Old Calendarists

Old Calendarists
Regions with significant populations
Greece	250 000–2 million (1991);500 000–800 000 (2005)
Romania	1 million (1991);over 1 million (1999)
USA	at least 2,000 (2011)
Religions
	Christianity(Eastern Orthodoxy)

Old Calendarists(Greek:palaioimerologitai^[5]orpalaioimerologites^[6]), also known asOld Feasters(palaioeortologitai),Genuine Orthodox ChristiansorTrue Orthodox Christians(GOC;Greek:Γνήσιοι Ορθόδοξοι Χριστιανοί,romanized:Gnisioi Orthodoxoi Christianoi), are traditionalist groups ofEastern Orthodox Christianswho separated from mainstream Eastern Orthodox churches becausesome of the latter adoptedtherevised Julian calendarwhile Old Calendarists remained committed to theJulian calendar.^[5]^[7]Old Calendarists are not incommunionwith any mainstream Eastern Orthodox churches.^[8]"Old Calendarists" is another name for theTrue Orthodoxmovement inRomania,Bulgaria,GreeceandCyprus.^[9]

Terminology

Mainstream Eastern Orthodox Christians which use theold (Julian) calendararenotwhat is designated by the expression "Old Calendarist", because they remain in communion with theEastern Orthodox churches that use the new calendar(theRevised Julian calendar). Old Calendarists have severedcommunionwith the mainstream Eastern Orthodox which follow the old calendar, because the latter maintained communion with Eastern Orthodox churches which had adopted the revised calendar. Thus, to be "Old Calendarist" is not the same thing as only following the old calendar. TheRussian Orthodox Church,for instance, is not Old Calendarist, but follows the old (Julian) calendar.^[10]

History

Background

Until 1924, theEastern Orthodox Churchuniversally used theJulian calendar,whereas theRoman Catholic Church,underPope Gregory XIII,conducted acalendar reformresulting in theGregorian calendarin 1582. Thedifference between the two calendarsis 13 days between 1900 and 2100.^[11]

1923 Congress

In May 1923, thePan-Orthodox Council of Constantinople,called by PatriarchMeletius IV of Constantinople,adopted theRevised Julian calendar.This new calendar was different to the Julian calendar, and would not diverge from theGregorian calendarfor a further 800 years. The Revised Julian calendar replaced the tabular date ofEasterof the Julian calendar with anastronomicaldate of Easter. The astronomical Easter was unpopular and hardly used at all, and for the purpose of calculating the date of Easter the Julian calendar was restored. Not all Eastern Orthodox churches were represented at the congress or adopted its decisions, and theRussian Orthodox Churchand some other Eastern Orthodox churches have continued to use the Julian calendar liturgically to this day.

Birth

Greece

In 1924, theChurch of Greeceadopted theRevised Julian calendar,also called 'New calendar'. "At first, resistance to the New Calendar was muted". The Old Calendarists in Greece were at first a small number of laymen, priests and monks, whose number grew over the years.^[9]^[13]

Before they were joined by bishops, the Old Calendarist movement in Greece was only composed of priests and laypeople, of which "several hundreds monks fromAthos".^[9]

In 1935, three bishops of the Church of Greece joined the movement and consecrated four new bishops for the movement.^[13]^[9]Of those three bishops,Metropolitan Chrysostomos (Kavourides)[ru]ofFlorinabecame the leader of the Greek Old Calendarist movement. Of the three bishops who had joined, Chrysostom of Zakynthos soon left the movement after the consecration and went back to the Church of Greece. Of the four bishops consecrated, two joined the Church of Greece. This left the Greek Old Calendarist movement with four bishops: Chrysostomos of Florina, Germanos of Demetria, Germanos of the Cyclades, and Matthew (Karpoudakis) of Vrestheni. Those remaining four bishops created an Old CalendaristHoly Synod.^[14]

While the Greek Old Calendarists were "[o]riginally perhaps a million strong", they were severelypersecutedby theState of Greece;Metropolitan Chrysostomos was imprisoned inLesbosin 1951 as part of those persecutions.^[14]

Splits

The Greek Old Calendarists experienced schism in 1937, due to a disagreement on the validity of thesacramentsperformed by members of churches which have adopted thereformed calendar.^[9]After Chrysostomos, head of the Holy Synod, refused to declare the sacraments of theNew Calendaristsasgraceless,bishop Matthew led the group which seceded from the Holy Synod.^[14]

After this, Matthew ordained a number of bishops himself, and formed a separate Holy Synod of which he was the head as archbishop of Athens. Matthew died in 1950.^[14]

After Chrysostomos' death in 1955, his group had no bishop until 1960, when two bishops of theRussian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia(ROCOR) consecratedAkakios[ru]archbishop. Akakios consecrated other bishops with the participation of another different ROCOR bishop. Akakios was succeeded byAuxentios[ru].Under Auxentios, "complicated patterns of division and realignment occurred both within his own jurisdiction and among the followers of Archbishop Matthew". Due to this, in 1999 there were at least five different Greek Old Calendarist churches, each headed by a different archbishop of Athens. Additionally, there was also a'Cyprianite' Greek Old Calendarist Church,whose adjective derives from its leader, bishopCyprian of Oropos and Phyli.^[14]

In 1971, the ROCOR tried to unite the factions of Greek Old Calendarists, but failed. In 1999, the most important groups of Greek Old Calendarists were the Chrysostomites, the Matthewites, and the Cyprianites.^[9]

Romania

Also in 1924, theRomanian Orthodox Churchadopted the revised calendar; at this moment the Old Calendarist movement began inRomania.^[9]^[14]Theabbotof Prokof,Glycerius Tănase[ro],became the head of the Old Calendarist movement in Romania.Hierarchsin Greece, supporting the Old Calendarists, did not manage to consecrate Tanase a bishop due to interventions of the Greek State.^[14]

By 1936, many parishes had left the Romanian Orthodox Church to become Old Calendarist, and more than forty new churches had been built for the use of Romanian Old Calendarist communities.^[14]

From 1935 and onwards, the Romanian government enacted "drastic measures" aimed to "eradicate organized opposition" to the Romanian Orthodox Church. Due to this, Romanian Old Calendarist churches and monasteries "were razed", and Romanian Old Calendarists activists were incarcerated. "Many, like Abbot Pambo, were killed and Glicherie Tănase was repeatedly imprisoned." Those persecutions went on "until the collapse of the [Romanian] regime at the end of theSecond World War."^[14]

In 1955, one bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church, MetropolitanGalaction Cordun[ro],joined the Old Calendarist movement in Romania.^[14]Before they were joined by a bishops, the Old Calendarist movement in Romania was only composed of priests and laypeople, of which "several hundreds monks fromAthos".^[9]

Metropolitan Galaction, while underhouse arrest,consecrated other Old Calendarist bishops:^[14]Eulogius Oța[ro],Methodius Marinache[ro],and Glycerius Tănase.^[15]Later,a Holy Synod of the Romanian Old Calendaristswas "formally established".^[14]

Since theCeaușescuperiod, the Romania Old Calendarist Church "has flourished, establishing a vigorousparochialand monastic life. "^[14]Since thefall of Ceaușescu,the Romanian Old Calendarist movement "has grown notably."^[3]

The Romanian Old Calendarist movement remained united, unlike the Greek Old Calendarist movement.^[3]

Metropolitan Galaction was the first head of the Romanian Old Calendarist, until his death in 1959. Galaction was succeeded as head by Tănase, who became the second leader of the Romania Old Calendarist Church, from 1960 until his death in 1985.^[15]Tanase wascanonizedby the Romania Old Calendarist Church in 1999.^[16]

Bulgaria

TheBulgarian Orthodox Churchadopted the revised Julian calendar in 1968. The Protection Convent nearSofiabecame a center of the resistance to this adoption. In 1993,Photius Siromakhov[bg]of Triadista was consecrated bishop by theCyprianite Old Calendarist Churchto behierarchof the Bulgarian Old Calendarists.^[14]

Ukraine

TheOrthodox Church of Ukraineadopted the Revised Julian calendar in 2023.^[17]The Ukrainian Orthodox Church commonly referred to by the exonymUkrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchatedid not switch to the Revised Julian calendar.^[18]

Intercommunion

In 1977, a declaration ofintercommunionbetween theCyprianite Old Calendarist Churchand theRomanian Old Calendarist Churchwas signed.^[14]

In 1994, an act establishing communion between theROCORand the Cyprianite Old Calendarist Church established full communion between those two churches, as well as between Romanian andBulgarianOld Calendarist churches. Those four churches were therefore "in a single communion".^[14]

The Cyprianite Old Calendarist Church severed its communion with the ROCOR in 2005, because they considered the ROCOR was going to enter into aunion with the Moscow Patriarchate,and had "jettisoned" its "anti-ecumenistoutlook"as well as its cooperation with the Cyprianite Old Calendarist Church. Two weeks prior to the Cyprianite Old Calendarist Church's decision, the ROCOR had severed communion with the Cyprianite Old Calendarist Church due to its leader consecrating a bishop inOssetiaas Bishopof Alania[ru].^[19]^[20]

Demography

In 1999, it was estimated that "[t]here are probably over one million Old Calendarists in Romania, somewhat fewer in Greece, and considerably fewer inBulgaria,Cyprus,and the [Eastern Orthodox]diaspora."^[3]

Groups

Old Calendarist groups include:

References

^^a ^bChrysostomos; Akakios (November 1, 1991). "The old calendarists: A social psychological profile of a Greek Orthodox minority".Pastoral Psychology.40(2): 83–91.doi:10.1007/BF01040490.S2CID 144654988– via Springer Link.
^Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for."Refworld | U.S. Department of State Annual Report on International Religious Freedom for 2005 - Greece".Refworld.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eParry, Ken; Melling, David J.; Brady, Dimitri; Griffith, Sidney H.; Healey, John F., eds. (2017-09-01). "True Orthodox church".The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity.Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. p. 499.doi:10.1002/9781405166584.ISBN 978-1-4051-6658-4.
^HOCNAadherents, from Krindatch, A. (2011).Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Churches,p. 44. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press
^^a ^bWare, Kallistos(2002). "Old Calendarists". In Clogg, Richard (ed.).Minorities in Greece: Aspects of a Plural Society.C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 2–4.ISBN 978-1-85065-705-7.
^"Περισσότερες από 500 επιθέσεις σε θρησκευτικούς χώρους το 2017".Η ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ.Retrieved2021-11-10.
^Parry, Ken; Melling, David J.; Brady, Dimitri; Griffith, Sidney H.; Healey, John F., eds. (2017-09-01) [1999].The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity.Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. pp. 498–9, 355.doi:10.1002/9781405166584.ISBN 978-1-4051-6658-4.
^"Independent Orthodox Churches or the Other Orthodox Family of Churches".Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE - Media Network.2010-10-23. Archived fromthe originalon 2021-09-06.Retrieved2021-09-04.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^hParry, Ken; Melling, David J.; Brady, Dimitri; Griffith, Sidney H.; Healey, John F., eds. (2017-09-01) [1999]. "True Orthodox church".The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity.Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. pp. 498–9.doi:10.1002/9781405166584.ISBN 978-1-4051-6658-4.
^Ware, Kallistos(2002). "Old Calendarists". In Clogg, Richard (ed.).Minorities in Greece: Aspects of a Plural Society.C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 9.ISBN 978-1-85065-705-7.
^Anderson, L. V. (2013-01-07)."Merry (Russian Orthodox) Christmas!".Slate.ISSN 1091-2339.Retrieved2018-02-18.
^Speake, Graham (2021-01-31)."Old Calendarists".Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition.Routledge. p. 1170.ISBN 978-1-135-94206-9.
^^a ^bWare, Kallistos (2002). "Old Calendarists". In Clogg, Richard (ed.).Minorities in Greece: Aspects of a Plural Society.C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 1–2, 10–12.ISBN 978-1-85065-705-7.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^sParry, Ken; Melling, David J.; Brady, Dimitri; Griffith, Sidney H.; Healey, John F., eds. (2017-09-01) [1999]. "Old Calendarists".The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity.Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. pp. 353–6.doi:10.1002/9781405166584.ISBN 978-1-4051-6658-4.
^^a ^b"Mitropolitul Glicherie Tanase va fi canonizat saptamina viitoare".Evenimentul Zilei.20 June 1999. Archived fromthe originalon 2013-07-05.Retrieved2021-12-13.
^"Alte stiri".Ziarul de Iași.29 June 1999.Retrieved2021-12-13.
^"OCU switches to a new calendar".Istorychna Pravda(in Ukrainian). 24 May 2023.Retrieved24 May2023.
^"Ukraine's Orthodox Church, Greek Catholic Church start dialogue on church calendar reform".Interfax-Ukraine.26 December 2022.Retrieved24 May2023.
^"The Holy Synod in Resistance and Her [sic] Attitude Towards the Union of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad with the Moscow Patriarchate "(PDF).
^"Русская зарубежная церковь прекратила общение с греческим" Синодом противостоящих "и сделала еще один шаг навстречу Московскому патриархату".www.interfax-religion.ru.Retrieved2021-11-15.