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Why Orthodox Christians Celebrate Christmas on Different Dates
The video explains the historical reason for the 13-day calendar gap between Orthodox churches. At Christ's birth the Roman Empire used the Julian calendar introduced by Julius Caesar, and the apostles and early fathers followed it. That calendar runs about 11 minutes long each year, so over centuries the error accumulated into days.
In 1582 the Pope in Rome removed 10 days to create the Gregorian calendar now used worldwide. Because the Orthodox Church had already separated from Rome, it kept the old calendar. For more than 300 years all Orthodox Christians remained on the Julian calendar until about a century ago when some churches, including Greece and Constantinople, adopted a revised calendar.
Others, including Russia, Serbia, Jerusalem, and Mount Athos, stayed with the original. Today the difference between them is 13 days. Both sides celebrate Christmas on 25 December; they simply count the days differently. The churches remain one church and almost all celebrate Easter on the same day because, as the video states, it is not the calendar that saves us but Christ.
The video traces the calendar from its Roman origin through the apostolic era, the gradual drift caused by the 11-minute annual excess, the papal correction of 1582, the Orthodox refusal to accept that correction, the unity of the Orthodox on the old calendar for over three centuries, the twentieth-century split when some local churches revised the calendar while others did not, and the present reality of a 13-day separation in fixed feasts alongside near-universal agreement on the date of Pascha.
Key moments
- The calendar at Jesus' birth was the Julian calendar instituted by Julius Caesar, used by the apostles, the first Christians, and all the church fathers.
- The Julian calendar was about 11 minutes too long each year, and over hundreds of years those minutes turned into days of drift.
- In 1582 the Pope in Rome cut 10 days out of the calendar to fix the drift, producing the Gregorian calendar that the whole world uses today.
- Because the Catholics and the Orthodox had already split, the Orthodox said no to the change and kept the old calendar.
- For more than 300 years all Orthodox Christians stayed on the old calendar until about 100 years ago when some churches like Greece and Constantinople decided to fix it too.
- Others like Russia, Serbia, Jerusalem, and Mount Athos decided to stay with the old one, and today the difference between them is 13 days.
- Both sides celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December; they just count the days a bit differently.
- The churches are still one church and almost all celebrate Easter on the same day because in the end it is not the calendar that saves us, it is Christ.