Scheduling issues

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/1822386/scheduling-issues

The #GregorianCalendar was introduced in a papal bull #OnThisDay in 1582.

Despite numerous attempts by radicals to reform the calendar, commerce usually decides how we measure time.

🔓 This archive article is free for 7 days

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/how-change-calendar

Polycarp of Smyrna

Polycarp (69-155 AD) was a Christian bishop of Smyrna (modern-day Turkey). According to the Martyrdom of Polycarp, he passed away a martyr, bound & burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed to consume his body. Polycarp is regarded as a saint & Church Father in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, Lutheranism, & Anglicanism.

Irenaeus & Tertullian said that Polycarp had been a disciple of John the Apostle, one of Jesus’ disciples. This is Polycarp’s primary claim to fame. John the Apostle was the 1 who ordained Polycarp as Bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp is regarded as 1 of 3 chief Apostolic Fathers, along with Clement of Rome & Ignatius of Antioch.

In an period before the New Testament was fully formed into its modern version, Polycarp represented the “Living Voice.” If a dispute came around about what Jesus had meant, people went to Polycarp because he’d heard it from people who were actually there.

The only 1 authentic surviving work credited to Polycarp is the: Epistle/Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians. This Epistle/Letter is essentially a “mosaic” of early Christian writings. Polycarp quoted or alluded to almost 1/2 of the New Testament books (including Paul’s letters, 1 Peter, & the Gospels).

As early as the 2nd century, Polycarp was already fighting Docetism. This is the idea that Jesus only seems to have a body. He called, famously, anyone who denied the reality of Christ’s physical suffering “the 1st born of Satan.”

In particular, Irenaeus had heard the account of Polycarp’s discussion with John & with others who had actually seen Jesus. Irenaeus reports that Polycarp was converted to Christianity by the apostles, was consecrated a presbyter, & communicated with many who had seen Jesus.

Smyrna (modern-day Izmir, Turkey) was the center of “Emperor Worship.” In 26 AD, it won the right to build a Temple to the Emperor Tiberius. Smyrna also had a large, & influential, Jewish population. The tense relationship between the synagogue & the emerging Christian “sect,” which would play a role in Polycarp’s eventual arrest.

In his old age, Polycarp traveled to Rome (circa 154 AD) to meet with is fellow Syrian, the Bishop of Rome, Pope Anicetus. They come together to talk through a major secular & religious disagreement: Quartodecimanism.

Polycarp & the Eastern Churches celebrated Easter on the 14th of Nisan (the Jewish Passover), regardless of what day of the week it fell on. Rome, however, insisted it must ALWAYS be a Sunday. The Pope & Polycarp couldn’t find a compromise. This would become a problem in later centuries.

But Polycarp & the Pope stayed respectful, & friendly, towards each other. Pope Anicetus even let Polycarp celebrate the Eucharist in his own church in Rome as a sign of respect.

The Martyrdom of Polycarp is the 1st recorded account of a Christian martyrdom outside the New Testament. During a period of local unrest, the crowd in the Smyrnaean stadium began shouting for Polycarp. Initially, he didn’t flee but retreated to a small farm.

When he was eventually betrayed by a young servant under torture, he welcomed the guards, fed them a meal, & asked for an hour to pray. The Roman Proconsul, Quadratus, didn’t want to actually kill Polycarp. He pleaded with Polycarp to “have respect for our age” & to simply say, “Away with the atheists” (in this case, “the atheists” were the Christians).

Polycarp looked at the pagan crowd in the stadium, pointed at them (the pagans), & said “Away with the atheists!” Also in Martyrdom of Polycarp, Polycarp is reported to say on the day of his death: “Eighty & six years I have served Him, & He has done me no wrong.”

Polycarp was sentenced to death for not burning incense to the Roman Emperor. He was “burned” at the stake but the flames arched around him like a sail, refusing to touch him. Eventually, he was killed with a dagger/spear.

Relics of Polycarp are under the main altar of the church of Sant’Ambrogio della Massima. The right arm of St. Polycarp had been kept at the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos-Saint Polycarp, in Ampelakiotissa near Nafpaktos, Greece, for over 500 years.

It was stolen on March 14, 2013 & was never found. A fragment, however, taken from the arm on a previous occasion, was discovered & returned to the monastery on July 14, 2019.

In the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, & Greek Catholic Churches, the feast day of St. Polycarp is February 23. In the Coptic Orthodox Church, his feast day is on Amshir 29 (March 8 in the Gregorian Calendar). In the Church of England, he was honored with a Lesser Festival on February 23. In the Lutheran Church, his feast day is on February 23.

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#gregorianCalendar

Why, #GregorianCalendar?

Why are you such a mess?

I mean, look at your skew last quarter that's misaligned by TWO FULL MONTHS! September should be seven. You know that's true.

Not to speak of the weird idea of dividing the solar circle into twelve (kind of) even pieces instead of something easy to divide like eight or sixteen.

Why? To impress the moon? The moon doesn't care! It doesn't even care about a day's length, let alone your weirdly uneven months. The moon is a free spirit, you can't tie it down.

Make up your own mind and become the best calendar you can be!

A QUESTION OF TIME by Veronica Smith

Welcome to the Gregorian Calendar New Year, which is only one of many calendars, old and new, from around the world. For example, Jewish New Year took place several months ago, marking their year 5786. Chinese Lunar New Year will not happen for another month and a half.

What you have just celebrated is commercial New Year! This is the reset point for international businesses and governments, so that they can all operate in sync together.

Did you “buy-in” to the cunning media hype?  Parties and fireworks? Persuading you to spend more money? Then congratulations! Now you know how a successful advertising campaign works!

There will be those of you, who argue that celebrating New Year’s Eve on 31st December is a long-standing tradition. Yet, compared to several other calendars, such as the ancient Mayan or Roman Julian, the Gregorian calendar is relatively new.  It was introduced by Pope Gregory 13th in 1582, on the advice of mathematicians and astronomers, who said that the older Julian calendar was incorrect and miscalculated days throughout the year. Even so, the Gregorian itself is not entirely accurate.

You see, man-made calendars are dependant upon variable starting points, such as where you live on the globe and your ethnic beliefs. For example, while Christmas and New Year  replaced much older Winter Solstice celebrations in the northern hemisphere, in the southern hemisphere, they are celebrating their Summer Solstice at that time.

To further refine / complicate things, calendars can be either solar-based (Equinoxes and Solstices) or lunar-based (Full Moon and New Moon).

Both types of calendars incorporate historical events, which are important to the culture that has developed it. Humans, being creatures of habit, create elaborate rituals, called “traditions”, which they use as memory aids around each event. Passover and Easter are good examples. Generation after generation slavishly follow their traditions, long after such rituals have ceased to be relevant, or even appropriate (such as cutting down dwindling forests to supply the Christmas Tree trade)!

So, let us update the Gregorian Calendar into the 21st century! What you celebrate on 31st December each year is the ending of one taxable spending year and the start of the next taxable spending year. I, for one, am not going to celebrate that!

ENDS  Veronica Smith, first published on 1st January 2026