On September 1st, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine moved to the Revised Julian (“New”) Calendar. Fixed festivals will now align with Gregorian Calendar dates. In a statement, the OCU Synod stated that the Julian (“Old”) Calendar had become associated predominately with the Russian tradition. In addition, they point out that the Julian system has no special sacred significance and was originally adopted due to its use as the Roman civil calendar. While political motivations underlie this decision, religious calendars have long been influenced by political considerations and have frequently conformed to the civil one. In this piece, I will survey some of this history from ancient Israel and Judah through the Byzantine period while avoiding rehashing debates of “Old” vs “New” calendars.
While the first command God gives to the people of Israel as a collective pertains to the establishment of a distinct calendar (Exod 12:2),…
