[Now we're really getting far afield...] <<On 02 Dec 96 23:35:24 EST, Chris Carrier <72157.3334@CompuServe.COM> said:
I think the reason that the Russian Orthodox adhere to the Julian calendar, even today, is because Easter is getting steadily later under it. Easter is, after all, a spring festival, and late March in most of Russia is still snowy and very cold. By placing Easter in the date range April 4 - May 8 instead of March 22 - April 25 it's more springlike.
Note that this is true for the Russian Orthodox church in Russia; in other areas the policy differs (despite what you see on calendars). I can speak in particular for Finland, in which the minority Orthodox community ``went with the flow'' and adopted the calendar of the majority Lutherans in order to minimize friction resulting from having the major religious holidays falling on different civil dates. (At least, that's how it was explained to me when I was there.) In Finland, those religious holidays are generally also civil holidays. I'm actually curious as to what formula for Easter is used by the Orthodox churches which follow the Julian calendar; the Western formula (``first Sunday after the first full moon of the Vernal Equinox'') could never come up with the Orthodox dates. -GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | O Siem / We are all family / O Siem / We're all the same wollman@lcs.mit.edu | O Siem / The fires of freedom Opinions not those of| Dance in the burning flame MIT, LCS, ANA, or NSA| - Susan Aglukark and Chad Irschick