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An Unorthodox Orthodox Christmas Announcement1/2/2005 (Balkanalysis.com)Although most of the Christian and secular consumerist world celebrates Christmas on Dec. 25, there are still a few holdouts in the Orthodox world who celebrate it 13 days later - followers of the “old” or Julian calender, established by the great Roman emperor, Julius Caesar in 46 BC. However, owing to its calculations the calendar worked like a rusty watch. This difference was noted “…as early as 1382 by astronomers of the Byzantine Emperor and suggestions were made for its correction.” Nevertheless, the calendar was not corrected until the year 1582, when Pope Gregory the 13th lopped off ten days from time and invented new rules to govern leap years- hence our modern calendar. However, not all accepted the new calendar, most conspicuously the Orthodox. But In 1924, “the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece made the change, followed by several other Orthodox churches.” Macedonia, however, is one of the stubborn holdouts and, in honor of the festivities, we have decided to take a much-needed break. So from Jan. 1-8, there will be no new articles posted. HOWEVER readers are invited to catch up on their perusing of the Balkanalysis.com archive during this time. Merry Christmas from the Balkanalysis.com Team!
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