A Scientific Examination of the Orthodox Church Calendar, or The Old Calendar and Science
Hieromonk Cassian Edited by Archbishop Chrysostomos and Hieromonk Gregory with a Foreword by Archbishop Chrysostomos
“[...T]he tension between Old Calendar and New Calendar Orthodoxy is by no means an isolated or localized phenomenon[...], and it certainly cannot be reduced to a trivial dispute about the ‘worship of thirteen days,’ as New Calendarist polemics would have it. The notion that the Gregorian Calendar is a ‘necessary corrective’ to the ‘astronomically defective’ Julian Calendar is a pernicious idée reçue perpetuated, unfortunately, even by standard reference works. It is thus all too easy for New Calendarists to set up their straw man of ‘triskaidekemerolatry’ and then knock him down with one blow as superstitiously silly. In fact, the idea that the Church Calendar—the only calendar with Patristic sanction in the Orthodox Church—is scientifically deficient has become so embedded in popular consciousness, that even many of its apologists concede this ‘fact’ in their defenses of the Julian reckoning. Such a concession, however, is wholly unnecessary, for the Church Calendar actually has greater scientific merit than the Gregorian Calendar. Regrettably, this remains one of the ‘best–kept secrets’ in the Orthodox world.” —“Foreword”
CONTENTS
Foreword by Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna Chapter 1: “Which Calendar is Correct?” Chapter 2: Elementary Calendar Principles Chapter 3: The Appearance of a New Star: The Sun of Righteousness Chapter 4: The Essence of the Church Calendar Chapter 5: History of the Calendar Reform of Pope Gregory XIII Chapter 6: The “Pan–Orthodox Congress” of 1923 and its Invention of the “New Julian” Calendar Chapter 7: Science—In Support of the Church Calendar Chapter 8: Canonical Prohibitions Against Changing the Church Calendar Chapter 9: Liturgical Havoc Wreaked by the “New Julian” Calendar Chapter 10: Patristic Teaching on the Church Calendar Chapter 11: Impact of the Calendar Reform on the Piety of the Faithful Chapter 12: Recent Events Linked to Clear Violations of the Church Calendar Chapter 13: Conclusion Addendum 1: The Late Celebration of Pascha in 1983 by Archimandrite Sergius Addendum 2: The Gaussian Formula for the Orthodox Calculation of Pascha Notes
Item Number: BKM534 Publication data: Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1998 Format: softcover Number of pages: x + 173 Dimensions (l × w × h): 21.3 cm × 13.8 cm × 1.0 cm ISBN: 0‒911165‒31‒2
