Julian and Gregorian calendars – which one is more popular?

The Julian and Gregorian calendars continued to exist together, but in most countries of the world it is the Gregorian calendar that is used, and the Julian remains for calculating Christian holidays.

Russia was among the last to adopt the reform. In 1917, immediately after the October Revolution, the “obscurantist” calendar was replaced with a “progressive” one. In 1923, they tried to transfer the Russian Orthodox Church to a “new style”, but even with pressure on His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, the Church was categorically rejected. Orthodox Christians, guided by the instructions of the apostles, calculate the holidays according to the Julian calendar. Catholics and Protestants count the holidays according to the Gregorian calendar.

The question of calendars is also a theological problem. Despite the fact that Pope Gregory XIII considered an astronomical rather than a religious aspect to be the main issue, later discussions appeared about the correctness of one or another calendar in relation to the Bible. In Orthodoxy, it is believed that the Gregorian calendar violates the sequence of events in the Bible and leads to canonical violations: Apostolic rules do not allow the celebration of Holy Passover before the Jewish Passover. Switching to a new calendar would mean the destruction of Easter. Scientist-astronomer Professor E.A. Predtechensky in his work “Church time: reckoning and a critical review of the existing rules for determining Easter” noted: “This collective work (Editor’s note – Easter), in all likelihood of many unknown authors, is made in such a way that it still remains unsurpassed. The late Roman Easter, now adopted by the Western Church, is, in comparison with the Alexandrian, so heavy and awkward that it resembles a popular print next to an artistic depiction of the same object. For all that, this terribly complex and clumsy machine still does not achieve its intended goal. ” In addition, the descent of the Holy Fire at the Holy Sepulcher takes place on Holy Saturday according to the Julian calendar.