Mädler Proposal and New Julian Calendar

The coexistence of the Gregorian and Julian calendars proved to be very disadvantageous in many aspects. In Germany different states used different calendars for more than a hundred years. Treaties between European states had to be double-dated because of the use of the Gregorian calendar in one country and of the Julian calendar in the other. Orthodox churches refused to simply introduct the Gregorian calendar for religious reasons. Hence the Julian calendar remained in use until the beginning 20th century.

A Reform Proposal by J. H. Mädler

The German astronomer Johann Heinrich Mädler proposed a calendar in 1864 which was supposed to replace the Julian calendar as well as the Gregorian calendar. The proposal suggested a 128-year cycle containing 31 leap years which was to have been achieved by omitting a leap year every 128 years, otherwise every fourth year being a leap year. The mean length of a year would have been 365 + ³¹/₁₂₈ = 365,24219. Compared with the Gregorian calendar, this would have far better approximated the true length of the tropical year.

To introduce this calendar the difference between the Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar, then 12 days, would have to have been made up for by omitting a respective number of days. Mädler let start a 128-year cycle with the year 1901, thus keeping aligned his proposed calendar with the Gregorian calendar from (theoretically) 1 March 1801 until 28 February 2028. The year 2028 will be the last year of the current 128-year cycle and, according to Mädler's proposal, not a leap year.

The proposal was put forward by a calendar reform commission of the Russian Astronomical Society in 1899 but was never realized.

The New Julian Calendar

After World War I the Julian calendar was in use officially in Romania, Yugoslavia, and Greece. Considerable parts of Romania's and Yugoslavia's population are Catholic, and so the pressure towards aligning the calendar of Orthodox churches increased.

Eventually a council of eastern Orthodox churches in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1923 decided to introduce the New Julian calendar. This calendar was proposed by the Yugoslavian astronomer Milutin Milanković.

The date was aligned with the Gregorian calendar, the difference between the Julian and the Gregorian calendar having amounted to thirteen days. Furthermore, a new leap year rule was employed. Every year divisible by four was to be a leap year with the exception of secular years which are only leap years if they leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. That was the case for the year 2000 and will be so for the years 2400 and 2900. In this calendar 900 years have 328718 days, with a calendar year having a mean length of 328718/900 = 365,24222... d = 365 d 5 h 48 min 48 s.

Thus, with the new leap year rule, 2800 will not be a leap year in the New Julian calendar, while the Gregorian year 2800 will be. The proposal leaves enough time for establishing a calendar common for all Christian churches.

Unfortunately, the New Julian calendar was not adopted by all Orthodox churches. The Russian Orthodox church follows the Julian calendar for its feast days and holidays until today.

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