Description
The new calendar was proposed for adoption by the Orthodox churches at a synod in Constantinople in May 1923. The synod, chaired by controversial Patriarch Meletius IV of Constantinople, and called Pan-Orthodox by its defenders, did not have representatives from the remaining Orthodox members of the original Pentarchy (the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria) or from the largest Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, then under persecution from the Bolsheviks, but only effective representation from the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Serbian Patriarch.
This synod synchronized the new calendar with the Gregorian calendar by specifying that the next 1 October of the Julian calendar would be 14 October in the new calendar, thus dropping thirteen days. It then adopted a leap rule that differs from that of the Gregorian calendar: years divisible by four are leap years, except that years divisible by 100 are only leap years if dividing the year by 900 leaves a remainder of 200 or 600. This leap rule was proposed by the Serbian scientist Milutin Milanković, an astronomical delegate to the synod representing the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Milanković selected this rule because its mean year was within two seconds of the then current length of the mean tropical year. The present vernal equinox year, however, is about 12 seconds longer, in terms of mean solar days.
The synod also proposed the adoption of an astronomical rule for Easter: Easter was to be the Sunday after the midnight-to-midnight day at the meridian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (35°13'47.2"E or UT+2h20m55s for the small dome) during which the first full moon after the vernal equinox occurs. Although the instant of the full moon must occur after the instant of the vernal equinox, it may occur on the same day. If the full moon occurs on a Sunday, Easter is the following Sunday. However, all Eastern Orthodox churches rejected this rule and continue to use the Julian calendar to determine the date of Easter (except for the Finnish Orthodox Church and the Estonian Orthodox Church which now use the Gregorian Easter).
Read more about this topic: Revised Julian Calendar
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