06 — The Calendar Question

This library reckons by the Julian calendar, and this section gives the reasons rather than asserting the preference — and then reports the opposing case accurately, in its own terms, and at its strongest. The two files are meant to be read together. Neither is a foil for the other.

Tradition: Russian Orthodox / ROCOR (the opposing case is reported Pan-Orthodox in its own file)

Contents

File Description
the-case-for-the-old-calendar.md Six arguments in ascending order of weight: the integrity of the received Typikon; the Apostles’ Fast anomaly; the thin warrant for the change; the unilateral manner of it; continuity with the calendar of the corpus; and a pastoral consideration named as such. With a closing statement of what the argument does not establish
the-case-on-the-other-side.md Eight arguments in their own terms: nothing dogmatic attaches to Julian reckoning; the drift is real and unbounded; the Church has revised her reckoning before; the 1923 reform was conservative, not radical; pastoral unity is a genuine good; the churches that changed are the ancient patriarchates; the full reply on the Apostles’ Fast; and the fruits of calendar zeal

How to Read This Section

The methodology of this repository requires that opposing positions be reported accurately, from their own sources, and at their strongest (METHODOLOGY §4.1). Here that requirement is not decoration. A preference formed against a caricature is not a judgment, and this section would be worthless if the second file were a straw man. It is not one, and readers who find it persuasive are reading it correctly.

Each file also carries what tells against its own side. The case for the old calendar concedes that Nicaea prescribed no calendar, that the “Sigillion of 1583” will not bear weight, that the astronomical drift is real and unanswered, and that appeals to mystical fitness are not arguments. The case on the other side concedes that a fast which in some years does not occur is in those years not a season.

The Limit

Everything in this section is fenced by section 07. Nothing argued here is a reason to break communion, and nothing argued here makes the calendar a mark of the Church. If the-case-for-the-old-calendar.md is read without Why the Calendar Is Not a Dogma, it has been read wrongly.

Reading Order

Both files, in either order, and then section 07 without fail.

See Also