Orthodox and Catholic Christmas: similarities and differences. Why are the dates of Orthodox and Catholic Christmas different?
Catholics invented and adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1582. Pope Gregory XIII pulled it off. There was a reform plan before him, but they didn’t decide before him.
This was done so that the astronomical days of the spring equinox corresponded to the calendar days. 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 calendar the inaccuracy is much less).
The date of the vernal equinox is decisive for the date of Easter celebration.
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 Paschal. The Jews, like other ancient cultures, tried to combine the solar annual circle with the lunar one. What is it and where does it come from - briefly here:
And by the time of the Nativity of Christ, the Romans had already realized that it was impossible to create an ideal lunar-solar calendar and decided to focus only on the length of the solar year. This was done by the same famous Julius Caesar, from where the calendar began to be called the Julian. The authors of the calendar are Alexandrian (this is Egypt) scientists led by Sosigenes. The relationship between 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 month. The problem is that the lunar cycle (~29.5 days) does not fit into the solar cycle (~365.2425 days).
Now we remember that to determine the date of Easter we need data about the full moon.
The Jews in those days acted simply - they largely used direct observations.
What should Christian communities scattered in different distant cities do? The goal is to celebrate Easter on one day (it must be said that this good goal was not always achieved due to politics). How to make 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 create the simplest possible formula that will take into account full moons, which are not in the calendar (full moons do not fall on the same numbers of months every month, every year). According to this formula, even on a foreign side, only having a calendar and the year number will a person know when to celebrate Easter with everyone else.
This formula was found in Alexandria. It was based on the fact that in 433 BC. The 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 simply on December 25th.
In fact, everything is more complicated and Rome preferred to use its Paschal formula even then. Sometimes it was possible to agree on dates 50 years in advance.
Now let's return to the calendar reform. The compilers of the Julian calendar were aware of its inaccuracy, but considered the simplicity of the calendar more important and did not take into account the importance for calendars of continuous counting. That is, they believed that if they wanted, people would 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 took a long time to get ready.
Having reformed the calendar and shifted the dates to take into account the error that had occurred (the real and calendar equinox), the Pope also introduced a new formula for Paschal. But the Orthodox churches did not accept it, since they preferred to continue to calculate the date using the formula uniformly accepted in Orthodoxy. The date of Easter for Catholics and Orthodox Christians often did not coincide before, but 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 Easter and do not consider it somehow incorrect. This proposal is difficult to discuss, because, in principle, if so, then nothing is required from the Orthodox, Catholics can join and that’s good. Those. this is in fact some kind of diplomatic statement in which both Rome and Byzantium are masters.
The Nativity of Christ is one of the main spiritual Orthodox holidays, which is celebrated on December 25 by Catholics and 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 soaked in berry juice or honey. The holiday 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?
date
The discrepancy between the celebration of the Nativity of Christ by Western and Eastern churches is explained by the different chronology systems they adopted. 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.
Catholics even call the New Year tree a Christmas tree. It is placed on the eve of the holiday - December 24 - when the day of Adam and Eve is celebrated in Western tradition.
Divine service
In Orthodoxy, there is one Christmas service, which lasts until the morning, and in which Great Compline, Matins and Liturgy are combined.
Catholics have three separate masses - at night, in the morning and during the day. This symbolizes, as it were, the birth of the Savior in the womb of the Father, in the womb of the Mother of God and in the soul of every person.
Photo: www.russianlook.com / Christmas is the main holiday for Catholics.
Attitude to the holiday in society and in the church
Orthodox Christmas is a spiritual, church holiday, not a family holiday. Fasting is very strict - every believer must restrain himself and work hard, spiritually and physically, in order to ultimately reward himself with the opportunity to celebrate and relax. Five days before Christmas, churches commemorate biblical events associated with Christmas. The church service itself proceeds in the same way as it did several centuries ago - all the traditions of those times are observed from year to year. At the same time, Easter is revered more than Christmas. That is, for the Orthodox it is more important that Christ was resurrected, and for Catholics it is more important that he was born.
For Catholics, Christmas is their favorite family holiday. Church services for other biblical events take place after Christmas, starting on the first of January. The fast before Christmas is “weaker” than the Orthodox one - you are allowed to relax. The church service itself is adapted to the modern world and simplified.
Catholics have a lot of different dishes for Christmas, but the main thing is goose with apples. Orthodox Christians focus on the festive table on Christmas Eve, when 12 Lenten dishes are placed on the table. For a festive Christmas table, we recommend baking it, a step-by-step recipe for which is published on the AiF-Krasnoyarsk website.
Mandatory dishes that should be on the table of an Orthodox Christian at Christmas are sochivo and vzvar. Sochivo is prepared from wheat or rice with the addition of honey, dried fruits, and nuts. Vzvar is a compote made from dried fruits.
Christmas table. Photo: www.russianlook.com
At Christmas, Catholics give gifts to everyone. According to tradition, no one should be left without a surprise - neither a relative nor a good friend. In the Orthodox tradition there is no such attention to gifts, although children are traditionally given gifts.
Who is the main character of the holiday?
If the Orthodox worship, of course, the born Christ, who came into the world, then for Catholics the main “figure” of the celebration is St. Nicholas or Santa Claus, whose duties include giving gifts to children. At the same time, Santa Claus himself does not come to children with a bag of gifts, like the Russian Father Frost. He hides the gifts in his socks at night, hangs them over the fireplace, and disappears unnoticed into the chimney. Christian and pagan rites are intertwined in this custom, and not all priests have a positive attitude towards this almost pagan saint.
The material was prepared using publicly available sources.
Christmas is one of the most important Christian holidays. Only they celebrate it on December 25, while the Orthodox celebrate it on 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 birth of Jesus Christ is unknown. Therefore, a day was simply appointed to celebrate the birth of Christ in the flesh. In the Roman Empire, from the 4th century, they began to celebrate the Nativity of Christ on December 25, the day of the old pagan festival of the Sun and the winter solstice.
How did it happen that now Catholic Christmas is celebrated earlier, and Orthodox Christmas “lags behind”?
The discrepancy between the astronomical calendar and the nominal calendar grew more and more, and finally, Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 announced a reform of the calendar. To restore the time difference, 10 days were missed, 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 allows 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 celebrates Christmas also 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.
Christmas is the brightest holiday for Christian believers. In the 11th century it was divided into two parts: Orthodox and Catholic. Each of the churches celebrates Christmas Eve on different days: Orthodox - on the night of January 6-7, Catholics - on the night of December 24-25. What other differences exist between Orthodox and Catholic Christmas?
1. Catholic and Orthodox Christmas are celebrated differently: the first from December 24 to 25, the second from January 6 to 7. This shift in dates was due to the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars.
2. Catholics do not have fasting as such. There is the so-called Advent - the time of waiting for the holiday. During the month before Christmas, devout Catholics try to devote more time to prayer, going to church, and communicating with family. And some even limit themselves in food - they don’t eat meat.
For the Orthodox, the Nativity Fast is the last multi-day fast of the year, lasts forty days and therefore is called Lent in the Church Charter, just like Lent. Since the beginning of the fast falls on the day of remembrance of St. Apostle Philip (November 14, old style), then this post is called Philippov.
You cannot eat meat, eggs, or dairy products. On weekends you can fish.
3. Goose with apples is considered a traditional Orthodox Christmas dish. Catholics have a wide variety of dishes (although some also have goose on the menu), which they prepare for Christmas. Different for different countries. But in Portugal they are different even for different regions.
4. At Christmas, Catholics give gifts to everyone. We give them for the New Year, and even their tree is called “Christmas tree”, and not “New Year’s”, as we usually say.
The main character of Catholic Christmas is, as a rule, not the newborn Savior, but Santa Claus. It is from Santa that children, hanging beautiful socks over the fireplace, expect gifts. All Christmas miracles are associated with the actions of a funny fat man who laughs funny and loves to play pranks. By the way, not all Catholic priests support this almost pagan cult.
For Orthodox Christians, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. This is a purely spiritual, church holiday.
5. In the Orthodox church tradition there is one nightly Christmas service, in which Great Compline, Matins and Liturgy are combined. And in the Catholic Church there are three Christmas masses celebrated separately - at night, in the morning and during the day. This symbolizes the birth of the Savior in the womb of the Father, in the womb of the Virgin Mary and in the soul of every person.
6. Catholics have one important concept that surprisingly accurately characterizes the mood that covers people in the days before Christmas - Christmas Spirit (literally “the spirit of Christmas”). This is the time when everyone believes in miracles, when bad people suddenly become kind and affectionate, when you feel like you’re in a fairy tale. This is a time of peace, joy and love.
What is the difference between old and new style? Why do Catholics and Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on different days? Many have asked these questions, but the answer is usually simple - different calendars, and that’s it. What if we agreed to bring the calendars into line?
Let's try to figure it out. Is this really important and why - in the material of the Moscow 24 portal.
Photo: Portal of the mayor and government of Moscow
At first glance, a single date for Christmas would immediately simplify a lot - Orthodox believers would again, as in pre-revolutionary years, begin to celebrate Christmas on December 25, they would not have to observe the Nativity Fast during the New Year, and foreign friends would not have to explain why every time we do not celebrate the main Christian holiday with the rest of the world. In fact, everything is not so simple, but first you will have to understand the differences between the calendars and everything that they ultimately led to.
Julian calendar was introduced into the Roman Empire by decree of Julius Caesar, after whom it was named, on January 1, 45 BC. Previously, the Roman year lasted 355 days, which is why they periodically introduced an additional month to keep up with the tropical year - the actual period of time during which the sun completes the cycle of changing seasons. The structure of the year of the Julian calendar looks the same as we are used to - 365 days, every fourth year is a leap year. Thus, the average length of the year is 365 ¼ days. This calendar year, unlike the previous one, has already become longer than the tropical one. Just 11 minutes and 15 seconds - it would seem quite a bit, but every 128 years one extra day accumulated. Because of this, Christmas gradually shifted from being close to the winter solstice towards spring, and the day of the vernal equinox also shifted - and Easter is counted from it. Ultimately, the discrepancy between calendar time and real time was difficult to ignore. Then the need for a new calendar arose.
Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in Catholic countries on October 4, 1582 - there, after this day, October 15 came immediately. This system of calculating time was called the new style (and the Julian calendar, accordingly, became known as the old style). Russia did not switch to the Gregorian calendar and continued to live in the Julian calendar. So we had Christmas, like everyone else, on December 25th. Only for Catholics it was already January at that time. And then the revolution happened, and the Council of People's Commissars adopted a decree - to switch to the same number system with the whole world. This happened on January 31, 1918 - after it, February 14 came in the RSFSR, thus we “synchronized” with other countries.
What about the Church?
This is where the fun begins. In secular chronology, we began to live simultaneously with the West. But the Russian Orthodox Church (and with it the Serbian, Georgian, Jerusalem and Athos) refused to change the calendar. And the point here is not at all a stubborn reluctance to follow the Catholics - there are very important reasons for the church behind this decision.
First of all, according to Christian canons, the New Testament Easter must follow the Old Testament. This is dictated by chronological considerations - Jesus Christ was crucified on the eve of the Jewish Passover, and resurrected on its third day. For Christians living according to the Gregorian calendar, this rule is sometimes violated, which, in theory, distorts the logic of liturgical time calculation - and in the Orthodox church calendar, the events of the life of Jesus Christ strictly follow one another. In addition, it is on the eve of Orthodox Easter that the Holy Fire traditionally descends on the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and on Epiphany night the water is blessed. These miracles are another argument of Orthodox Christians in favor of the truth of their calendar. Agree, the reasons are more than serious, so the position of the majority of Orthodox churches is clear - let the Catholics return to the correct calendar. And we'll wait.
On a note
It is interesting that 11 local Orthodox churches (among them Greek, Romanian, Bulgarian and others) celebrate Christmas, like Catholics, on the night of January 25. In 1923, they switched to the New Julian calendar - that is, in fact, a calendar with the Julian Easter and the Gregorian calendar at the same time. It turns out that they celebrate Easter with the Orthodox, and immutable holidays with the Catholics.
The difference between the dates of the Julian and Gregorian calendars is constantly increasing - every 400 years by three days. Thus, Orthodox churches using the Julian calendar will begin to celebrate Christmas on January 8th from 2101.
