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Up to the early 20th century, the Eastern Orthodox Church used the Julian Calendar universally, not accepting the calendric reforms of the Roman Pope Gregory XIII. Traditionally Orthodox Christian countries, including Russia, Greece, and Romania did not use the Gregorian Calendar for civil and governmental affairs up through the first decade of the 20th century. The Gregorian calendar was imposed in Russia in 1918 by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars, but only on civil affairs. Greece did not adopt a civil Gregorian calendar until 1923. In 1924, the Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece voted to accept an altered form of the Gregorian calendar that maintained the traditional Julian calendar Paschalion for calculating the date of Pascha.
(It must be noted that the Russian Orthodox ChurchThe Russian Orthodox Church is that body of Christians who are united under the Patriarch of Moscow, who in turn is in communion with the other patriarchs of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In this way Russian Orthodox believers are in communion with all oth and other Orthodox jurisdictions have not adopted the revised Gregorian calendar and still use the Julian. Thus, the majority of Orthodox Christians worldwide do use the Julian calendar for religious observation while using the modern calendar for daily life.)
The calendar change was not without controversy, and dissent arose from among both clergy and laity. In 1935Events January January 1 Italian colonies of Tripoli and Kyrenaika are joined together as Libya January 7 World War II: Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French foreign minister Pierre Laval conclude agreement in which each power undertakes not to oppo, three Bishops from the Church of Greece returned their dioceses to the Julian calendar, consecrated four like-minded clergy to Episcopal dignity, proclaimed the "Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece and that the majority Orthodox Church of Greece had fallen into schism. By 1937Events January January 1 Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua January 11 The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States. January 19 Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours,, the number of Old Calendarist Bishops had been reduced to four, and the movement split within itself over the question of whether or not Orthodox jurisdictions that had adopted the modified Gregorian Calendar were still Orthodox.
After some initial success in attracting followers, the popularity of Old Calendarism waned in Greece, where the Church of Greece is the official state church; the Old Calendarists were relatively more successful in the United States, where religion is not regulated by the state. Until the early forties, old-calendarists comprised a majority of the Greeks in the U.S.; as new immigrants poured in from Greece after WWII, their percentage dwindled to a small minority.
The Old Calendarists went their own way without further recognition from the broader Orthodox communion until 1960Events January-February January 1 Independence of Cameroon January 9 Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt January 11 Chad declares its independence. January 14 Ralph Chubb, the gay poet and printer, dies at Fair Oak Cottage in Hampshire. January 23, when the Russian Orthodox Church Outside RussiaThe Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia Russian Orthodox Church Abroad ROCA or ROCOR is a jurisdiction of Eastern Orthodoxy formed in response against the policy of bolsheviks with respect to religion in the Soviet Union soon after the Russian Revoluti (ROCOR) consecrated new Bishops for one of the two major Old Calendrist factions. ROCOR recognized the other major faction in 1971. However, no official links exist between the Greek Old Calendarists and ROCOR at the present day.
In 1998, plagued by a decline in membership and financial difficulties, a group of Old Calendarist churches in the United States accepted the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Church in the U.S. (which uses the revised Julian Calendar, but reports to the Patriarch in the Fanar). In exchange, their priests were accepted as Orthodox priests, and their churches were allowed to maintain their use of the un-revised Julian calendar. It is expected that the churches in Greece will soon come to a similar arrangement.
In the present day, there are four major Old Calendarist divisions present in Greece, all of whom have parishes in many other countries.