In order for the Simple Laity to defend and work to restore the Church Calendar it is important to understand correctly the fundamental issues concerning the Church Calendar. This requires we begin to learn both the essential (basic) Liturgical and mathematical properties of the Church Calendar and also correctly understanding the serious errors of the papo-masonic calendar which have been largely and deliberately kept hidden. In this article we consider one of these deceptions which is familiar to everyone as "the 13 day difference" between the two calendars.
We have all been conditioned to think of the difference between the Church Calendar and the papo-masonic anti-calendar as primarily a difference of 13 days but as we shall see, this is far from the reality. We have likewise heard that the papo-masonic Calendar does not alter the Paschalion but only the Menaion, and this too is a lie. For one the antichristian creators of the papo-masonic calendar have always had as their target the altering of the Orthodox Paschalion. As proof of these evil intentions against the Orthodox Church, both Finland and Estonia have implemented the papist "easter" date and abandoned the Orthodox Paschalion. They could not do something so blatantly anti Orthodox everywhere all at once so these antichristian servants of the evil one settled for the time being to alter the Menaion (Fixed Feasts and Fasts) only, intending to return and complete their evil work out to its logical conclusion later, namely to propose altering the Paschalion.
First let us understand correctly the mathematical difference between the Julian Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar. The difference is not simply about 13 days because this difference actually increases every 400 years by 3 days. So that while the difference is currently 13 days in the year 2100 onwards the difference will be 14 days and in the year 2200 onwards the difference will be 15 days. This reason for this difference has to do with the difference in the criteria for leap years between the Julian calendar and the Gregorian.
Let us compare the criteria for leap years between the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar.
Julian calendar leap year (single rule)
A. Every fourth year (years divisible by 4) is a leap year.
This means the Julian Calendar repeats every 28 years. That is after a cycle of 28 years, January 1st will fall on the same 4 year leap cycle and the same 7 day week cycle (4 x 7 = 28). The Church Calendar uses the Julian Calendar for the Menaion and precisely repeats every 28 x 19 = 532 Years where the factor 19 corresponds to the 19 year Metonic Cycle which mathematically (not astronomically) defines the Paschal Moon.
Gregorian calendar leap year (multiple rules)
A. Every fourth year (years divisible by 4) is a leap year
B. If the year is divisible by 100, it is not a leap year
C. If the year is divisible by 400, it is a leap year
Thus on the Gregorian, the year 1700, 1800, 1900 were not leap years - although the year 2000 was a leap year. The year 2100, 2200, 2300 are not leap years although the year 2400 is a leap year. In contrast, these are all leap years on the Julian calendar.
This means the delta between the Julian and Gregorian increases by 1 day every 100 years - unless the year is divisible by 400 in which case the delta stays the same until the next century when it again increments by 1.
Let us now examine some of the Liturgical consequences of this drift.
The Apostles Fast is unique in that it is the only fast of the Church which has a duration that varies year to year. The reason for this variation in duration is the beginning of the Apostles Fast is tied to the Paschalion and the end of the Apostles Fast is tied to the Menaion. On the Church Calendar the Apostles Fast can vary from 8 days (minimum) to 42 days (maximum). On the papo-masonic calendar this Fast is 13 currently always 13 days less. In years where the Apostles Fast is 13 days or less on the Church Calendar it disappears completely on the papo-masonic calendar. Moreover, the duration of the Apostles Fast will continue to grow shorter on the papo-masonic calendar at the same rate as the Julian-Gregorian drift, i.e. 3 days per 400 years until it disappears completely.
Its not only the Apostles Fast which is affected by the Julian-Gregorian drift, but the entire Menaion. The date of Pascha will keep shifting with respect to the Menaion on the papo-masonic calendar by the same rate (3 days every 400 years) so that eventually the Paschal Fast will overlap with the Nativity, Dormtion, etc rendering the whole papo-masonic calendar unintelligible and unusable. These above alone should suffice to demonstrate that the papo-masonic calendar is both mathematically absurd and altogether unfit for Liturgical use. But lets continue to look at the implications of the Gregorian leap year rule, but this time in reverse:
We already described the rule for the Gregorian leap year and explained how this leads to a delta of 3 days every 400 years. Something interesting happens when we carry this out in reverse to see the implications of the Gregorian Calendar which further demonstrates its anti Patristic spirit:
Delta between the Church Calendar and the papo-masonic calendar
2000 : 13 days (divisible by 400 hence no additional delta from previous century, 1900 AD)
1900 : 13 days
1800 : 12 days
1700 : 11 days
1600 : 10 days (divisible by 400 hence no additional delta from previous century, 1500 AD)
1500 : 10 days
1400 : 9 days
1300 : 8 days
1200 : 7 days (divisible by 400 hence no additional delta from previous century, 1100 AD)
1100 : 7 days
1000 : 6 days
900 : 5 days
800 : 4 days (divisible by 400 hence no additional delta from previous century, 700 AD)
700 : 4 days
600 : 3 days
500 : 2 days
400 : 1 day (divisible by 400 hence no additional delta from previous century, 300 AD)
300 : 1 day
Thus the papo-masonic calendar would contradict even the Fathers of the First Holy Ecumenical Council (325 AD) who defined the Orthodox Church Calendar. This shows the cunning and deceptive anti-Patristic spirit of the papo-masonic calendar is nothing short of an attack of the very foundations of the Church and Her Holy Ecumenical Councils which we the children of the Holy Orthodox Church confess as the Faith upon which the cosmos is established.
Finally, and of rather profound significance mystically, it should be mentioned that the very rare and festive occurance of KyrioPascha can never occur on the papo-masonic calendar. KyrioPascha is when the Great Feast of Annunciation coincides with Pascha, and this takes place on the Church Calendar only about twice a century. The last KyrioPascha on the Church Calendar was the year 1991 and the next KyrioPascha on the Church Calendar is the year 2075.