THE CHURCH'S CALENDAR
1. Religious Calendar: History and Development
Within the Orthodox Church feast days and fast days are reckoned
according to two distinct calendars, the Julian Calendar and the
Gregorian Calendar. The first is attributed to the Roman Emperor Julius
Caesar, whose name it bears. It was later corrected in the sixteenth
century by Pope Gregory XIII due to the ever-increasing discrepancy
between calendar time and calculated astronomical time. Thus the
Gregorian Calendar came into being.
Old and New Calendars
Inasmuch as the Julian Calendar had been in continuous use in the
Christian East and West throughout the centuries, the subsequent
introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in the West created yet another
anomaly in the deteriorating relations between the two Churches. The
need for correction of the Julian Calendar was well understood in the
East and had even led some to devise a new calendar themselves.
Nevertheless, the Julian Calendar remained in use throughout the
Byzantine period and beyond. Despite the efforts of the emissaries of
Pope Gregory to convince the Orthodox to accept the New (Gregorian)
Calendar, the Orthodox Church rejected it. The main reason for its
rejection was that the celebration of Easter would be altered: contrary
to the injunctions of canon 7 of the Holy Apostles, the decree of the
First Ecumenical Synod, and canon 1 of Ancyra, Easter would sometimes
coincide with the Jewish Passover in the Gregorian calendar.
This is where the matter stood until the end of World War I. Until
then, all Orthodox Churches had strictly abided by the Old (Julian)
Calendar, which at present is 13 days behind the New Calendar long since
adopted by the rest of Christendom. In May of 1923, however, an
"Inter-Orthodox Congress" was convened at Constantinople by the then
Ecumenical Patriarch, Meletios IV. Not all Orthodox Churches were in
attendance. The Churches of Serbia, Romania, Greece, and Cyprus were;
the Churches of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, although invited,
were not; the Church of Bulgaria was not invited. Several issues were
under discussion at the congress, one of which was the adoption of the
New Calendar. No unanimous agreement was reached on any of the issues
discussed. Several of the Orthodox Churches, however, did eventually
agree, though not all at the same time, to adopt the New Calendar. These
were the Churches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Greece,
Cyprus, Romania, Poland, and most recently, Bulgaria (1968); on the
other hand, the Churches of Jerusalem, Russia and Serbia, along with the
monasteries on Mt. Athos, all continue to adhere to the Old Calendar.
2. Calendar Problems and Implications Among the Orthodox Churches in
the Twentieth Century
The Old Calendarists
The result of this situation is unfortunate indeed. The Orthodox
Churches which have adopted the New Calendar observe Christmas with the
other Churches of Christendom on December 25; the Orthodox Churches
which have not adopted it celebrate Christmas 13 days later, on January
7. The former celebrates Epiphany on January 6 and by the latter on
January 19. And so it is with all the great feasts of the Christian
Calendar but one. Easter, the feast of feasts, continues to be
calculated by all Orthodox Churches to the dates of the Old Calendar.
Consequently, all Orthodox Churches observe the event of Christ's
Resurrection on the same day, regardless of when the rest of Christendom
does. An exception to this general rule is the Orthodox Church of
Finland. Owing to the fact that it makes up less than 2 per cent of the
population of a predominantly Lutheran country, it observes Easter
according to the New Calendar for practical reasons.
It may well be that the date of Orthodox Easter occasionally
coincides with that of the other Christian Churches; however, it may
also occur as much as 5 weeks later. Thus arose the formula applied by
the Orthodox Churches adopting the New Calendar--viz., that immovable
feast days are to be observed 13 days earlier than in the Old Calendar,
while Easter and all movable feast days dependent on it are still
calculated according to the Old Calendar--which was seen as a compromise
with those who opposed the change. On the one hand, the necessary
revisions were made to correct the Old Calendar; on the other hand, the
calculation of Easter was retained as before so as not to violate the
holy canons. Nevertheless, this compromise was to prove incapable of
preventing the schism of "Old Calendarists" which ensued.
As is always the case with reform movements, there was strong
opposition to the adoption of the New Calendar, especially in Greece.
What differed in this situation, however, was that reform was initiated
by the established Church together with the total backing of the state.
Groups of "Old Calendarists" or Palaioemerologitai, refused to abide by
the Church's decision and continued to follow the Old Calendar for both
movable and immovable feast days. The basis of their refusal to abandon
the Old Calendar rested on the argument that canons ratified by an
Ecumenical Synod knew only of the Julian Calendar. Therefore, nothing
less than an Ecumenical Synod had the authority to institute a reform of
such proportion. In view of their refusal to submit to the authority of
the Church of Greece, the official Church excommunicated them. This was
not the case with the monasteries of Mt. Athos. Although all but one
(i.e., 19 monasteries) continued to follow the Old Calendar, they are
under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople with which
they continue to be in communion. Despite attempts by the civil
authorities in Greece to suppress them, the "Old Calendarists" continue
to exist there and abroad and to maintain a hierarchy of their own
together with parishes and monasteries.
3. Holy Days in the Orthodox Church
The ecclesiastical year, which according to Byzantine practice begins
on the first of September, is divided between movable and immovable or
fixed holy days. The movable holy days are determined by the date of
Easter - the most important of all feast days -, which is in a class by
itself. The determination of the date of Easter was definitively
regulated by the decision of the First Ecumenical Synod, held in Nicaea
(325). Next in importance to Easter are the "twelve great feasts," of
which three are movable. Eight of these feasts are devoted to Christ and
four to the Virgin Mary. There are also a number of feast days of
varying importance, most of which commemorate the more popular saints.
4. Holy Days Dedicated to Christ and the Virgin Mary
The "twelve great feasts," as they occur in chronological order after
September 1, are as follows:
- The Nativity of the Virgin Mary (September 8)
- The Elevation of the Life-giving Cross (September 14)
- The Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple (November 21)
- Christmas (December 25)
- Epiphany (January 6)
- The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (February 2)
- The Annunciation (March 25)
- Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter)
- The Ascension (40 days after Easter)
- Pentecost (50 days after Easter)
- The Transfiguration (August 6)
- The Repose of the Virgin Mary (August 15)
5. Fast Days and Fast Periods
Four main fast periods are included in the ecclesiastical year. They
are:
- The Great Fast (Lent)--beginning on a Monday 7 weeks before
Easter.
- Fast of the Apostles--varying in length from 1 to 6 weeks; it
begins on a Monday, 8 days after Pentecost, and ends on June 28--the
eve of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul.
- Fast of the Repose of the Virgin Mary--August 1 to 14.
- Christmas Fast--lasting 40 days, from November 15 to December
24.
Individual fast days include the feast of the Elevation of the Holy
Cross (September 14), the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (August 29),
and the eve of Epiphany (January 5), as well as all Wednesdays and
Fridays. There is no fasting, however, between Christmas and Epiphany,
during the tenth week before Easter, the week after Easter and the week
after Pentecost.
Although the term denotes total abstinence from food or drink,
fasting as practiced in the Orthodox Church means abstinence from meat,
fish, dairy products, olive oil, and wine. Total abstinence is reserved
for the fast of several hours duration preceding Holy Communion. The
rules for fasting prescribed by the holy canons are quite rigid; and,
although they are still observed in the monasteries and by the very
devout, most Orthodox Christians today find it difficult to uphold the
traditional practice for the length of time prescribed. Nevertheless,
any deviation from the norm is permitted only following consultation
with one's spiritual father or with the prior approval of the local
hierarchy.
6. Orthodox Easter
The determination of the date of Easter is governed by a computation
based on the vernal equinox and the phase of the moon. According to the
ruling of the First Ecumenical Synod in 325, Easter Sunday should fall
on the Sunday which follows the first full moon after the vernal
equinox. If the full moon happens to fall on a Sunday, Easter is
observed the following Sunday. The day taken to be the invariable date
of the vernal equinox is March 21.
Herein lies the first difference in the determination of Easter
between the Orthodox Church and the other Christian Churches. The
Orthodox Church continues to base its calculations for the date of
Easter on the Julian Calendar, which was in use at the time of the First
Ecumenical Synod. As such, it does not take into consideration the
number of days which have since then accrued due to the progressive
inaccuracy of the Julian Calendar. Practically speaking, this means that
Easter may not be celebrated before April 3 (Gregorian), which had been
March 21--the date of the vernal equinox--at the time of the First
Ecumenical Synod. In other words, a difference of 13 days exists between
the accepted date for the vernal equinox then and now. In the West, this
discrepancy was addressed in the 16th century through the adoption of
the Gregorian Calendar, which adjusted the Julian Calendar still in use
by all Christians at that time. Western Christians, therefore, observe
the date of the vernal equinox on March 21 according to the Gregorian
Calendar.
The other difference in the determination of Easter between the
Orthodox and other Christian Churches concerns the date of Passover.
Jews originally celebrated Passover on the first full moon following the
vernal equinox. Christians, therefore, celebrated Easter on the first
Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. After the
destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the other tragic events, which
gave rise to the dispersal of the Jews, Passover sometimes preceded the
vernal equinox. This was occasioned by the dependence of the dispersed
Jews upon local pagan calendars for the calculation of Passover. As a
consequence, most Christians eventually ceased to regulate the
observance of Easter by the Jewish Passover. Their purpose, of course,
was to preserve the original practice of celebrating Easter following
the vernal equinox.
As an alternative to calculating Easter by the Passover, "paschal
(Easter) cycles" were devised. The Orthodox Church eventually adopted a
19-year cycle, the Western Church an 84-year cycle. The use of two
different "paschal cycles" inevitably gave way to differences between
the Eastern and Western Churches regarding the observance of Easter.
Varying dates for the vernal equinox increased these differences.
Consequently, it is the combination of these variables, which accounts
for the different date of Orthodox Easter, whenever it varies from the
rest of Christendom.
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