Old Calendarists

Until 1924, the Eastern Orthodox Church universally used the Julian calendar, whereas the Roman Catholic Church, under Pope Gregory XIII, conducted a calendar reform and adopted the mediaeval Gregorian calendar in 1582. The difference between the two calendars is 13 days between 1900 and 2100.[11]

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.

Apparition of the Holy Cross over the Greek Old Calendarist Monastery of St. John the Theologian in Hymettus, in 1925.[12] 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.[9][13]

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 Athos".[9]

In 1935, three bishops of the Church of Greece joined the movement and consecrated four new bishops for the movement.[13][9] Of those three bishops, Metropolitan Chrysostomos (Kavourides) 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.[14]

While the Greek Old Calendarists were "[o]riginally perhaps a million strong", they were severely persecuted by the State of Greece; Metropolitan Chrysostomos was imprisoned in Lesbos in 1951 as part of those persecutions.[14]

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 reformed calendar.[9] After Chrysostomos, head of the Holy Synod, refused to declare the sacraments of the New Calendarists as graceless, bishop Matthew led the group which seceded from the Holy Synod.[14]

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.[14]

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 Akakios archbishop. Akakios consecrated other bishops with the participation of another different ROCOR bishop. Akakios was succeeded by Auxentios. 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 'Cyprianite' Greek Old Calendarist Church, whose adjective derives from its leader, bishop Cyprian of Oropos and Phyli.[14]

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.[9]

Also in 1924, the Romanian Orthodox Church adopted the revised calendar; at this moment the Old Calendarist movement began in Romania.[9][14] The abbot of Prokof, Glicherie Tanase, became the head of the Old Calendarist movement in Romania. Hierarchs in Greece supporting the Old Calendarist cause of Tanase did not manage to consecrate him bishop due to interventions of the Greek State.[14]

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.[14]

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 Tanase was repeatedly imprisoned." Those persecutions went on "until the collapse of the [Romanian] regime at the end of the Second World War."[14]

In 1955, one bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Galaction Cordun, joined the Old Calendarist movement in Romania.[14] 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 Athos".[9]

Metropolitan Galaction, while under house arrest, consecrated other Old Calendarist bishops:[14] Evloghie, Metodie, and Glicherie Tanase.[15] Later, a Holy Synod of the Romanian Old Calendarists was "formally established".[14]

Since the Ceaușescu period, the Romania Old Calendarist Church "has flourished, establishing a vigorous parochial and monastic life."[14] Since the fall of Ceaușescu, the Romanian Old Calendarist movement "has grown notably."[3]

The Romanian Old Calendarist movement remained united, unlike the Greek Old Calendarist movement.[3]

Metropolitan Galaction was the first head of the Romanian Old Calendarist, until his death in 1959. Galaction was succeeded as head by Tanase, who became the second leader of the Romania Old Calendarist Church, from 1960 until his death in 1985.[15] Tanase was canonized by the Romania Old Calendarist Church in 1999.[16]

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, Photios of Triadista was consecrated bishop by the Cyprianite Old Calendarist Church to be hierarch of the Bulgarian Old Calendarists.[14]

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine adopted the Revised Julian calendar in 2023.[17] The Ukrainian Orthodox Church commonly referred to by the exonym Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate did not switch to the Revised Julian calendar.[18]