russia stopped using the julian calendar in february 1918.
russia stopped using the julian calendar in february 1918.
when did russia stop using the julian calendar?
february 1918
the julian calendar has been replaced as the civil calendar by the gregorian calendar in all countries which officially used it. turkey switched (for fiscal purposes) on 16 february/1 march 1917. russia changed on 1/14 february 1918. greece made the change for civil purposes on 16 february/1 march 1923, but the next national day (25 march)—a religious holiday—took place as if on the old calendar. most christian denominations in the west and areas evangelised by western churches have made the same change for their liturgical calendars.
julian calendar
against the new calendar, the argument is made that inasmuch as the use of the julian calendar was implicit in the decision of the first ecumenical council at nicaea (325), no authority less than an ecumenical council may change this decision. however, the fact is that that council made no decision or decree at all concerning the julian calendar. its silence constituted an implicit acceptance not of the julian calendar, but of the civil calendar, which happened to be, at that time, the julian calendar (the explicit decision of nicaea being concerned, rather, with the date of easter). by virtue of this, defenders of the new calendar argue that no decision by an ecumenical council was or is necessary today in order to "revise" (not abandon) the julian calendar; and further, that by making the revision, the church stays with the spirit of nicaea i by keeping with the civil calendar in all its essentials—while conversely, failure to keep with the civil calendar could be seen as a departure from the spirit of nicaea i in this respect. lastly, it is argued that since the adoption of the new calendar evidently involves no change in or departure from the theological or the ethical teachings of orthodox christianity, but rather amounts to a merely disciplinary or administrative change—a clock correction of sorts—the authority to enact that change falls within the competency of contemporary, local episcopal authority. implicit acceptance of this line of reasoning, or something very close to it, underlies the decision to adopt the new calendar by those orthodox churches that have done so.
revised julian calendar