46 BC — Caesar Rebuilds the Roman Year
Julian calendar, introduced 46-45 BC
The calendar the Church would use for over fifteen centuries began as a Roman civil administrative reform, on the advice of Alexandrian astronomy — not as a religious revelation.
What was replaced
The pre-Julian Roman calendar was lunisolar and required pontiffs to insert intercalary months. The insertions had become politically manipulated and irregular, and the calendar had fallen badly out of step with the seasons.
The reform
Caesar, advised by the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, fixed a 365-day year with a leap day every fourth year — a mean year of 365.25 days. The transitional year 46 BC was extended to some 445 days to reset the alignment, which is why it is remembered as the 'year of confusion'.
Adopted, not revealed
This point is load-bearing for the whole quest. The Christian Church inherited the Julian calendar because it was the calendar of the empire it lived in. No council ever declared the Julian arithmetic divinely given, and Orthodox defences of it do not usually claim that either.
Citations on this file
Sources
- U.S. Naval Observatory — calendar referenceJulian reform of 46-45 BC, leap rule and mean year length.https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/calendars ↗
Links are pointers for further reading. The claim is what is sourced, not the website.