Editing Old Calendarists (section)

== History ==

=== Background ===
Until 1924, the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] universally used the [[Julian calendar]], whereas the [[Roman Catholic Church]], under [[Pope Gregory XIII]], conducted a [[calendar reform]] resulting in the [[Gregorian calendar]] in 1582. The [[Gregorian calendar#Difference between Gregorian and Julian calendar dates|difference between the two calendars]] is 13 days between 1900 and 2100.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Anderson|first=L. V.|date=2013-01-07|title=Merry (Russian Orthodox) Christmas!|language=en-US|work=Slate|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2013/01/russian_christmas_date_why_do_eastern_orthodox_christians_celebrate_christmas.html|access-date=2018-02-18|issn=1091-2339}}</ref>

==== 1923 Congress ====
{{See also|New Calendarists}}
In May 1923, the [[Pan-Orthodox Council of Constantinople]], called by Patriarch [[Meletius IV of Constantinople]], adopted the [[Revised Julian calendar]]. This new calendar was different to the Julian calendar, and would not diverge from the [[Gregorian calendar]] for a further 800 years. The Revised Julian calendar replaced the tabular date of [[Easter]] of the Julian calendar with an [[astronomical]] date 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 the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] and some other Eastern Orthodox churches have continued to use the Julian calendar liturgically to this day.

=== Birth ===

==== Greece ====
[[File:Cross_of_Athens_(1925).jpg|thumb|Apparition of the Holy Cross over the Greek Old Calendarist [[Monastery]] of St. John the Theologian in [[Hymettus]], in 1925.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Speake|first=Graham|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ockEAAAQBAJ&dq=Holy+Cross+Monastery+of+St.+John+the+Theologian+old+calendarist&pg=PA1170|title=Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition|date=2021-01-31|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-94206-9|page=1170|language=en|chapter=Old Calendarists}}</ref> [[Artist's rendition]] in a newspaper at the time.]]
In 1924, the [[Church of Greece]] adopted the [[Revised 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.<ref name=":12" />''<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Ware|first=Kallistos|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-71s8jEHWJsC|title=Minorities in Greece: Aspects of a Plural Society|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|year=2002|isbn=978-1-85065-705-7|editor-last=Clogg|editor-first=Richard|pages=1–2, 10–12|chapter=Old Calendarists}}</ref>''

Before they were joined by bishops, the Old Calendarist movement in Greece was only composed of priests and laypeople, of which "several hundreds monks from [[Monastic community of Mount Athos|Athos]]"<!--This part is present twice in the article: it is on purpose, see the source.-->.<ref name=":12" />

In 1935, three bishops of the Church of Greece joined the movement and consecrated four new bishops for the movement.''<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":12"/>'' Of those three bishops, [[Metropolitan bishop|Metropolitan]] {{Interlanguage link|Chrysostomos (Kavourides)|ru|Хризостом (Кавуридис)}} of [[Florina]] became 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 Calendarist [[Holy Synod]].<ref name=":122">{{Cite book|url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/9781405166584|title=The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity|date=2017-09-01|publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd|isbn=978-1-4051-6658-4|editor-last=Parry|editor-first=Ken|location=Oxford, UK|pages=353–6|language=en|chapter=Old Calendarists|doi=10.1002/9781405166584|orig-date=1999|editor-last2=Melling|editor-first2=David J.|editor-last3=Brady|editor-first3=Dimitri|editor-last4=Griffith|editor-first4=Sidney H.|editor-last5=Healey|editor-first5=John F.}}</ref>

While the Greek Old Calendarists were "[o]riginally perhaps a million strong", they were severely [[Religious persecution|persecuted]] by the [[Greece|State of Greece]]; Metropolitan Chrysostomos was imprisoned in [[Lesbos]] in 1951 as part of those persecutions.<ref name=":122" />
===== Splits =====
[[File:Timeline of the main Old Calendarists and True Orthodox Greek Eastern Orthodox Churches (2021).svg|thumb|Timeline of the main Greek Old Calendarist churches until 2021.]]
The Greek Old Calendarists experienced schism in 1937, due to a disagreement on the validity of the [[sacraments]] performed by members of churches which have adopted the [[Revised Julian calendar|reformed calendar]].<ref name=":12" /> After Chrysostomos, head of the Holy Synod, refused to declare the sacraments of the [[New Calendarists]] as [[Grace in Christianity|graceless]], bishop Matthew led the group which seceded from the Holy Synod.<ref name=":122" />

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.<ref name=":122" />

After Chrysostomos' death in 1955, his group had no bishop until 1960, when two bishops of the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia]] (ROCOR) consecrated {{Interlanguage link|Akakios (Pappas senior)|lt=Akakios|ru|Акакий (Паппас-старший)}} archbishop. Akakios consecrated other bishops with the participation of another different ROCOR bishop. Akakios was succeeded by {{Interlanguage link|Auxentios (Pastras)|lt=Auxentios|ru|Авксентий (Пастрас)}}. 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 [[Orthodox Church of Greece (Holy Synod in Resistance)|'Cyprianite' Greek Old Calendarist Church]], whose adjective derives from its leader, bishop [[Kyprianos Koutsoumpas|Cyprian of Oropos and Phyli]].<ref name=":122" />

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.<ref name=":12" />

==== Romania ====
Also in 1924, the [[Romanian Orthodox Church]] adopted the revised calendar; at this moment the Old Calendarist movement began in [[Romania]].<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":122" /> The [[abbot]] of Prokof, {{Interlanguage link|Glycerius Tănase|ro|Glicherie Tănase}}, became the head of the Old Calendarist movement in Romania. [[Hierarchs]] in Greece, supporting the Old Calendarists, did not manage to consecrate Tanase a bishop due to interventions of the Greek State.<ref name=":122" />

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.<ref name=":122" />

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 the [[Second World War]]."<ref name=":122" />

In 1955, one bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan {{Interlanguage link|Galaction Cordun|ro|Galaction Cordun}}, joined the Old Calendarist movement in Romania.<ref name=":122" /> 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 from [[Monastic community of Mount Athos|Athos]]"<!--This part is present twice in the article: it is on purpose, see the source.-->.<ref name=":12" />

Metropolitan Galaction, while under [[house arrest]], consecrated other Old Calendarist bishops:<ref name=":122" /> {{Interlanguage link|Eulogius Oța|ro|Evloghie Oța}}, {{Interlanguage link|Methodius Marinache|ro|Meftodie Marinache}}, and Glycerius Tănase.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=20 June 1999|title=Mitropolitul Glicherie Tanase va fi canonizat saptamina viitoare|url=http://www.evz.ro/detalii/stiri/mitropolitul-glicherie-tanase-va-fi-canonizat-saptamina-viitoare-568675.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130705212612/http://www.evz.ro/detalii/stiri/mitropolitul-glicherie-tanase-va-fi-canonizat-saptamina-viitoare-568675.html|archive-date=2013-07-05|access-date=2021-12-13|website=[[Evenimentul Zilei]]}}</ref> Later, [[Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania|a Holy Synod of the Romanian Old Calendarists]] was "formally established".<ref name=":122" />

Since the [[Nicolae Ceaușescu|Ceaușescu]] period, the Romania Old Calendarist Church "has flourished, establishing a vigorous [[Parish|parochial]] and monastic life."<ref name=":122" /> Since the [[Romanian Revolution|fall of Ceaușescu]], the Romanian Old Calendarist movement "has grown notably."<ref name=":2" />

The Romanian Old Calendarist movement remained united, unlike the Greek Old Calendarist movement.<ref name=":2" />

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.<ref name=":1" /> Tanase was [[canonized]] by the Romania Old Calendarist Church in 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|date=29 June 1999|title=Alte stiri|url=https://www.ziaruldeiasi.ro/national-extern/alte-stiri~nitj9|access-date=2021-12-13|website=Ziarul de Iași}}</ref>

==== Bulgaria ====
{{See also|Old Calendar Bulgarian Orthodox Church}}
The [[Bulgarian Orthodox Church]] adopted the revised Julian calendar in 1968. The Protection Convent near [[Sofia]] became a center of the resistance to this adoption. In 1993, {{ill|Photius Siromakhov|bg|Фотий Триадицки}} of Triadista was consecrated bishop by the [[Orthodox Church of Greece (Holy Synod in Resistance)|Cyprianite Old Calendarist Church]] to be [[hierarch]] of the Bulgarian Old Calendarists.<ref name=":122" />

==== Ukraine ====
{{hatnote|Further information: {{ill|Reform of the church calendar in Ukraine|uk|Реформа церковного календаря в Україні|display=1}}}}
The autocephalous [[Orthodox Church of Ukraine]] adopted the Revised Julian calendar in 2023.<ref>{{cite news |title=OCU switches to a new calendar|url=https://www.istpravda.com.ua/short/2023/05/24/162722/|work=[[Istorychna Pravda]]|date=24 May 2023|access-date=24 May 2023|language=Ukrainian}}</ref> The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church commonly referred to by the exonym [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate]] did not switch to the Revised Julian calendar.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ukraine's Orthodox Church, Greek Catholic Church start dialogue on church calendar reform|url=https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/880696.html|work=[[Interfax-Ukraine]]|date=26 December 2022|access-date=24 May 2023|language=English}}</ref>