavs was. It is only known that initially time was counted according to the seasons. Probably, at the same time, a 12-month moon calendar. In more later times the Slavs switched to the lunisolar calendar, in which an additional 13th month was inserted seven times every 19 years.
The oldest monuments of Russian writing show that the months had purely Slavic names, the origin of which was closely connected with natural phenomena. At the same time, the same months, depending on the climate of those places in which different tribes lived, received different names. So, January was called where the cross section (the time of deforestation), where it was blue (after the winter cloudiness, a blue sky appeared), where it was jelly (because it became cold, cold), etc .; February - cut, snow or fierce (severe frosts); March - berezosol (there are several interpretations here: birch begins to bloom; they took birch sap; burned birch for coal), dry (the poorest in precipitation in ancient Kievan Rus, in some places the earth was already drying up, sap (a reminder of birch sap); April - pollen (flowering gardens), birch (beginning of birch flowering), oak, plum tree, etc .; May - grass (grass turns green), summer, pollen; June - worm (cherries turn red), isok (grasshoppers are chirping - “isoki”), milky; July - Lipets (linden blossom), worm (in the north, where phenological phenomena are late), sickle (from the word "sickle", indicating harvest time); august - sickle, stubble, glow (from the verb "roar" - the roar of deer, or from the word "glow" - cold dawns, and possibly from "pazors" - polar lights); september - veresen (heather bloom); rouen (from Slavic root a word meaning tree, giving yellow paint); october - leaf fall, "pazdernik" or "kastrychnik" (pazders - hemp bonfires, the name for the south of Russia); November - breast (from the word "pile" - a frozen rut on the road), leaf fall (in the south of Russia); December - jelly, breast, blueberry.
The year began on March 1, and from about that time they started agricultural work.
Many of the ancient names of the months later moved to the series Slavic languages and largely held out in some modern languages, in particular in Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish.
At the end of the tenth century Ancient Russia adopted Christianity. At the same time, the chronology used by the Romans passed to us - the Julian calendar (based on the solar year), with the Roman names of the months and the seven-day week. The account of years in it was conducted from the "creation of the world", which allegedly occurred 5508 years before our reckoning. This date - one of the many options for eras from the "creation of the world" - was adopted in the 7th century. in Greece and for a long time used by the Orthodox Church.
For many centuries, March 1 was considered the beginning of the year, but in 1492, in accordance with church tradition, the beginning of the year was officially moved to September 1 and was celebrated this way for more than two hundred years. However, a few months after September 1, 7208, Muscovites celebrated their next New Year, they had to repeat the celebration. This happened because on December 19, 7208, a personal decree of Peter I on the reform of the calendar in Russia was signed and promulgated, according to which a new beginning of the year was introduced - from January 1 and new era- Christian chronology (from "the birth of Christ").
Petrovsky's decree was called: "On writing henceforth Genvar from the 1st of 1700 in all papers of the summer from the Nativity of Christ, and not from the creation of the world." Therefore, the decree ordered the day after December 31, 7208 from the "creation of the world" to be considered January 1, 1700 from the "Christmas". In order for the reform to be adopted without complications, the decree ended with a prudent clause: “And if anyone wants to write both those years, from the creation of the world and from the Nativity of Christ, in a row freely.”
Meeting of the first civil New Year in Moscow. The day after the announcement on Red Square in Moscow of the decree of Peter I on the reform of the calendar, i.e. December 20, 7208, a new decree of the tsar was announced - "On the celebration of the New Year." Considering that January 1, 1700 is not only the beginning of a new year, but also the beginning of a new century (Here a significant mistake was made in the decree: 1700 is last year XVII century, and not the first year of the XVIII century. New century came on January 1, 1701. A mistake that is sometimes repeated even today.), the decree prescribed to celebrate this event with particular solemnity. It gave detailed instructions on how to organize a holiday in Moscow. On New Year's Eve, Peter I himself lit the first rocket on Red Square, thus signaling the opening of the holiday. The streets were illuminated with illumination. started bell ringing and cannon fire, the sounds of trumpets and timpani rang out. The king congratulated the population of the capital on the New Year, the festivities continued all night. Multi-colored rockets flew up from the courtyards into the dark winter sky, and “along the large streets, where there is space,” fires burned - bonfires and tar barrels attached to poles.
The houses of the inhabitants of the wooden capital were dressed up in needles “from trees and branches of pine, spruce and juniper”. For a whole week the houses stood decorated, and at nightfall the lights were lit. Shooting "from small cannons and from muskets or other small weapons", as well as launching "rockets" were entrusted to people "who do not count gold." And the “meager people” were offered “everyone, at least a tree or a branch on the gate or over his temple.” Since that time, the custom has been established in our country every year on January 1 to celebrate New Year's Day.
After 1918, there were more calendar reforms in the USSR. In the period from 1929 to 1940, calendar reforms were carried out in our country three times, caused by production needs. Thus, on August 26, 1929, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution "On the transition to continuous production in enterprises and institutions of the USSR", in which it was recognized as necessary from the 1929-1930 financial year to begin a systematic and consistent transfer of enterprises and institutions to continuous production. In the autumn of 1929, a gradual transition to "continuous work" began, which ended in the spring of 1930 after the publication of a resolution by a special government commission under the Council of Labor and Defense. This resolution introduced a single production time sheet-calendar. The calendar year provided for 360 days, i.e. 72 five-day periods. It was decided to consider the remaining 5 days as holidays. Unlike the ancient Egyptian calendar, they were not located all together at the end of the year, but were timed to coincide with Soviet memorable days and revolutionary holidays: January 22, May 1 and 2, and November 7 and 8.
The employees of each enterprise and institution were divided into 5 groups, and each group was given a day of rest every five days for the whole year. This meant that after four days of work there was a day of rest. After the introduction of the "continuity" there was no need for a seven-day week, since days off could fall not only on various numbers months, but also on different days of the week.
However, this calendar did not last long. Already on November 21, 1931, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution "On the Intermittent Production Week in Institutions", which allowed the people's commissariats and other institutions to switch to a six-day interrupted production week. They were given regular days off next numbers months: 6, 12, 18, 24 and 30. At the end of February, the day off fell on the last day of the month or was postponed to March 1. In those months that contained but 31 days, the last day of the month was considered a full month and paid separately. The decree on the transition to a discontinuous six-day week came into force on December 1, 1931.
Both the five-day and six-day days completely broke the traditional seven-day week with a common day off on Sunday. The six-day week was used for about nine years. June 26, 1940 only Presidium Supreme Council The USSR issued a decree "On the transition to an eight-hour working day, to a seven-day working week and on the prohibition of unauthorized departure of workers and employees from enterprises and institutions", In the development of this decree, on June 27, 1940, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution in which it established that "in excess of Sundays non-working days are also:
January 22, May 1 and 2, November 7 and 8, December 5. The same decree abolished the six special days rest and non-working days on March 12 (Day of the overthrow of the autocracy) and March 18 (Day of the Paris Commune).
On March 7, 1967, the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions adopted a resolution "On the transfer of workers and employees of enterprises, institutions and organizations to a five-day work week with two days off", but this reform did not in any way affect the structure of the modern calendar.
But the most interesting thing is that the passions do not subside. The next round happens already in our new time. Sergey Baburin, Victor Alksnis, Irina Savelyeva and Alexander Fomenko contributed in 2007 to State Duma the bill - on the transition of Russia from January 1, 2008 to the chronology according to the Julian calendar. In the explanatory note, the deputies noted that "the world calendar does not exist" and proposed to establish a transitional period from December 31, 2007, when within 13 days the chronology will be carried out simultaneously according to two calendars at once. Only four deputies took part in the voting. Three are against, one is for. There were no abstentions. The rest of the elect ignored the vote.
Often, when reading a historical article about events that took place before 1918, we see such dates: "The Battle of Borodino took place on August 26 (September 7), 1812." Why two dates? Which one is correct? What is the difference? Why those brackets? Not one hundred, and even a thousand people annually puzzle over these questions. But in fact, everything is simple. We will save you, dear readers, from a lot of numbers and calculations, and explain everything “on the fingers”.
Well slow down, so slow down. The point is calendars. Julian calendar- this is the calendar according to which Russia lived until 1918. In February 1918, we switched to a "new" style - to Gregorian calendar. In Europe, it began to spread from the XVI century. and was introduced by order of Pope Gregory XIII (hence the Gregorian).
Sosigenes is an Alexandrian astronomer, the creator of the "Julian" calendar, adopted by Julius Caesar in 42 BC. 
Pope Gregory XIII - creator of the "Gregorian" calendar, adopted in 1582 Now let's remember a few rules, knowing which, you will no longer get confused in the dates:
1 rule: the dates of all events that occurred before 1918 are written according to the old style, and the date according to the new - Gregorian - calendar is given in brackets: August 26 (September 7), 1812.
2 rule: if a document written before 1918 fell into your hands, and, accordingly, devoid of conversion to a new style, you don’t need to go online - you can calculate it yourself. To do this, you need this label:
from 10/05/1582 to 02/18/1700 - add 10 days.
from 02/19/1700 to 02/18/1800 - add 11 days.
from 02/19/1800 to 02/18/1900 - add 12 days.
from 02/19/1900 to 02/01/1918 - add 13 days.
Let's check ourselves:
Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich was born on March 18, 1584 according to the Julian calendar. We look at the plate - you need to add 10 days. Total according to the Gregorian calendar, the birthday of Fedor Ioannovich is March 28, 1584.
But the Battle of Poltava took place on June 27, 1709. How much should be added? Already 11 days. Turns out July 8th.
The Julian calendar continues to be used by the Russian Orthodox Church. Civil chronology in Russia is based on the Gregorian calendar. So what is the correct way to write the dates of historical events? When did the Battle of Borodino take place - August 26 or September 7? There is only one answer, and there cannot be another: it is correct to write the date that corresponded to the current calendar at that time. That is - August 26th.
In the halls of the Historical Museum and Museum Patriotic War 1812 you can find documents with different dates and check yourself. As you can see, it's simple. Onward to the museum!