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Julian calendar
The Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and took force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). It was chosen after consultation with the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year, known at least since Hipparchus. It has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months, and a leap day is added to February every four years. Hence the Julian year is on average 365.25 days long.
The Julian calendar remained in use into the 20th century in some countries and is still used by many national Orthodox churches. However, too many leap days are added with respect to the astronomical seasons on this scheme. On average, the astronomical solstices and the equinoxes advance by about 11 minutes per year against the Julian year, causing the calendar to gain a day about every 134 years. While Hipparchus and presumably Sosigenes were aware of the discrepancy, although not of its correct value, it was evidently felt to be of little importance. However, it accumulated significantly over time, and eventually led to the reform of 1582, which replaced the Julian calendar with the more accurate Gregorian calendar.
The notation "Old Style" (OS) is sometimes used to indicate a date in the Julian calendar, as opposed to "New Style", which indicates a date in the Gregorian Calendar. This notation is used when there might otherwise be confusion about which date is found in a text.
From Julian to Gregorian
The Julian calendar was in general use in Europe from the times of the Roman Empire until 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII promulgated the Gregorian Calendar, which was soon adopted by most Catholic countries. The Protestant countries followed later, and the countries of Eastern Europe even later. Great Britain had Thursday 14 September 1752 follow Wednesday 2 September 1752. Sweden adopted the new style calendar in 1753, but also for a twelve-year period starting in 1700 used a modified Julian Calendar. Russia remained on the Julian calendar until after the Russian Revolution (which is thus called the 'October Revolution' but occurred in November according to the Gregorian calendar), in 1917, while Greece continued to use it until 1923.
Although all Eastern European countries had adopted the Gregorian calendar on or before 1923, their national Eastern Orthodox churches had not. A revised Julian calendar was proposed during a synod in Constantinople in May of 1923, consisting of a solar part which was and will be identical to the Gregorian calendar until the year 2800, and a lunar part which calculated Easter astronomically at Jerusalem. All Orthodox churches refused to accept the lunar part, so almost all Orthodox churches continue to celebrate Easter according to the Julian calendar (the Finnish Orthodox Church uses the Gregorian Easter). The solar part was only accepted by some Orthodox churches, those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria (in 1963), and the Orthodox Church in America (although some OCA parishes are permitted to use the Julian calendar). Thus, these churches celebrate the Nativity on the same day that Western Christians do, 25 December Gregorian until 2800. The Orthodox churches of Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, and the Greek Old Calendarists continue to use the Julian calendar for their fixed dates, thus they celebrate the Nativity on 25 December Julian (7 January Gregorian until 2100).
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This is why "our" Easter isn't at the same time as "yours" :-) For me this is so very funny mostly when this "our - yours" occurse in the same family as it is mine for instance; but there are many more the same.
Hope you all have a WONDERFULL EASTER OF YOURS! :-D
This week I'll post for you our "steps" to "our" Easter. Here is the first:
http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShowPost.aspx?PostID=345501
Enjoy :-)
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