Why is Christmas celebrated on different dates? Why are the dates of Orthodox and Catholic Christmas different? Attitude towards the holiday in society and in the church

Catholics invented and adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1582. Pope Gregory XIII did it. There was a reform plan before him, but before him they did not dare.

This was done in order to ensure that the astronomical days of the vernal equinox corresponded to the calendar ones. And they gradually diverged, since the length of the year in the Julian calendar did not exactly correspond to the real length of the year (in the Gregorian, the inaccuracy is much less).

The date of the spring equinox is the defining date for the celebration of Easter.

Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon, which occurs no earlier than the spring equinox. This is due to the sequence of gospel events.

This is where the problems begin.

The fact is that initially each local church and even individual communities themselves determined the specific date for celebrating Easter. Why is that?

Pay attention to the word full moon in the verbal formula of Paschalia. The Jews, like other ancient cultures, tried to combine the solar annual circle with the lunar one. What is it and where - briefly here:

And by the time of the Nativity of Christ, the Romans had already guessed that it was impossible to draw up an ideal luni-solar calendar and decided to focus only on the length of the solar year. This was done by the very famous Julius Caesar, from where the calendar began to be called Julian. The authors of the calendar are Alexandrian (this is Egypt) scientists headed by Sozigenes. The ratio of months and phases of the moon, which gave rise to the concept of months, was neglected - now full moons and new moons do not fall on the same days of the months. The problem is that the lunar cycle (~29.5 days) does not fit into the solar cycle (~365.2425 days).

Now remember that in order to determine the date of Easter, we need full moon data.

The Jews acted in those days simply - they largely used direct observations.

But what about Christian communities scattered in various distant cities? The goal is to celebrate Easter on the same day (it must be said that this good goal was not always achieved also due to politics). How to conduct direct observations (and there is also the weather factor, and there may not be an understanding person)? Having decided on a date, how do you get confirmation from everyone that they agree with this decision based on observation?

This is where the decision is made to take the Julian calendar as a basis, and make the simplest possible formula that takes into account full moons that are not in the calendar (full moons do not fall on the same days of the months every month, every year). According to this formula, even on a foreign side, only having a calendar and a number of the year, a person will know when he will celebrate Easter together with everyone.

Such a formula was found in Alexandria. It was based on the fact that in 433 BC. Athenian astronomer Meton found that every 19 years the lunar cycle ends on the same day of the solar year. That is, the full moon once every 19 years again falls on the same number of months.

So, from about the fourth century A.D. most churches agree to calculate the date of Easter using this formula. Christmas is celebrated on December 25th.

In fact, everything is more complicated and Rome preferred to use its Paschalia formula even then. Sometimes for 50 years it was possible to agree on dates in advance.

Now back to the calendar reform. The compilers of the Julian calendar were aware of its inaccuracies, but considered the simplicity of the calendar more important and did not take into account such importance for calendars as continuous counting. That is, they believed that, if desired, people simply reform the calendar again and that's it (as was often done in Ancient Rome). And by the time of the Gregorian reform, people had already lived with one calendar for 1500 years and fell in love with stability :) Therefore, the reform of the Pope was risky and, indeed, it took a very long time to switch to a new calendar, not only Russia was going to for a long time.

Having reformed the calendar and shifted the dates in order to take into account the error that had come up (real and calendar equinoxes), the Pope also introduced a new formula for Paschalia. But the Orthodox churches did not accept it, as they preferred to continue to calculate the date according to the formula uniformly accepted in Orthodoxy. The date of Easter among Catholics and Orthodox often did not coincide before, and now other holidays have diverged - Christmas, Epiphany and others with a fixed date according to the calendar.

Today the situation has become especially interesting. The current Pope Francis this spring (2015) made a sensational statement (but not formalized in the form of an official decision or proposal) that for the sake of unity in the celebration of Easter, Catholics are ready to accept the Orthodox Paschalia and do not consider it somehow wrong. This proposal is difficult to discuss, because, in principle, if so, then nothing is required of the Orthodox, Catholics can join, and this is good. Those. this is actually some kind of diplomatic statement in which both Rome and Byzantium are masters.

The word "Christ" does not mean "the Anointed One", but...

BDG-online:

A small educational program for those who do not yet know why Orthodox and Catholic Christmas are celebrated with a difference of two weeks.

The fact is that the Catholic Church switched to a new style of reckoning, that is, it adopted the Gregorian calendar, while the Russian Orthodox Church continues to live according to the Julian calendar with a lag of 13 days. Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25, according to the new style (or January 7, according to the old one)? It's simple: exactly then exactly nine months have passed since the day of the Annunciation, that is, from the day when Mary received the news from an angel that the Savior of mankind would be born to her.

On December 25, in addition to Belarusian Catholics - and they are 14 percent of all believers, Protestants and part of the Uniates also celebrate Christmas.

Atheists, on the other hand, are used to celebrating this holiday on both ...

Can an Orthodox Christian Celebrate Catholic Christmas?

How does an Orthodox person relate to Catholic Christmas? Can it be celebrated?

Everyone has the same Christmas. But Catholics celebrate it according to the Gregorian calendar, and we, the Orthodox, according to the Julian. On December 25, the Orthodox still have a Christmas fast.

Do not celebrate Christmas on December 25 on purpose, when there is no special reason for it. But, for example, if there are Catholics in your family, why not rejoice with them on the Savior's birthday. Or if you find yourself in a Catholic country: there is no need to shy away from general rejoicing, because people glorify Christ. But there is no need to abandon your tradition in favor of the Catholic one - we have January 7 to celebrate the Nativity of Christ together with almost the entire Orthodox world.

It is important to determine: what, in fact, is Christmas for us? It's not just rollercoaster rides and gifts under the tree. First of all, this is the service and Communion as its…

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___die Geburten der Tag…morgen der anfang der Tage___

…Machiavelli dei Nicolaus di Bernardo…

Catholic Christmas is celebrated on December 25th. In more than 145 countries around the world, it is an official public holiday and one of the main religious holidays of the year. In essence, Orthodox and Catholic Christmas have the same roots that go back to the oldest pre-Christian cultures. Therefore, many Catholic Christmas customs are also no different from the traditions of Orthodox Christians. Although Catholic Christmas has its own characteristics, nevertheless.

Features of the Catholic Christmas

For Catholics, Christmas is much more important than New Year's. A month before Christmas, Aventa begins, a time of strict fasting and repentance. The actual preparation for the holiday begins on December 20. Until the moment when the first star appears in the sky on the evening of December 24, announcing the birth of Jesus, this is the period of pre-celebration. From December 24 to January 1 - this is directly the feast of the Nativity of Christ itself, the so-called "octave", consisting of 8 ...

The first mention of Christmas is in the annals of the 4th century. It is not known exactly what date Jesus Christ was born, but based on the fact that the Incarnation (the day of Christ's conception, the Annunciation) is celebrated nine months before Christmas, December 25 is considered the accepted date of his birth.

The first Christians were Jews and did not celebrate Christmas (according to Jewish doctrine, the birth of a person is “the beginning of sorrows and pains”). For Christians, the feast of the Resurrection of Christ (Easter) has been and is more important from a doctrinal point of view. After the Greeks (and other Hellenistic peoples) entered the Christian communities, under the influence of Hellenistic customs, the celebration of the Nativity of Christ was also begun.

The ancient Christian feast of the Epiphany on January 6 ideologically combined both Christmas and the Epiphany of the Lord, which later became different holidays.

In fact, in ancient times there was no single date for this holiday, but later the Universal Church decided to celebrate Christmas ...

Christmas is one of the main spiritual Orthodox holidays, which is celebrated on December 25 by Catholics and on January 7 by Orthodox.

Both religions celebrate Christmas Eve - the evening before Christmas night (Jesus was born at night - hence another legend about the Star of Bethlehem.) The name in Russian comes from the word sochivo - wheat grains moistened with berry juice or honey. The feast of Christmas itself is the date of breaking the fast - liberation from fasting and indulgence in gluttony.

What is the difference between Catholic and Orthodox Christmas?

the date

The discrepancy between the celebration of the Nativity of Christ by the Western and Eastern churches is explained by the different systems of chronology adopted by them. After the new Gregorian calendar was compiled in the West, Catholics and Protestants began to celebrate Christmas two weeks earlier than the Orthodox. We draw the attention of readers to the fact that the date is actually the same, and the difference is in the calendar.

The Catholics...

Orthodox and Catholic Christmas - what's the difference?

Christmas is a shortened name for the holiday - the Nativity of Christ. According to biblical legends, the birth of the baby Christ to the virgin Mary took place in the Jewish city of Bethlehem on the night of December 24-25.

In what year exactly the messiah appeared to the world, scholars, historians and theologians are still arguing. The period between 12 BC is called. and 7 AD. (Where then the modern chronology, which is conducted "from the birth of Christ", came from, is not entirely clear). The date of December 25 was first mentioned in chronicles in 221 AD. The first Christians were Jews and this holiday was not celebrated at all. Believers widely enough began to honor the date of the birth of Christ from about the fifth century.

However, these details are not very interesting to us, because the Christmas holiday has long lost its exclusively religious coloring and has turned into just a pleasant family holiday, in which it is customary to meet with relatives on this day and ...

The first information about the celebration of Christmas can be attributed to the 4th century. The question of the true date of the birth of Jesus continues to be controversial and not unambiguously resolved among church authors.

Probably, the choice of the date of December 25 is related to the solar pagan holiday "Birth of the Invincible Sun", which fell on this day. It is quite possible that after the adoption of Christianity in Rome, it acquired a new content.

The Nativity of Christ has five days of pre-feast and six days of post-feast. On the eve of the holiday, a strict fast is observed, which is called Christmas Eve, since on this day they eat sochivo - barley or wheat grains boiled with honey.

In the 13th century, the custom arose to exhibit mangers in churches, in which the figure of the Infant Jesus is placed. After a while, mangers began to be installed not only in shrines, but also in houses before Christmas. Church and pagan customs - rituals are extremely organically intertwined with each other, complementing each other ...

0iStalker
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1. New Year is by no means a pagan holiday. The history of this holiday in Russia is of agricultural importance and it was originally celebrated in September, when the harvest was harvested. Later, Emperor Peter I moved the holiday to January 1, and, if I don’t confuse anything, he came up with the attribute of the holiday, which has become so integral, like Santa Claus.
2. Orthodox do not celebrate Halloween, for Russians this is just another reason to relax a little and another reason not to go to work. Orthodox Valentine's Day is also not celebrated, but this is superfluous ...

Christmas is the most beloved holiday, covered with light and joy. It contains so much warmth, kindness and love that you want to give away these feelings along with gifts to friends and relatives. But sometimes it happens that they celebrate this event on a completely different day. How is this possible? When should Christmas be celebrated, and what are the differences? Let's try to figure it out.

history of the holiday

The gospel says: Jesus was born in Bethlehem, where His mother Mary and Joseph the Betrothed went to take part in the announced census. Due to the influx of visitors, all the hotels were occupied, so they had to settle in a cave that served as a barn for cattle. It was there that the Son of God was born. An angel brought the news of His birth to the shepherds, who hurried to bow to Him. Another banner of the appearance of the Messiah was the delightful Star of Bethlehem, which lit up in the sky and showed the way to the Magi. They brought gifts to the Child - frankincense, myrrh and ...

1. Why does Easter not coincide for Orthodox and Catholics?…

You can often hear such definitions as "Orthodox" and "Catholic" Christmas. What is the difference between them? First things first, the date: Catholics celebrate the holiday on December 25, Russian Orthodox - on January 7.
It all started with the fact that in 1582 a new one was introduced in Europe - the Gregorian calendar. The Julian that was in force before that had a significant drawback: every 128 years an error occurred in comparison with the year of the equinox - an “extra” day ran up. In the Julian calendar, all years that are multiples of 4 are leap years. A Gregorian year is a leap year if it is a multiple of 4 and not a multiple of 100, or a multiple of 400, which makes "errors" less common.
Russia switched to the new style in 1918, by which time the difference between the calendars was 13 days, and they were simply “crossed out”, but the church did not approve of this decision. Because of this, "our" Christmas lags behind the Catholic one. This is how the holiday with the most paradoxical name appeared - the Old New Year.
On the same day with the Russian ...

Christmas is one of the most important Christian holidays. Only now they celebrate December 25, and the Orthodox - January 7

What is the difference between Catholic and Orthodox Christmas? And why is Catholic Christmas celebrated earlier?

Let's start with the fact that the exact date of the birth of Jesus Christ is unknown. Therefore, the day for the celebration of the birth of Christ in the flesh was simply appointed. In the Roman Empire, from the 4th century, they began to celebrate Christmas on December 25, the day of the old pagan holiday of the Sun and the winter solstice.

How did it happen that now the Catholic Christmas is celebrated earlier, while the Orthodox "lags behind"?

The discrepancy between the astronomical calendar and the nominal grew more and more, and finally, Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 announced a reform of the calendar. To restore the time difference, they missed 10 days, and after October 4, by decree of the Pope, October 15 came immediately.

Pope Gregory XIII - calendar reformer

In the Gregorian calendar, however, extra time also accumulates, but not so quickly: only 1 extra day in 10 thousand years. This is because it provides for fewer leap years.

On the night of January 6-7, Christmas is also celebrated by the Georgian, Jerusalem and Serbian Orthodox Churches, Athos monasteries that adhere to the Julian calendar, and some local Catholic churches. Thus, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church also celebrates Christmas on January 7th.

At the same time, all other Orthodox churches, the Roman Catholic Church and Protestants celebrate Christmas on the night of December 24-25.

Catholics and Protestants living according to the Gregorian calendar, as well as local Orthodox churches of the world that adhere toNew Julian calendar, meet on the night of December 24-25, the feast of the Nativity of Christ.

Christmas is one of the most important Christian holidays, established in honor of the birth of the baby Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. Christmas is celebrated in many countries around the world, only the dates and calendar styles (Julian and Gregorian) differ.

The Roman Church established December 25 as a date for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ after the victory of Constantine the Great (c. 320 or 353). Already from the end of the IV century. the whole Christian world celebrated Christmas on this very day (with the exception of the Eastern churches, where this holiday was celebrated on January 6).

And in our time, Orthodox Christmas "lags behind" the Catholic one by 13 days; Catholics celebrate Christmas on December 25th, while Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7th.

This happened due to a confusion of calendars. Julian calendar introduced in 46 BC emperor Julius Caesar, adding one more day in February, was much more convenient than the old Roman one, but still turned out to be not clear enough - the "extra" time continued to accumulate. For every 128 years, one unaccounted day ran. This led to the fact that in the 16th century one of the most important Christian holidays - Easter - began to "come" much earlier than the due date. Therefore, Pope Gregory XIII undertook another reform, replacing the Julian style with the Gregorian one. The purpose of the reform was to correct the growing difference between the astronomical year and the calendar year.

So in 1582 in Europe, a new Gregorian calendar appeared, while in Russia they continued to use the Julian.

In Russia, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1918 However, the church did not approve of this decision.

In 1923 On the initiative of the Patriarch of Constantinople, a meeting of the Orthodox Churches was held, at which a decision was made to correct the Julian calendar. The Russian Orthodox Church, due to historical circumstances, was unable to take part in it. Having learned about the conference in Constantinople, Patriarch Tikhon nevertheless issued a decree on the transition to the "New Julian" calendar. But this caused protests in the church people and the decision was canceled less than a month later.

Together with the Russian Orthodox Church, on the night of January 6-7, the feast of the Nativity of Christ is celebrated by the Georgian, Jerusalem and Serbian Orthodox Churches, Athos monasteries living according to the old, Julian calendar, as well as many Catholics of the Eastern rite (in particular, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) and part of Russian Protestants.

All the other 11 Local Orthodox Churches of the world celebrate Christmas, like Catholics, on the night of December 24-25, since they do not use the "Catholic" Gregorian calendar, but the so-called "New Julian", which so far coincides with the Gregorian. The discrepancy between these calendars in one day will accumulate by the year 2800 (the discrepancy between the Julian calendar and the astronomical year in one day accumulates over 128 years, the Gregorian - over 3 thousand 333 years, and the "New Julian" - over 40 thousand years).

Christmas is a great holiday established to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. Christmas is one of the most important Christian holidays and a public holiday in more than 100 countries around the world.

The first information about the celebration of Christmas by Christians dates back to the 4th century. The question of the real date of the birth of Jesus Christ is controversial and ambiguously resolved among church authors.

According to one of the modern hypotheses, the choice of the date of Christmas occurred due to the simultaneous celebration by early Christians of the Incarnation (the conception of Christ) and Easter. Accordingly, as a result of adding nine months to this date (March 25), Christmas fell on the day of the winter solstice.

Orthodox Christians in Russia celebrate Christmas on January 7, while the date of Catholic Christmas is December 25. Why do holiday dates differ by 13 days? This happened due to the adoption of different calendars: in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new, "Gregorian" calendar, which was defined as "new style". The old Julian calendar became known as the old style. The difference between the new and the old style increases by 1 day every hundred years and in the 20th century. is 13 days.

While the new Gregorian calendar appeared in Europe, the Julian calendar continued to be used in Russia. When in 1918 the government introduced the Gregorian calendar in the Soviet Union, the church did not approve of this decision.

In 1923, at the initiative of the Patriarch of Constantinople, a meeting of the Orthodox Churches was held, at which a decision was made to correct the Julian calendar - thus, the "New Julian" calendar appeared.

The Russian Orthodox Church, due to historical circumstances, was unable to take part in it. Having learned about the conference in Constantinople, Patriarch Tikhon nevertheless issued a decree on the transition to the "New Julian" calendar. But this caused protests among the church people, and the decision was canceled less than a month later. Thus, Catholics and Protestants living according to the Gregorian calendar celebrate the feast of the Nativity of Christ on the night of December 24-25.

On the night of January 6-7, the feast of the Nativity of Christ is celebrated by the Russian, Jerusalem, Georgian, Ukrainian and Serbian Orthodox Churches, Athos monasteries living according to the old, Julian calendar, as well as many Catholics of the Eastern rite (in particular, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) and part of Russian Protestants.

All the other 11 Local Orthodox Churches of the world celebrate Christmas, like the Catholics, on the night of December 24-25, as they use the so-called "New Julian", which so far coincides with the Gregorian.

The feast of the Nativity of Christ has five days of forefeast (from December 20 to 24) and six days of afterfeast. On the eve, or on the eve of the holiday (December 24), a particularly strict fast is observed, called Christmas Eve, since on this day juicy is eaten - wheat or barley grains boiled with honey. According to tradition, the Christmas Eve fast ends with the appearance of the first evening star in the sky. On the eve of the holiday, Old Testament prophecies and events related to the Nativity of the Savior are remembered. Christmas services are performed three times: at midnight, at dawn and during the day, which symbolizes the Nativity of Christ in the bosom of God the Father, in the womb of the Mother of God and in the soul of every Christian.

In the 13th century, during the time of St. Francis of Assisi, a custom appeared in temples for worship of mangers, in which the figure of the Infant Jesus is placed. Over time, mangers began to be set up before Christmas not only in churches, but also in homes. Home santons - models in glazed boxes depict a grotto, and baby Jesus lies in a manger. Next to him is the Mother of God, Joseph, an angel, shepherds who came to worship, as well as animals - a bull, a donkey. Entire scenes from folk life are also depicted: for example, peasants in folk costumes are placed next to the holy family.

During the celebration of Christmas, a custom was established to break "Christmas bread" - special unleavened wafers consecrated in churches during Advent - and eat it both before the festive meal and during greetings and congratulations to each other on the holiday.

A characteristic element of the Christmas holiday is the custom to install a decorated spruce tree in houses. This pagan tradition originated among the Germanic peoples, in whose ritual spruce was a symbol of life and fertility. With the spread of Christianity among the peoples of Central and Northern Europe, the spruce decorated with multi-colored balls acquires a new symbolism: they began to install it in houses on December 24, as a symbol of the tree of paradise with abundant fruits.