The difference between them is 13 days now but it will increase, so in the distant future the Christmas will be in February or March, and it even will be approaching Easter.
When three months ago the “second man” of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) Mitropolit Hilarion Alfeyev said that the calendar question was not “holly cow” and untouchable and that the old Julian calendar was indeed astronomically incorrect, this news did not cause any special attention in Moscow, let least in Belgrade. The Mitropolit did not advocate the amending of the calendar, although he does not exclude it either. According to him, this is a cultural issue that should be solved by believers. “At this point there are no such requirements in the Russian church”, he says.
When three months ago the “second man” of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) Mitropolit Hilarion Alfeyev said that the calendar question was not “holly cow” and untouchable and that the old Julian calendar was indeed astronomically incorrect, this news did not cause any special attention in Moscow, let least in Belgrade. The Mitropolit did not advocate the amending of the calendar, although he does not exclude it either. According to him, this is a cultural issue that should be solved by believers. “At this point there are no such requirements in the Russian church”, he says.
Russian “zealots of faith” who make up about five percent of the believers, same as here, pay no heed to the statements of dignitaries. Anyways, they are already labeled as “heretics” and the followers of ecumenism, the greatest apostasy from orthodoxy, as dignitaries understand it.
The Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) does not have a single bishop in the episcopate who would say loudly that we should join the majority of Orthodox churches, ten out of fourteen, and change this calendar anomaly. Serbian priests and bishops who work abroad know how difficult it is for believers to explain to their employers and colleagues that they want to have a day off on January 7th, because they want to celebrate Christmas. They cannot explain to their confused colleagues the “delay” of two weeks. Even if they had some explanation, it would not seem convincing.
Since it was formed, church has never dealt with calendar. It has always applied the one used by the state, in the Roman Empire it was the calendar that astronomers developed during the reign of Julius, 45 BC. Christ himself fully adhered to the current Jewish lunar calendar, although the Jews were under Rome Empire at that time. Thus, zealots would now had to use as the Jewish calendar as a “Calendar of the Savior”, but they never came to this idea. The First Ecumenical Council (325), and all later ones, have never considered the question of calendar, but only the issue when to celebrate Easter. It was decided that this date would depend on the Jewish Passover and that it must come after it.
A thousand years ago, not only Rome but also the Orthodox Constantinople noticed that something was wrong with the calendar. With the fall of the Byzantine, East was unable to change the calendar, while the West introduced a new and corrected one which was not created by the Pope but by the most famous astronomers at that time. However, only the Pope had the authority to implement it and even impose it (at that time it was Pope Gregory). This implementation was extremely slow and lasted for several centuries, more due to the religious doubts towards Rome, than to the doubts about its accuracy. Even today in Switzerland there are several Protestant villages which calculate the new year according to the old calendar, so they would not have to apply the “Papa’s calendar”.
In the late 19th century, Constantinople initiated a discussion among the Orthodox countries regarding the calendar issue. It has been several decades until the representatives of nearly all churches gathered together. After The First World War situation in Orthodoxy has drastically changed. Belgrade and Bucharest gained autocephaly, Sofia gained exarchy, autonomous church structures were created an in Warsaw and Helsinki, and Russians came under the godless regime. The Pan-Orthodox Congress was held 1923. in Constantinople and it agreed to the change of calendar. Serbs had a significant contribution in this venture. Belgrade scientist Milutin Milankovic presented the suggestion of the calendar which is more accurate than the Gregorian and largely based on the work of Professor Maksim Trpkovic, but it has not been elected for use. All churches of Hellenic tradition began to apply the new calendar (Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Athens, Nicosia, Tirana) and later Bucharest and Sofia. Serbs have adopted it, but they said they would apply it together with Russians who also declared its application, but did not carry it out.
Particularly Greece witnessed the rejection of the new calendar. Although persecuted by the church and the state, the most conservative parts rejected the “innovations” that seemed as a “violation of the tradition of Holy Fathers” and the surrender to the Catholic influence. There are dozens of conflicting groups and “Synods” that use the old calendar today, and they have influenced the formation of similar groups among other churches. Besides the Serbian Orthodox Church, two other groups act in Serbia today and these are “artemijevci” (the supporters of bishop Artemije) and “akakijevci” (the supporters of father Akakije) which insist on the old calendar and anti-ecumenism.
For decades there has been a division of Orthodoxy in regards to the very important issues of celebration dates. The old calendar is used not only by Russians, Serbs and Georgians, but also by the small Jerusalem Patriarchate, but for practical reasons. The two Christmases and two Easters protect the holy places of Jerusalem from the invasion of a large number of pilgrims.
“The great and holy Synod” has being prepared for more than fifty years, the first after more than a thousand years. One of its ten subjects is the calendar. During the preparations it was noted that everything will remain the same and both calendars will be used simultaneously. The standardization is not possible to achieve and that was not insisted upon. However, the great synod will hot be held soon. The Russians are blocking it by it setting the conditions unacceptable for others. Russians believe there is no more Byzantine emperor who would guarantee the unity of Orthodoxy and their dream about Moscow becoming “The Third Rome” did not come true.
Today Serbian church does not want to talk about its former readiness to adopt the new calendar, expressed ninety years ago. Milankovic is respected as “a great scientist and a Serb,” but his idea about the calendar is no longer mentioned. In 1924, in the European astronomical classes of that time, he informed the world that “the use of Julian calendar came to an end.” He died in 1958. and this end has not yet happened. According to some sayings the SOC printed its new calendar for the year of 1924, with the approval of Patriarch Dimitrije Pavlovic, but it was never distributed and cannot be found in any library. It is believed that it was not applied because approximately 100,000 Russian immigrants arrived in the Kingdom, including many bishops and theologians. As they were influential and educated, the implementation of the calendar was delayed out of consideration for them, but it was not wiped out.
Today, the defense of the unharmed Julian calendar in Serbia is in the hands of religious fundamentalists and “zealots” with varying levels of militancy. Theologians rarely engage in discussions and explanations. In some parts of the Church even the suspicion that someone might have a love of harmonization with most churches is the reason for insults and threats. Calm discussion is not possible. Listing the reasons why others use the Gregorian calendar is already considered as the advocacy for it. The member of SOC cannot speak in public without the “blessing of the bishop in charge.” This prevents the dialogue and giving explanation to the believers, and to those who are not, why not accept something new that is actually not even new any more.
The association “Milutin Milankovic” recently held a scientific conference at which many participants discussed various aspects of Milankovic’s contribution to the calendar reform.
Among other things it was heard that there is no “Christian” calendar and that there is no unity on this issue among the churches of the world. Besides the Julian and Gregorian, there are Armenian, Coptic and Ethiopian church calendars. And Orthodoxy itself, followed by about two hundred million Christians over the world, compared to over a billion and a half of other believers, is reconciled with the fact that two calendars have survived simultaneously. The difference between them is 13 days now and it will increase, so in the distant future the Christmas will in February or March, and it will even be approaching Easter.
