New Year is the beginning of the indict. The beginning of the church new year. Folk traditions and superstitions

The history of the origin of the New Years holiday in the Christian world.
The liturgical church year begins on September 1 according to the old style, according to the new - on September 14. On this day, in the church service, the Church recalls that beginning of the sermon of the Lord Jesus Christ, when in the temple in Nazareth He read the prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 61; 1-2) about the coming of a favorable summer (Luke 4; 16-22). In this instruction of the Lord, the Byzantines saw His injunction to celebrate the New Year's day, and the Holy Tradition links this very event with the day of September 1. The Menology of Basil II, created by him in the 10th century, says: "From that time on, He gave us Christians this holy holiday." In a way, it was God's providence, which manifested itself much later than Christ's preaching in His historically embodied testimony - it was on this day, September 1, that Constantine the Great defeated the emperor Maxitsian, which opened the way for the free development of Christianity in all territories of the Roman Empire, which included then to Byzantium. And today, at the liturgical service in the Orthodox Church on September 1, this Gospel text about the beginning of the Savior's sermon is read.

Of course, it would seem logical to assume that the date of September 1/14 is set in accordance with the result of the agricultural year - the harvest is harvested, it's time for thanksgiving to God, and in order to follow the ancient tradition, the New Year's Day was also timed to this date. This is partly true, but in general the New Year is an ancient spiritual Christian tradition.

After the victory over the pagan Roman on September 1, 312, Constantine the Great declared freedom of religion and worship for Christians, and many pagan temples were given over to Christian churches. In memory of this victory, at the I Ecumenical Council of 325, the celebration of the Church New Year was established, otherwise - indict.

The concept of indict was introduced much later, in the 6th century, during the reign of Emperor Justinian I, who introduced in the Christian Church the calendar reckoning according to indications, or indictions (from the Latin indictio - announcement, indication). Every 15 years on September 1, tribute was collected across the Roman Empire.

The amount of taxes to be collected in a given year, the revaluation of estates were announced. From these fees, which, incidentally, began under Constantine the Great, the military pension was deducted - the service life was then 15 years. (Estimate the difference with the current urgent service in the absence of war.) So the Byzantines, unlike us, measured milestones not ten, as we do now, but fifteen years.

However, earlier in Byzantium and Rome, the March chronology was also known, dating back to the eastern, oldest chronology, reflected in the reckoning of Egypt, Assyria, associated with the myths of Osiris, Gilgamesh, etc., with the arrival of the astronomical spring, so that New Year 1 September is the late Byzantine calculation of the day of this event.

The Byzantines introduced another temporary concept of the Great Indication - 19 fifteen years, that is, 532 years. This seemingly inconvenient, non-circular date has an astronomical rationale: the eastern sages were excellent astronomers and knew that every 532 years the beginning of the orbital circles of the Sun and the Moon coincided. Such a position of the Earth took shape on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ came out to preach with the words of the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; for He has anointed me to preach the gospel ... to preach the favorable year of the Lord ”(Luke 4:18, 19).

This was the first Lord's testimony of the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament about the coming of the Messiah, and that with this the time of the New Testament began. In the East, where astronomy occupied one of the foremost places among the sciences, the Magi determined the place of His Nativity by the star that rose at the moment of Christ's birth.

“The Lord did not announce only a pleasant summer, but also brought it. Where is it? In the souls of believers. The earth will never be transformed into paradise as long as the real order of things exists; but it is and will be a field of preparation for the life of heaven. Its beginnings rest in the soul; the possibility of this is in the grace of God; our Lord Jesus Christ brought grace - therefore, he brought a pleasant summer for souls. He who listens to the Lord and fulfills everything commanded by Him receives grace and by its power he enjoys in himself a pleasant summer, ”St. Theophan the Recluse wrote about the New Year.

New Years in Russia.
Despite the fact that Russia adopted Christianity at the end of the 10th century, the process of Christianization of Russia took a long time and ended around the end of the 15th century. Then a civil celebration New year march 1 and the New Years diverged - we find evidence of this in all the ancient chroniclers, including the Monk Elder Nestor.

Since 1492, New Year and New Years on September 1 were combined by a state decision. In Moscow, a platform was being built on the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin. From him, the Metropolitan and the Grand Duke announced the change of the year, the priests sanctified the water and the Metropolitan sprinkled congratulations on the ruler and the people. This is how this celebration took place. Many important state events were timed to coincide with New Years and New Years: for example, the wedding to the throne of Boris Godunov in 1598. On New Years, the heir to the throne was represented from the platform when he reached the age of 14 - the age of majority in the old days came earlier than now.

From the beginning of the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, the father of the reformer Tsar Peter, in the 17th century, New Years Day was dedicated to charity: the beggars were fed, provided with warm clothes, shoes before the cold Russian winter, fed to their fill, and given alms. The common people received gifts, the prisoners in the dungeons also did not remain forgotten - they were visited and also left them alms and food better than the usual prison.

But this did not last long. Peter I indicated in 1699, looking at Western traditions, to postpone the Civil New Year to January 1, although the spiritual festival remained on September 1.
Since that time, the New Year has lost its old ancient solemnity, the rite of flying - seeing off the annual church circle is now limited to a short prayer service.

The New Year, along with the civil New Year, was celebrated on September 1, before Peter the Great came to the throne, who in 1699 indicated to postpone New Year's Day to January 1, including a decree to decorate homes with New Year trees, again in imitation of Western tradition. But in the liturgical books, the arrival of the new spiritual summer remains after September 1. Although this celebration has lost its former solemnity, according to the Typikon - a set of instructions for conducting festive services - this day is considered a small Lord's holiday: "The beginning of the indict, that is, the new summer." It is connected with the festive service in memory of the Monk Simeon the Stylite, by coincidence of both dates. In the annual circle of Orthodox holidays, the first after the New Year comes the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos - September 8/21. It is also symbolic. With Her, a new time begins in the history of mankind, for time will pass, and through the Unmarried Bride the Savior of all will come to him.

And on December 31, on New Year's Eve, at about 6 pm, short prayers are held in many churches in honor of the beginning of the civil New Year, or rather, "New Winter".

About the Church New Year, the famous Russian philosopher and theologian Archpriest Sergiy Bulgakov said: “In the New Year, the revelation of eternity is intensifying ... Turning times and dates tell us about our birth and death, about entering the world and coming out of it, about the facets of life, limited to time.

When you observe how time passes, you experience a feeling of lightness, freedom from time, taking off over it.

We live in time, but we wear the image of eternity, such is the inconsistency of our created being, but this is also a sign of freedom from it, a sign of freedom of the children of God ”1.
(1. Bulgakov Sergiy, archpriest. Word to the New Year. Words, teachings, conversations. Paris, 1987. S. 129.)

Troparion indictu (church New Years), voice 4:
Thank Thy creature unworthy of the Rabbi, Thy, Lord, for Thy great blessings that were upon us, glorify Thee, praise, bless, thank, sing and magnify Thy benevolence, and slavishly love with the cry of Ty: Our Savior, our Savior, glory to Thee.

Glory: Voice 3:
Your blessings and gifts to the tuna, as a servant of indecency, become worthy, Master, to You assiduously flowing, we bring thanksgiving in strength, and as a Benefactor and Creator to You, glorifying, crying: glory to Thee, O Most Blessed God.

And now: voice 2:
All creatures to the Builder, put the times and years in Your power, bless the crown of summer
thy goodness, Lord, preserving in the world people and Thy city with the prayers of the Mother of God and save us.

http://www.logoslovo.ru/forum/all_1/topic_12774/

In church tradition, the new year is called New Years and it is celebrated in the fall due to the interesting history of the holiday. Start your Church year right by learning more about this day.

Church calendar: New Years holiday

The New Year not only marks the end of a long time period for a person, but symbolically turns out to be the end of the old and the beginning of a new cycle. The church calendar also has a holiday called New Years. It is celebrated annually on September 14 (September 1, old style). On this day, believers fulfill one of the Bible's commandments: to celebrate every seventh month of the year in a special way. Given that the beginning of the year according to the Bible was considered March, the seventh month turned out to be September. On this day, a believer needs to be present at the service, but remember that there are rules of conduct in the temple and signs about what should not be done in the church in any case.

Holiday history New Years

The holiday itself is directly related to Ancient Rome and the collection of tribute. Initially, the so-called indict was established, which as a result began to mark the 15-year interval through which tribute was collected. The day of collection was appointed September 1. Subsequently, the same day was celebrated as the beginning of the new year: feasts and festivities were held in all cities.

This day was adopted by the Byzantine Church as a holiday of the 7th month of the year and officially became the beginning of the new year in the Church. After the adoption of Christianity, this tradition remained to live in the Russian Orthodox Church, even after Emperor Peter I changed the civil calendar and announced the beginning of the new year on January 1.

Church traditions in the New Year

Of course, like any church holiday, this day is celebrated with services. By its importance, this day is referred to as the average church holidays. On the eve of the Great Vespers is served, which is recommended by the clergy. Traditionally, the lines from the book of the prophet Isaiah are read, which, according to legend, were read by Jesus Christ when he entered the synagogue in Nazareth.

Also, September 14 is considered the day of remembrance of the holy martyr Simeon the Stylite. He was famous for preaching and praying while climbing a tower or pillar. According to legend, Simeon the Stylite from his youthful years tortured his body in all possible ways and was even tempted by the devil. September 1 is considered the day of his death, so prayers are always offered to him in church. If you cannot go to church services on this day, then read prayers at home. One of the most important prayers on New Years Day is the "Living Help" prayer.

Folk customs and signs on September 14

As usual, the people have adapted the Christian holiday so that they can understand it. It is customary to call him Simeon Letoprovets, and, as the name implies, on this day the peasants performed rituals, as if meeting autumn. In some places, ritual production of "living fire" was performed by rubbing a stick on a stick, and in some places the rituals were associated with a stove. All actions were accompanied by cheerful songs and dances of young people.

In some places, the fly was traditionally buried so that it would not be bitten next year. They could do the same with cockroaches so that they were not in the house. Moving to a new home on that day was considered happy. At the same time, a day before the new owners began to live there, they let a cat or a rooster. It was believed that they would send out all the evil spirits. From that day the Indian summer was counted, and new wedding weeks began for the youth.

There is a sign that as the year begins, it will be so. You can use it and attract good luck to yourself for a long time with the help of advice from the famous psychic Elena Yasevich. Do not forget to visit the church on this day. All the best and don't forget to press the buttons and

13.09.2016 05:05

On Orthodox Epiphany Eve, Christians traditionally observe fasting and do not eat until the first star, they exalt ...

All creatures to the Builder, putting time and years in His power,
bless the summer crown of Thy goodness, O Lord, keeping in peace
people and your city with the prayers of the Mother of God and save us.
Troparion Indikta (Church New Years)

Again and again the Holy Church calls us to enter into a year-long circle of sacred memories, where Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition are preserved in all depth and fullness.

A new liturgical circle of the main, twelve-year church holidays begins with the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is celebrated on the seventh day after the Church New Years, September 21. The church service year begins. It was the Most Holy Theotokos that was the Door through which God entered our life. The feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, on August 28, ended the year-long circle of services.

The New Year is the most inconspicuous Orthodox holiday, which is called the beginning of the indict in the church calendar. Unfortunately, we do not know very well when our Orthodox church year begins and why is it so named?

Some may wonder - why in the Orthodox Church the New Year begins on September 1, at the beginning of autumn? Indeed, at first glance, it would be more logical to consider the first day of spring, and not autumn, as the beginning of the new year. But this is only at first glance, from which the root causes of the existence of this world elude.

And the logic here is the same as that which underlies the calculation of the beginning of the church service day, not in the morning, as is customary in secular, civil calculation, but from the evening of the previous day. Therefore, in Orthodox churches, church holidays begin not with the morning divine service, but with the All-night Vigil, which takes place the night before.

Holy Scripture, which tells about the creation of the world, testifies to us: “The earth was formless and empty, and darkness over the deep: And God said: Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called light - day, and darkness - night. And there was evening and there was morning: one day ”(Gen. 1: 2-5). Therefore, even from the earliest Old Testament times, the servants of God determined the evening, not the morning, as the beginning of the service day. That is why the church new year begins precisely with the evening of the cycle of the seasons, and not in the morning: that is, with the onset of autumn, not spring. In this definition of the beginning of both the earthly day and the year, there is a deep thought about the creation of this world and its primary nonexistence.

It should be said that the Jewish civil new year from the most ancient Old Testament times also begins in September, or rather, in the month of Athanim, or, as it was called after the Babylonian captivity, Tishri, which, due to the shift in the Jewish lunar calendar, comes in the middle of our September. This month of Tishri is the seventh from the month of the creation of the world, which is called the month of Aviv or Nisan.

New Year's holidays for Jews were holidays not only for people, but for all nature; they brought peace with them not only to man and cattle, but also to the plow and sickle, the scythe and the knife that cleansed the vine.

The month of September is the most important and along the course of nature, the most sacred in the structure of the Old Testament Church. On the first day of the seventh month, when the new summer was celebrated in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ read in the synagogue of Nazareth the prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 61: 1 - 2) about the coming of a favorable summer. In the reading of the Lord (Luke 4: 16-22), the Byzantines saw His indication to celebrate the day of the new year. Tradition connects this event itself with the day of September 1. The Menology of Basil II (10th century) says: "From that time on, He gave us Christians this holy holiday" (PG. 117, Col. 21). And to this day in the Orthodox Church on September 1 (according to the old style) it is precisely this Gospel conception of the Savior's preaching that is read during the Liturgy.

The very name of the month of September comes from the Latin word "septem", which means "seven", thus the month of September is called the seventh. The word "indict" is also of Latin origin and means - "announcement". In this case, the announcement of the beginning of a new liturgical year.

The feast of the Church New Year itself was established by the holy fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 325, in memory of the official end of the three-century persecution of the Christian Church by Equal-to-the-Apostles King Constantine the Great in 313. This decision of the first Roman Christian emperor followed after his miraculous victory over the tyrant of Rome - Maxentius, whose troops and malice significantly exceeded the forces of Constantine's troops. This happened on September 1, 312. Therefore, the holy fathers of the First Ecumenical Council established to celebrate the New Year as the beginning of Christian freedom, while not forgetting the biblical Old Testament tradition. Since that time, the circle of the year in the Roman Empire began in September. This chronology was dominant in almost all of Europe until the middle of the 15th century. Together with the Christian faith, the Greek Church passed on its chronology to the Russian one, which still preserves this chronology.

From the time of the baptism of Rus and in our Fatherland, the new year was celebrated on September 1 until the reign of Peter I, who in 1700 moved the beginning of the civil year to January 1. The Church is not in a hurry for the changeable spirit of this world, but, in accordance with the biblical tradition, continues to consider the beginning of the Indict, that is, the Church New Years - the first day of the seventh month from the creation of the world, that is, September 1 according to the old style.

The fundamental principles of the Orthodox Church are the inviolability of sacred things and dogmas. The history of the Church knows what powerful heretical movements arose when an attempt was made to improve any dogma accepted by her conciliar reason. Equally inviolable is the shrine of the Great Indication, consecrated by the Church - the Julian calendar. Therefore, the calendar reform of Pope Gregory XIII, adopted in 1582 with the best of intentions (to achieve greater astronomical accuracy and avoid a gradual shift of the Easter holiday from spring to summer), led to a distortion of the sequence of events unthinkable for the Orthodox consciousness. Easter, calculated according to the Gregorian calendar, often coincides with the Jewish Passover, and sometimes ahead of it.

The calendar is a rhythm that connects each person with God and the historical memory of all mankind.

With the beginning of each new liturgical year, the Church again bears witness to the world about the Coming of Christ, His holy Incarnation from the Virgin Mary into our human nature, His Heavenly teaching about sacrificial love to which we are called; His Divine sacrifice at Calvary for human sin, His glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and then the sending down from the Father who sanctifies and regenerates us to eternal life in God, the Holy and Divine Spirit.

Happy new church year, dear brothers and sisters!

Archpriest Nikolay Matviychuk

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On September 14, a new church year begins. What is the history of New Years Day in Russia? Pavel Florensky once remarked: "The Russian faith was formed from the interaction of three forces: the Greek faith brought to us by the monks and priests of Byzantium, Slavic paganism, which met this new faith, and the Russian folk character, which in its own way adopted Byzantine Orthodoxy." This idea is illustrated by the Russian tradition of celebrating the New Year.

January 1, 45 BC The Roman Empire, at the behest of Julius Caesar, switched from the lunar calendar to the solar one. And in 312, the Byzantine Christian emperor Constantine the Great decided to celebrate the beginning of the new year from September 1. In the 6th century, this tradition entered the life of the Church.

From Byzantium, the tradition of celebrating the Church New Year passed to Russia, although even after the adoption of Christianity among the people for a long time there was no single date for the New Year. It is believed that most often the days close to the spring equinox were recognized as New Years. Some ethnographers and folklorists explain, among other things, the tradition of Maslenitsa by the attempt of the Church to fight pagan dates: supposedly, this is an echo of a pagan holiday, the essence of which was rethought and moved in time on the eve of fasting. One of the longest held in the minds of the dates (along with September 1) is the 20th of March.

As a result, in Russia, since the adoption of Christianity, a certain compromise of calendar traditions has been established. From the end of the 15th century, it began to cause more and more inconvenience. However, at that time, many firmly believed that in 7000 “from the creation of the world” (in 1492 from the birth of Christ) the Day of Judgment would come, and even the dates of Easter were determined only until 1492. Accordingly, the issue of the date of the New Year was related without much attention.

But the "fatal" date has passed, and the Day of Judgment has not come. And in September 1492, the Moscow Church Council approved Easter for the following years, and at the same time, following the Byzantine tradition, finally determined the date of the New Year - September 1 (September 14 in a new style). This date looked reasonable also for reasons of government: in August-September they were harvesting, and it was easier for the treasury to immediately receive annual payments from subjects.

However, the former traditions did not like the reformer and creator of the empire, Peter the Great. He, referring to the practice of many nations, but clearly focusing on Europe, canceled the previous custom of keeping chronology from the Creation of the world, commanding to count the dates from the Nativity of Christ. And at the same time he ordered to celebrate the New Year 7 days after the Christmas holiday. For the first time, the New Year was celebrated in a new way from 1699 to 1700 A.D.

In 1918, Russia switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar adopted in Europe, in December 1918 it turned out to be 13 days less. But in the midst of the Civil War, few people noticed. It turned out to be much more painful later that on New Year's date there were now the most severe days of the Nativity fast, and on January 1 of the new style in the Church they commemorate the holy martyr Boniface, to whom they pray for deliverance from the ailment of drunkenness. Well, the actual holiday of the Nativity of Christ shifted to January 7 in a new style. The issue of the discrepancy between secular and church traditions has not yet been resolved. But one rule remained baseless: the Church still celebrates its own New Year on September 1 (September 14, according to the present).

Drawings by Ekaterina Gavrilova

September 14 new style or September 1 old style - the first day of the new church year - new year. The last holiday in the church year is, and the first is.

The Church New Year is the beginning of the indiction (the ordinal number of the year within a regularly repeating fifteen-year time interval, called the indiction, from one indication to another). Indication cycles are not numbered, but are used to relate to another dating system.

Indication history

Initially "indication" meant the obligatory delivery of food supplies to the government. The date and place of origin of the indicative cycle are unknown, but already under the Emperor Diocletian (284-305) in the Roman Empire, every 15 years, a revaluation of property was carried out to establish the amount of tax to be collected. The need for the population to know the onset of the tax year led to the calculation of years by indicators. First, the indict began from September 23 - the date of birth of Octavian Augustus (the first Roman emperor), but in 462, for convenience, the beginning of the year was postponed to September 1. Since 537, the dating of years according to indications has become mandatory, and has become widespread in church and civil office work.

In Byzantium, the church year did not always begin on September 1 - both in the Latin East and in the West at one time there was a March chronology (then March 1 or March 25 was taken as the beginning of the year (the date of the Annunciation). Celebration of the New Year on September 1 is a late Byzantine phenomenon.

In the Russian Orthodox calendar, on September 1/14, there is "The beginning of the indict - the church new year", which is celebrated in the churches with a thanksgiving prayer service. This "September style" New Year was a state New Year in Russia until 1700.

In Russia, the fifteen-year period itself and each new year of the fifteen-year interval were called indict. After 532 years, the circles of the Moon and the Sun begin again together and the natural situation of the day of the Savior's feat is repeated, when the full moon occurs on Friday. A time interval of 532 years is called indiction.

New Years as a church-state holiday in Russia began to be celebrated in 1492. The meaning of the service on that day was the remembrance of the sermon of Jesus Christ in the Nazareth synagogue, when He said that He had come “to preach the favorable year of the Lord ... to heal the brokenhearted”.

In the 17th century in Russia, New Years Day was dedicated to deeds of mercy. The beggars were given alms, clothes and shoes, they were fed tasty and hearty holiday dishes. They gave gifts and goodies to the common people, visited prisoners in dungeons.

With the publication by Peter I of the decree on the postponement of the beginning of the new year to January 1, the flying order was stopped. It was last performed on September 1, 1699. On January 1, 1700, the rite of the flight was not performed, and the church celebration was limited to a prayer service after the liturgy.

Since that time, the celebration of the New Year of the Church on September 1 has not happened with the former solemnity, although even now this day is considered a small Lord's holiday.

Orthodox New Year: a history of origin

According to biblical reckoning, the New Year begins on March 1. Tsar Peter I introduced the date for the coming of the new year on January 1, and the church new year is calculated from September 1/14. This came to us from Byzantium along with the adoption of the baptism of Rus in 988.

On this day, the Church recalls how Jesus read Isaiah's prophecy about the coming in the synagogue in the city of Nazareth auspicious summer... In this reading of the Savior, the Byzantines saw an indication of celebrating the day of the new year. According to legend, this event is associated with the day of September 1. It is believed that from this time on, the Lord granted Christians this holy holiday.

According to the Typikon Church-Liturgical Book, the rite of flight attendance has the following order: after Matins, the bishop with a procession accompanied by the singing of the “big” Trisagion goes to the city square. After the procession reaches the square, the deacon proclaims the litany and three antiphons are sung. Then the bishop utters an exclamation, blesses the people three times and sits down on the seat. Then follow the prokeimenon and the Apostle; according to the Apostle, the bishop, having blessed the people three times, begins to read the Gospels. Further, lithium petitions are pronounced, at the end of which and the bowing prayer, the singers sing the troparion 2 tones and the procession returns to the temple for the Divine Liturgy.

Orthodox New Year: Traditions and Rites

On this day, not only the Church New Year is celebrated, but also the memory of Simeon the Stylite and the 40 martyrs who suffered along with their teachers under the emperor Licinia in the city of Adrianople are honored.

Saint Simeon was popularly called. From that day on, summer ended and autumn came. In some places sowing of winter crops was completed, in others they were just beginning. The peasants cultivated flax and hemp. In the southern regions, farmers went on melons and removed watermelons and melons from the ridges. In some areas, potatoes were actively dripping.

From this period, autumn-winter gatherings began - work in huts under fire. There was a custom of getting a new fire. The ceremony symbolized the onset of a new round of life and the transition to a new state of people and nature. On the eve of Semyonov's day, the fire was extinguished in the huts. In the morning, a new "living fire" was lit, obtained by friction.

Housewarming was often organized on this day. From Semyon to the wedding weeks, the time of matchmaking was opening. The girls who had reached the age of brides were closely watched. Women (relatives of single guys) looked into the huts, where gatherings were held, watched how future brides work, whether they are neatly dressed, how they communicate with each other.

In Ancient Russia, Semenov's day had legal significance. It was intended for the contribution of taxes to the state and for appearing in court for judicial evidence and in litigation. From that day, all the conditions and agreements concluded by the villagers between themselves and with traffickers usually began and ended.

On New Years, the growing boys were solemnly "cut" and "put them on a horse." This ceremony marked the end of infancy.

Video: Church New Years