Hi Everyone,
I was talking with my spiritual father today about the calendar issue. To paraphrase him he stated it is mostly a political football where as the Church in Moscow and the Serbian Church won’t use the new calendar because a pope had it developed and accepted. Julius Caesar who was not an orthodox Christian created the Julian calendar that the Orthodox use yet some orthodox refuse to use a calendar created by the bishop of Rome. Seems to me strange and merely proves calendars are a neutral creation of man to keep track of important events. The Chinese have a calendar that they don’t even use but commemoration on this calendar denotes specific “feast days” of their religion. From what I understand the Gregorian calendar works where as the old calendar doesn’t work over time. Feast days begin to over lap. We have no problem using other techno advances yet we demand the use of an out dated flawed calendar. It seems we are schismatic just to remain the tower of babel. For some reason we must pick these petty squabbles to keep us humble lest we get to powerful in our “oneness”.
In the book The Life of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos it states in the Augustus Taxes all the Roman Empire:
Luke 2:1-5; And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
The Expression of Luke 2:5, “to register with himself Mary who was betrothed to him as wife” must be read in connection with Matthew’s expression that Joseph “took to him his wife” Matthew 1:24 , since jewish custom would not have other wise allowed Mary to travel with Joseph to Bethlehem.
There are reliable historical records that indicate that a cencus was thaken every fourteen years, and that one was taken about the time of 6-7 BC. ( Tenny and Barabas; Pictorial Encycolpidia of the Bible, vol 1, p 772). This census, to be taken throughout the Roman Empire, included Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Cyrenius, the governor, was the well known Roman Senator Publius Sulpicius Quirinius.
Before the era of Christ, years were generally reckoned from the foundation of the city of Rome or from the election of the Emperor (Anno Urbis Conditae, A.U.C. or Roman Era). With the establishment of Christianity, recording of time was reckoned from the birth of Christ (anno Domini, AD.) However, an error in the calculation of Dionysios the Younger who, in 526 A.D. introduced the present method of dating, made the birth of Christ coincide with the Roman year 754. However after further studies since have ascertained that Christ was actually born in 747 or 748 according to the Roman Era, that is six or seven years earlier than Dionysios has supposed. From this, results in the curious fact that the Christian calendar which we now use instead of dating from the actual Nativity of our Savior, actually commenced some six or seven years later. Hence, the birth of Jesus is reckoned to be 6 or 7 BC, concurrent with the time of the Roman Taxation. Furthermore, according to all historical accounts, Herod the Great, the slayer of the Children of Bethlehem, died in 4 BC. Christ could not have been born after 4 BC since they fleed Herod and His murderous horde.
I truly found this interesting considering if it is true then no bodies calendar is correct!
In Christ,
Orthodoxy
