When did the Gregorian and Julian calendars originate? Gregorian calendar: history and main characteristics

different ways calendar reckoning. A new style of counting time was introduced by the Council of People's Commissars - the government Soviet Russia January 24, 1918 "Decree on the introduction of the Western European calendar in the Russian Republic".

The decree was intended to promote “the establishment in Russia of the same time calculation with almost all cultural peoples”. Indeed, since 1582, when throughout Europe Julian calendar in accordance with the recommendations of astronomers was replaced by the Gregorian, the Russian calendar turned out to be different from the calendars of civilized states by 13 days.

The fact is that the new European calendar was born through the efforts of the Pope, but the Catholic Pope was not an authority or decree for the Russian Orthodox clergy, and they rejected the innovation. So they lived for more than 300 years: in Europe, the New year in Russia more December 19th.

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars (an abbreviation of the Council of People's Commissars) dated 01/24/1918 prescribed February 1, 1918 to be considered February 14 (in parentheses, we note that, according to long-term observations, Russian orthodox calendar, that is, "Old style", more consistent with the climate of the European part Russian Federation. For example, on March 1, when it is still deep February according to the old style, there is no smell of spring, and relative warming begins from mid-March or its first days according to the old style).

Not everyone liked the new style

However, not only Russia rested on the establishment of a Catholic count of days, in Greece the "New Style" was legalized in 1924, Turkey - 1926, Egypt - 1928. At the same time, something is not heard that the Greeks or Egyptians celebrated, as in Russia, two holidays: New Year and the Old New Year, that is, the New Year in the old style.

Interestingly, the introduction of the Gregorian calendar was also accepted without enthusiasm in those European countries where Protestantism was the leading religion. So in England they switched to a new account of time only in 1752, in Sweden - a year later, in 1753.

Julian calendar

It was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. Started January 1st. The year had 365 days. The number of the year divisible by 4 was recognized as a leap year. One day was added to it - February 29. The difference between the calendar of Julius Caesar and the calendar of Pope Gregory is that the former has a leap year every fourth year without exception, while the latter has leap years only those years that are divisible by four, but not multiples of a hundred. As a result, the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars is gradually increasing and, for example, in 2101 Orthodox Christmas will be celebrated not on January 7, but on January 8.

The Russian Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar in its liturgical life (the so-called old style), developed by a group of Alexandrian astronomers led by the famous scientist Sosigenes and introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. e.

After the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in Russia on January 24, 1918, the All-Russian Local Council decided that "during 1918 the Church will be guided by the old style in its everyday life."

On March 15, 1918, at a meeting of the Department on worship, preaching and the temple, the following decision was made: “In view of the importance of the issue of reforming the calendar and the impossibility, from the independent decision his Russian Church, without prior communication on this issue with representatives of all autocephalous Churches, to leave in the Russian Orthodox Church the Julian calendar in its entirety. In 1948, at the Moscow Conference of Orthodox Churches, it was established that Easter, like all movable church holidays, should be calculated according to the Alexandrian Paschalia (Julian calendar), and non-transitory ones - according to the calendar adopted in the local church. According to the Gregorian calendar, only Finland celebrates Easter. Orthodox Church.

Currently, the Julian calendar is used only by some local Orthodox churches: Jerusalem, Russian, Georgian and Serbian. It is also followed by some monasteries and parishes in Europe and the USA, the monasteries of Athos and a number of monophysist churches. However, all Orthodox churches that have adopted the Gregorian calendar, except for the Finnish one, still calculate the day of the celebration of Easter and holidays, the dates of which depend on the date of Easter, according to the Alexandrian Paschalia and the Julian calendar.

To calculate passing dates church holidays calculus is used according to the date of Easter, determined by the lunar calendar.

The accuracy of the Julian calendar is not high: every 128 years an extra day accumulates in it. Because of this, for example, the Nativity of Christ, which initially almost coincided with the winter solstice, is gradually shifting towards spring. For this reason, in 1582, in Catholic countries, the Julian calendar was replaced by a decree of Pope Gregory XIII with a more accurate one. Protestant countries abandoned the Julian calendar gradually.

The difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars is constantly increasing due to different rules for determining leap years: in the XIV century it was 8 days, in the XX and XXI centuries- 13, and in the XXII century the gap will be equal to 14 days already. In connection with the growing change in the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, Orthodox churches using the Julian calendar, starting from 2101, will celebrate Christmas not on January 7 according to the civil (Gregorian) calendar, as in the XX-XXI centuries, but already on January 8, but , for example, since 9001 - already March 1 (according to the new style), although in their liturgical calendar this day will still be marked as December 25 (according to the old style).

For the above reason, one should not confuse the conversion of real historical dates from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar style with the conversion to a new style dates of the Julian church calendar, in which all the days of celebrations are fixed as Julian (that is, without taking into account which Gregorian date a particular holiday or memorial day corresponded to). Therefore, to determine the date, for example, of the Nativity of the Virgin according to the new style in the 21st century, it is necessary to add 13 days to 8 (the Nativity of the Virgin is celebrated according to the Julian calendar on September 8), and in the 22nd century already 14 days. The translation to the new style of civil dates is carried out taking into account the century of a particular date. So, for example, the events of the Battle of Poltava took place on June 27, 1709, which, according to the new (Gregorian) style, corresponds to July 8 (the difference between the Julian and Gregorian styles in the 18th century was 11 days), and, for example, the date of the Battle of Borodino is August 26, 1812 year, and according to the new style it is September 7, since the difference between the Julian and Gregorian styles in the 19th century is already 12 days. Therefore, civil historical events will always be celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar at the time of the year in which they occurred according to the Julian calendar (the Battle of Poltava - in June, the Battle of Borodino - in August, the birthday of M. V. Lomonosov - in November, etc. ), and the dates of church holidays are shifting forward due to their rigid binding to the Julian calendar, which quite intensively (on a historical scale) accumulates calculus errors (in several millennia, Christmas will no longer be a winter, but a summer holiday).

For quick and convenient translation of dates between different calendars, it is advisable to use

- a number system for long periods of time, based on the periodicity of the visible movements of celestial bodies.

The most common solar calendar is based on the solar (tropical) year - the time interval between two successive passages of the center of the Sun through the vernal equinox.

A tropical year is approximately 365.2422 mean solar days.

The solar calendar includes the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar, and some others.

The modern calendar is called the Gregorian (new style) and was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and replaced the Julian calendar (old style) that had been in use since the 45th century BC.

The Gregorian calendar is a further refinement of the Julian calendar.

In the Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar, the average length of the year in the interval of four years was 365.25 days, which is 11 minutes 14 seconds longer than the tropical year. Over time, the onset of seasonal phenomena according to the Julian calendar accounted for more and more early dates. Particularly strong discontent was caused by the constant shift in the date of Easter, associated with the spring equinox. In 325, the Nicene Council issued a decree on a single date for Easter for the entire Christian church.

© Public Domain

© Public Domain

In the following centuries, many proposals were made to improve the calendar. The proposals of the Neapolitan astronomer and physician Aloysius Lilius (Luigi Lilio Giraldi) and the Bavarian Jesuit Christopher Clavius ​​were approved by Pope Gregory XIII. On February 24, 1582, he issued a bull (message) introducing two important additions to the Julian calendar: 10 days were removed from the 1582 calendar - after October 4, October 15 immediately followed. This measure made it possible to keep March 21 as the date of the vernal equinox. In addition, three out of every four century years were to be considered ordinary and only those divisible by 400 were leap years.

1582 was the first year of the Gregorian calendar, called the new style.

Gregorian calendar in different countries was introduced at different times. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, France, Holland and Luxembourg were the first to adopt the new style in 1582. Then in the 1580s it was introduced in Austria, Switzerland, Hungary. In the XVIII century, the Gregorian calendar began to be used in Germany, Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, Sweden and Finland, in the XIX century - in Japan. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Gregorian calendar was introduced in China, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Greece, Turkey and Egypt.

In Russia, along with the adoption of Christianity (X century), the Julian calendar was established. Since the new religion was borrowed from Byzantium, the years were counted according to the Constantinople era "from the creation of the world" (for 5508 BC). By decree of Peter I in 1700, the European chronology was introduced in Russia - "from the Nativity of Christ."

December 19, 7208 from the creation of the world, when the reformation decree was issued, in Europe corresponded to December 29, 1699 from the birth of Christ according to the Gregorian calendar.

At the same time, the Julian calendar was preserved in Russia. The Gregorian calendar was introduced after the October Revolution of 1917 - from February 14, 1918. The Russian Orthodox Church, preserving traditions, lives according to the Julian calendar.

The difference between the old and new styles is 11 days for the 18th century, 12 days for the 19th century, 13 days for the 20th and 21st centuries, 14 days for the 22nd century.

Although the Gregorian calendar is quite consistent with natural phenomena, it is also not completely accurate. The length of the year in the Gregorian calendar is 26 seconds longer than the tropical year and accumulates an error of 0.0003 days per year, which is three days in 10 thousand years. The Gregorian calendar also does not take into account the slowing of the Earth's rotation, which lengthens the day by 0.6 seconds per 100 years.

The modern structure of the Gregorian calendar also does not fully meet the needs of public life. Chief among its shortcomings is the variability of the number of days and weeks in months, quarters and half-years.

There are four main problems with the Gregorian calendar:

- Theoretically, the civil (calendar) year should have the same duration as the astronomical (tropical) year. However, this is impossible because the tropical year does not contain an integer number of days. Because of the need to add extra days to the year from time to time, there are two types of years - ordinary and leap years. Since a year can start on any day of the week, this gives seven types of common years and seven types of leap years, for a total of 14 types of years. For their full reproduction, you need to wait 28 years.

- The length of the months is different: they can contain from 28 to 31 days, and this unevenness leads to certain difficulties in economic calculations and statistics.|

Neither regular nor leap years contain an integer number of weeks. Half-years, quarters and months also do not contain a whole and equal number of weeks.

- From week to week, from month to month and from year to year, the correspondence of dates and days of the week changes, so it is difficult to establish the moments of various events.

In 1954 and 1956, the drafts of the new calendar were discussed at the sessions of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), but the final decision on the issue was postponed.

In Russia State Duma was proposing to return to the country from January 1, 2008 the Julian calendar. Deputies Victor Alksnis, Sergey Baburin, Irina Savelyeva and Alexander Fomenko proposed to establish a transitional period from December 31, 2007, when the chronology will be carried out simultaneously according to the Julian and Gregorian calendars for 13 days. In April 2008, the bill was voted down by a majority vote.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

We use the calendar all our lives. This seemingly simple table of numbers with the days of the week is very ancient and rich history. Civilizations known to us already then knew how to divide the year into months and days. For example, in ancient egypt, based on the laws of the movement of the moon and Sirius, a calendar was created. The year was approximately 365 days and was divided into twelve months, which, in turn, were divided into thirty days.

Innovator Julius Caesar

Around 46 BC. e. there was a transformation of the chronology. Roman emperor Julius Caesar created the Julian calendar. It was slightly different from the Egyptian one: the fact is that instead of the Moon and Sirius, the sun was taken as the basis. Now the year was 365 days and six hours. The beginning of the new time was considered the first of January, but Christmas began to be celebrated on January 7th.

In connection with this reform, the senate decided to thank the emperor by naming one month after him, which we know as "July". After the death of Julius Caesar, the priests began to confuse months, the number of days - in a word, the old calendar no longer looked like a new one. Every third year was considered a leap year. From 44 to 9 BC there were 12 leap years, which was not true.

After the emperor Octavian Augustus came to power, there were no leap years for sixteen years, so everything fell into place, and the situation with the chronology improved. In honor of Emperor Octavian, the eighth month was renamed from Sextilis to August.

When the question arose about the appointment of the celebration of Easter day, disagreements began. It was this question that was decided at the Ecumenical Council. The rules that were established at this Council, no one has the right to change to this day.

Innovator Gregory XIII

In 1582, Gregory XIII replaced the Julian calendar with the Gregorian one.. The shifting of the vernal equinox was the main reason for the change. It was according to him that the day of Easter was calculated. At the time when the Julian calendar was introduced, March 21 was considered this day, but around the 16th century the difference between the tropical and Julian calendar was about 10 days, therefore, March 21 was replaced by 11.

In 1853, in Constantinople, the Council of the Patriarchs criticized and condemned the Gregorian calendar, according to which the Catholic Bright Sunday was celebrated before Jewish Easter, which was contrary to the established rules of the Ecumenical Councils.

Differences between old and new style

So, how is the Julian calendar different from the Gregorian?

• Unlike the Gregorian, the Julian was adopted much earlier and is 1,000 years older.
• On the this moment the old style (Julian) is used to calculate the celebration of Easter among Orthodox Christians.
• The chronology created by Gregory is much more accurate than the previous one and will not be subject to change in the future.
• A leap year in the old style is every fourth year.
• In Gregorian, leap years are not those years that are divisible by four and end in two zeros.
• According to the new style, all church holidays are celebrated.

As we can see, between the Julian calendar and Gregorian difference obvious not only by calculations, but also by popularity.

Rises interest Ask. What calendar are we living on now?

The Russian Orthodox Church uses the Julian, which was adopted during the Ecumenical Council, while the Catholics use the Gregorian. Hence the difference in the dates of the celebration of the Nativity of Christ and Easter. Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7, following the decision of the Ecumenical Council, and Catholics on December 25.

These two chronologies have received names - the old and the new style of the calendar.

The area where the old style is used is not very large: the Serbian, Georgian, Jerusalem Orthodox Churches.

As we can see, after the introduction of the new style, the life of Christians around the world has changed. Many gladly accepted the changes and began to live according to it. But there are also those Christians who are faithful to the old style and live according to it even now, albeit in very small numbers.

There will always be disagreements between Orthodox and Catholics, and this is not connected with the old or new style of reckoning. Julian and Gregorian calendars - the difference is not in faith, but in the desire to use one or another calendar.

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Gregorian calendar- a time calculation system based on the cyclic circulation of the Earth around the Sun; the duration of the year is taken equal to 365.2425 days; contains 97 leap years for 400 years.

For the first time, the Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in Catholic countries on October 4, 1582 to replace the former Julian: the next day after Thursday, October 4, was Friday, October 15.

The Gregorian calendar is used in most countries of the world.

Structure of the Gregorian calendar

In the Gregorian calendar, the length of a year is 365.2425 days. The duration of a non-leap year is 365 days, a leap year is 366.

$365(,)2425\; =\; 365\; +\; 0(,)25\; -\; 0(,)01\; +\; 0(,)0025\; =\; 365\; +\; \backslash frac(1)(4)\; -\; \backslash frac(1)(100)\; +\; \backslash frac(1\; )(400).$ From here follows the distribution of leap years:

• a year whose number is a multiple of 400 is a leap year;
• the remaining years, the number of which is a multiple of 100, are non-leap years;
• the rest of the years, the number of which is a multiple of 4, are leap years.

Thus, 1600 and 2000 were leap years, but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years.

An error of one day compared to the year of the equinoxes in the Gregorian calendar will accumulate in about 10,000 years (in the Julian - in about 128 years). A frequently encountered estimate, leading to a value of the order of 3000 years, is obtained if we do not take into account that the number of days in a tropical year changes over time and, in addition, the ratio between the lengths of the seasons changes.

In the Gregorian calendar, there are leap and non-leap years; the year can begin on any of the seven days of the week. In total, this gives 2 × 7 = 14 calendar options for the year.

Months

According to the Gregorian calendar, the year is divided into 12 months, lasting from 28 to 31 days:

Rule for remembering the number of days in a month

There is a simple rule for remembering the number of days in a month - " knuckle rule».

If you put your fists together in front of you so that you can see back sides palms, then by the "knuckles" (finger joints) on the edge of the palm and the spaces between them, you can determine whether any month is "long" (31 days) or "short" (30 days, except February). To do this, you need to start counting the months from January, counting the knuckles and gaps. January will correspond to the first knuckle (long month - 31 days), February - the gap between the first and second knuckles ( short month), March - knuckle, etc. The next two long months in a row - July and August - fall just on adjacent knuckles different hands(the gap between the fists is not considered).

There is also a mnemonic rule "Ap-yun-sen-no". The syllables of this word indicate the names of the months, consisting of 30 days. It is known that February, depending on the specific year, contains 28 or 29 days. All other months contain 31 days. The convenience of this mnemonic rule is that there is no need to “count” the knuckles.

Also, to remember the number of days in months, there is an English-language school saying: Thirty days have september, april, june and november. Analog to German: Dreissig Tage hat September, April, June and November.

The difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars

At the time of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, the difference between it and the Julian calendar was 10 days. However, this difference is gradually increasing due to different quantity leap years - in the Gregorian calendar, the final year of the century, if it is not divisible by 400, is not a leap year (see Leap year) - and today is 13 days.

History

Prerequisites for the transition to the Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar gives a much more accurate approximation of the tropical year. The reason for the adoption of the new calendar was the gradual shift in relation to the Julian calendar of the day of the vernal equinox, according to which the date of Easter was determined, and the mismatch of the Easter full moons with astronomical ones. Before Gregory XIII, Popes Paul III and Pius IV tried to implement the project, but they did not achieve success. The preparation of the reform, at the direction of Gregory XIII, was carried out by the astronomers Christopher Clavius ​​and Aloysius Lily. The results of their labor were recorded in a papal bull, signed by the pontiff at Villa Mondragone and named after the first line. Inter gravissimas("Among the most important").

The transition to the Gregorian calendar resulted in the following changes:

Over time, the Julian and Gregorian calendars diverge more and more, by three days every 400 years.

Dates for countries to switch to the Gregorian calendar

States switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian at different times:

Transition history

In 1582, Spain, Italy, Portugal, the Commonwealth (Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland), France, Lorraine switched to the Gregorian calendar.

By the end of 1583 they were joined by Holland, Belgium, Brabant, Flanders, Liège, Augsburg, Trier, Bavaria, Salzburg, Regensburg, part of Austria and Tyrol. There were no curiosities. For example, in Belgium and Holland, January 1, 1583 came immediately after December 21, 1582, and the entire population was left that year without Christmas.

In some cases, the transition to the Gregorian calendar was accompanied by serious unrest. For example, when the Polish king Stefan Batory introduced a new calendar in Riga in 1584, local merchants rebelled, saying that a 10-day shift disrupted their delivery dates and led to significant losses. The rebels destroyed the Riga church and killed several municipal employees. It was only in the summer of 1589 that the "calendar disturbances" were dealt with.

In some countries that switched to the Gregorian calendar, the Julian chronology was subsequently resumed as a result of their accession to other states. In connection with the transition of countries to the Gregorian calendar at different times, factual errors of perception may occur: for example, it is sometimes said that Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died on the same day - April 23, 1616. In fact, Shakespeare died 10 days later than Inca Garcilaso, since in Catholic Spain the new style was in effect from the very introduction of his pope, and Great Britain switched to the new calendar only in 1752, and 11 days later than Cervantes (who died on 22 April, but was buried on April 23).

The introduction of the new calendar also had serious financial consequences for tax collectors. In 1753 - the first full year according to the Gregorian calendar, the bankers refused to pay taxes, waiting for the required 11 days after the usual due date - March 25th. As a result, the financial year in the UK did not start until 6 April. This date has been kept until today, as a symbol of great changes that occurred 250 years ago.

The change to the Gregorian calendar in Alaska was unusual, as it was combined there with a date line shift. Therefore, after Friday, October 5, 1867, according to the old style, another Friday, October 18, 1867, according to the new style, followed.

So far, Ethiopia and Thailand have not switched to the Gregorian calendar.

In the booth, which Pierre entered and in which he stayed for four weeks, there were twenty-three captured soldiers, three officers and two officials.
All of them then appeared to Pierre as if in a fog, but Platon Karataev remained forever in Pierre's soul the most powerful and dearest memory and personification of everything Russian, kind and round. When the next day, at dawn, Pierre saw his neighbor, the first impression of something round was completely confirmed: the whole figure of Plato in his French overcoat belted with a rope, in a cap and bast shoes, was round, his head was completely round, back, chest, shoulders, even the arms that he wore, as if always about to embrace something, were round; a pleasant smile and large brown gentle eyes were round.
Platon Karataev must have been over fifty years old, judging by his stories about the campaigns in which he participated as a longtime soldier. He himself did not know and could not in any way determine how old he was; but his teeth, bright white and strong, which all rolled out in their two semicircles when he laughed (as he often did), were all good and whole; not a single gray hair was in his beard and hair, and his whole body had the appearance of flexibility and especially hardness and endurance.
His face, despite the small round wrinkles, had an expression of innocence and youth; his voice was pleasant and melodious. But main feature his speech was immediacy and argumentative. He apparently never thought about what he said and what he would say; and from this there was a special irresistible persuasiveness in the speed and fidelity of his intonations.
His physical strength and agility were such during the first time of captivity that he did not seem to understand what fatigue and illness were. Every day in the morning and in the evening, lying down, he said: “Lord, put it down with a pebble, raise it up with a ball”; in the morning, getting up, always shrugging his shoulders in the same way, he would say: "Lie down - curled up, get up - shake yourself." And indeed, as soon as he lay down to immediately fall asleep like a stone, and as soon as he shook himself, in order to immediately, without a second of delay, take up some business, the children, having risen, take up toys. He knew how to do everything, not very well, but not badly either. He baked, steamed, sewed, planed, made boots. He was always busy and only at night allowed himself to talk, which he loved, and songs. He sang songs, not like songwriters sing, knowing that they are being listened to, but he sang like birds sing, obviously because it was just as necessary for him to make these sounds, as it is necessary to stretch or disperse; and these sounds were always subtle, tender, almost feminine, mournful, and his face was very serious at the same time.
Having been taken prisoner and overgrown with a beard, he, apparently, threw away everything that was put on him, alien, soldierly, and involuntarily returned to the former, peasant, people's warehouse.
“A soldier on leave is a shirt made of trousers,” he used to say. He reluctantly spoke about his time as a soldier, although he did not complain, and often repeated that he had never been beaten during his entire service. When he told, he mainly told from his old and, apparently, dear memories of the "Christian", as he pronounced, peasant life. The proverbs that filled his speech were not those, for the most part, indecent and glib sayings that the soldiers say, but these were those folk sayings that seem so insignificant, taken separately, and which suddenly acquire the meaning of deep wisdom when they are said by the way.
Often he said the exact opposite of what he had said before, but both were true. He loved to talk and spoke well, embellishing his speech with endearing and proverbs, which, it seemed to Pierre, he himself invented; but the main charm of his stories was that in his speech the simplest events, sometimes the very ones that, without noticing them, Pierre saw, took on the character of solemn decorum. He liked to listen to the tales that one soldier told in the evenings (all the same), but most of all he liked to listen to stories about real life. He smiled joyfully as he listened to such stories, inserting words and asking questions that tended to make clear to himself the beauty of what was being told to him. Attachments, friendship, love, as Pierre understood them, Karataev did not have any; but he loved and lived lovingly with everything that life brought him, and especially with a person - not with some famous person, but with those people who were before his eyes. He loved his mutt, loved his comrades, the French, loved Pierre, who was his neighbor; but Pierre felt that Karataev, in spite of all his affectionate tenderness for him (which he involuntarily paid tribute to Pierre's spiritual life), would not have been upset for a minute by parting from him. And Pierre began to experience the same feeling for Karataev.
Platon Karataev was for all the other prisoners the most ordinary soldier; his name was falcon or Platosha, they good-naturedly mocked him, sent him for parcels. But for Pierre, as he presented himself on the first night, an incomprehensible, round and eternal personification of the spirit of simplicity and truth, he remained so forever.
Platon Karataev knew nothing by heart, except for his prayer. When he spoke his speeches, he, starting them, seemed not to know how he would end them.
When Pierre, sometimes struck by the meaning of his speech, asked to repeat what was said, Plato could not remember what he had said a minute ago, just as he could not in any way tell Pierre his favorite song with words. There it was: “dear, birch and I feel sick,” but the words did not make any sense. He did not understand and could not understand the meaning of words taken separately from the speech. Every word of his and every action was a manifestation of an activity unknown to him, which was his life. But his life, as he himself looked at it, had no meaning as a separate life. It only made sense as a part of the whole, which he constantly felt. His words and actions poured out of him as evenly, as necessary and immediately, as a scent separates from a flower. He could not understand either the price or the meaning of a single action or word.

Having received news from Nikolai that her brother was with the Rostovs in Yaroslavl, Princess Mary, despite her aunt's dissuades, immediately prepared to go, and not only alone, but with her nephew. Whether it was difficult, easy, possible or impossible, she did not ask and did not want to know: her duty was not only to be near, perhaps, her dying brother, but also to do everything possible to bring him a son, and she got up. drive. If Prince Andrei himself did not notify her, then Princess Mary explained that either by the fact that he was too weak to write, or by the fact that he considered this long journey too difficult and dangerous for her and his son.
In a few days, Princess Mary got ready for the journey. Her crews consisted of a huge princely carriage, in which she arrived in Voronezh, chaises and wagons. M lle Bourienne, Nikolushka with her tutor, an old nanny, three girls, Tikhon, a young footman and a haiduk, whom her aunt had let go with her, rode with her.
It was impossible to even think of going to Moscow in the usual way, and therefore the roundabout way that Princess Mary had to take: to Lipetsk, Ryazan, Vladimir, Shuya, was very long, due to the lack of post horses everywhere, it is very difficult and near Ryazan, where, as they said, the French showed up, even dangerous.
During this difficult journey, m lle Bourienne, Dessalles and the servants of Princess Mary were surprised by her fortitude and activity. She went to bed later than everyone else, got up earlier than everyone else, and no difficulties could stop her. Thanks to her activity and energy, which aroused her companions, by the end of the second week they were approaching Yaroslavl.
IN Lately of her stay in Voronezh, Princess Marya experienced best happiness In my life. Her love for Rostov no longer tormented her, did not excite her. This love filled her whole soul, became an indivisible part of herself, and she no longer fought against it. Of late, Princess Marya became convinced—although she never said this clearly to herself in words—she was convinced that she was loved and loved. She was convinced of this during her last meeting with Nikolai, when he came to her to announce that her brother was with the Rostovs. Nikolai did not hint in a single word that now (in the event of the recovery of Prince Andrei) the former relations between him and Natasha could be resumed, but Princess Marya saw from his face that he knew and thought this. And, despite the fact that his relationship to her - cautious, tender and loving - not only did not change, but he seemed to be glad that now the relationship between him and Princess Marya allowed him to more freely express his friendship to her love, as she sometimes thought Princess Mary. Princess Marya knew that she loved for the first and last time in her life, and felt that she was loved, and was happy, calm in this respect.
But this happiness of one side of her soul not only did not prevent her from feeling grief for her brother with all her might, but, on the contrary, it peace of mind in one respect gave her a great opportunity to give herself completely to her feelings for her brother. This feeling was so strong in the first minute of leaving Voronezh that those who saw her off were sure, looking at her exhausted, desperate face, that she would certainly fall ill on the way; but it was precisely the difficulties and worries of the journey, which Princess Marya undertook with such activity, saved her for a while from her grief and gave her strength.
As always happens during a trip, Princess Marya thought about only one trip, forgetting what was his goal. But, approaching Yaroslavl, when something that could lie ahead of her again opened up, and not many days later, but this evening, Princess Mary's excitement reached its extreme limits.
When a haiduk sent ahead to find out in Yaroslavl where the Rostovs were and in what position Prince Andrei was, he met a large carriage driving in at the outpost, he was horrified to see the terribly pale face of the princess, which stuck out to him from the window.
- I found out everything, Your Excellency: the Rostov people are standing on the square, in the house of the merchant Bronnikov. Not far, above the Volga itself, - said the haiduk.
Princess Mary looked frightened and inquiringly at his face, not understanding what he was saying to her, not understanding why he did not answer main question: what brother? M lle Bourienne made this question for Princess Mary.
- What is the prince? she asked.
“Their excellencies are in the same house with them.
“So he is alive,” thought the princess, and quietly asked: what is he?
“People said they were all in the same position.
What did “everything in the same position” mean, the princess did not ask, and only briefly, glancing imperceptibly at the seven-year-old Nikolushka, who was sitting in front of her and rejoicing at the city, lowered her head and did not raise it until the heavy carriage, rattling, shaking and swaying, did not stop somewhere. The folding footboards rattled.
The doors opened. On the left was water - a big river, on the right was a porch; there were people on the porch, servants, and some sort of ruddy-faced girl with a big black plait, who smiled unpleasantly feignedly, as it seemed to Princess Marya (it was Sonya). The princess ran up the stairs, the smiling girl said: “Here, here!” - and the princess found herself in the front old woman with an oriental type of face, who with a touched expression quickly walked towards her. It was the Countess. She embraced Princess Mary and began to kiss her.
- Mon enfant! she said, je vous aime et vous connais depuis longtemps. [My child! I love you and have known you for a long time.]
Despite all her excitement, Princess Marya realized that it was the countess and that she had to say something. She, not knowing how herself, uttered some courteous French words, in the same tone as those that were spoken to her, and asked: what is he?
“The doctor says there is no danger,” said the countess, but while she was saying this, she raised her eyes with a sigh, and in this gesture there was an expression that contradicted her words.
- Where is he? Can you see him, can you? the princess asked.
- Now, princess, now, my friend. Is this his son? she said, turning to Nikolushka, who was entering with Desalle. We can all fit, the house is big. Oh what a lovely boy!
The countess led the princess into the drawing room. Sonya was talking to m lle Bourienne. The countess caressed the boy. The old count entered the room, greeting the princess. The old count has changed tremendously since the princess last saw him. Then he was a lively, cheerful, self-confident old man, now he seemed a miserable, lost person. He, speaking with the princess, constantly looked around, as if asking everyone whether he was doing what was necessary. After the ruin of Moscow and his estate, knocked out of his usual rut, he apparently lost consciousness of his significance and felt that he no longer had a place in life.
Despite the excitement in which she was, despite one desire to see her brother as soon as possible and annoyance because at that moment, when she only wants to see him, she is occupied and pretended to praise her nephew, the princess noticed everything that was going on around her, and felt the need for a time to submit to this new order into which she was entering. She knew that all this was necessary, and it was difficult for her, but she did not get annoyed with them.
“This is my niece,” said the count, introducing Sonya, “do you not know her, princess?”
The princess turned to her and, trying to extinguish the hostile feeling for this girl that had risen in her soul, kissed her. But it became difficult for her because the mood of everyone around her was so far from what was in her soul.
- Where is he? she asked again, addressing everyone.
“He’s downstairs, Natasha is with him,” answered Sonya, blushing. - Let's go find out. I think you are tired, princess?
The princess had tears of annoyance in her eyes. She turned away and wanted to ask the countess again where to go to him, when light, swift, as if cheerful steps were heard at the door. The princess looked round and saw Natasha almost running in, the same Natasha whom she did not like so much on that old meeting in Moscow.
But before the princess had time to look at the face of this Natasha, she realized that this was her sincere comrade in grief, and therefore her friend. She rushed to meet her and, embracing her, wept on her shoulder.
As soon as Natasha, who was sitting at the head of Prince Andrei, found out about the arrival of Princess Marya, she quietly left his room with those quick, as it seemed to Princess Marya, as if with cheerful steps, and ran to her.
On her excited face, when she ran into the room, there was only one expression - an expression of love, boundless love for him, for her, for everything that was close to a loved one, an expression of pity, suffering for others and a passionate desire to give herself all for in order to help them. It was evident that at that moment not a single thought about herself, about her relationship to him, was in Natasha's soul.
The sensitive Princess Marya, at the first glance at Natasha's face, understood all this and wept on her shoulder with sorrowful pleasure.
“Come on, let’s go to him, Marie,” Natasha said, taking her to another room.
Princess Mary raised her face, wiped her eyes, and turned to Natasha. She felt that she would understand and learn everything from her.
“What…” she began to question, but suddenly stopped. She felt that words could neither ask nor answer. Natasha's face and eyes should have said everything more clearly and deeply.
Natasha looked at her, but seemed to be in fear and doubt - to say or not to say everything that she knew; she seemed to feel that before those radiant eyes, penetrating into the very depths of her heart, it was impossible not to tell the whole, the whole truth as she saw it. Natasha's lip suddenly trembled, ugly wrinkles formed around her mouth, and she, sobbing, covered her face with her hands.
Princess Mary understood everything.
But she still hoped and asked in words in which she did not believe:
But how is his wound? In general, what position is he in?
“You, you ... will see,” Natasha could only say.
They sat for some time downstairs near his room in order to stop crying and come in to him with calm faces.
- How was the illness? Has he gotten worse? When did it happen? asked Princess Mary.
Natasha said that at first there was a danger from a feverish state and from suffering, but in the Trinity this passed, and the doctor was afraid of one thing - Antonov's fire. But that danger was over. When we arrived in Yaroslavl, the wound began to fester (Natasha knew everything about suppuration, etc.), and the doctor said that suppuration could go right. There was a fever. The doctor said that this fever was not so dangerous.
“But two days ago,” Natasha began, “it suddenly happened ...” She restrained her sobs. “I don't know why, but you'll see what he's become.
- Weakened? lost weight? .. - the princess asked.
No, not that, but worse. You will see. Ah, Marie, Marie, he's too good, he can't, can't live... because...

When Natasha, with a habitual movement, opened his door, letting the princess pass in front of her, Princess Marya already felt ready sobs in her throat. No matter how much she prepared herself, or tried to calm down, she knew that she would not be able to see him without tears.
Princess Mary understood what Natasha meant in words: it happened to him two days ago. She understood that this meant that he suddenly softened, and that softening, tenderness, these were signs of death. As she approached the door, she already saw in her imagination that face of Andryusha, which she had known since childhood, tender, meek, tender, which he had so rarely seen and therefore always had such a strong effect on her. She knew that he would tell her quiet, tender words like those that her father had told her before he died, and that she could not bear it and burst into tears over him. But, sooner or later, it had to be, and she entered the room. Sobs came closer and closer to her throat, while with her short-sighted eyes she more and more clearly distinguished his form and searched for his features, and now she saw his face and met his gaze.
He was lying on the sofa, padded with pillows, in a squirrel-fur robe. He was thin and pale. One thin, transparently white hand held a handkerchief, with the other, with quiet movements of his fingers, he touched his thin overgrown mustache. His eyes were on those who entered.
Seeing his face and meeting his gaze, Princess Mary suddenly slowed down the speed of her step and felt that her tears had suddenly dried up and her sobs had stopped. Catching the expression on his face and eyes, she suddenly became shy and felt guilty.
“Yes, what am I guilty of?” she asked herself. “In the fact that you live and think about the living, and I! ..” answered his cold, stern look.
There was almost hostility in the deep, not out of himself, but looking into himself look, when he slowly looked around at his sister and Natasha.
He kissed his sister hand in hand, as was their habit.
Hello Marie, how did you get there? he said in a voice as even and alien as his eyes were. If he had squealed with a desperate cry, then this cry would have horrified Princess Marya less than the sound of this voice.
“And did you bring Nikolushka?” he said, also evenly and slowly, and with an obvious effort of recollection.
- How is your health now? - said Princess Marya, herself surprised at what she said.
“That, my friend, you need to ask the doctor,” he said, and, apparently making another effort to be affectionate, he said with one mouth (it was clear that he did not think at all what he was saying): “Merci, chere amie , d "etre venue. [Thank you, dear friend, for coming.]
Princess Mary shook his hand. He winced slightly as he shook her hand. He was silent and she didn't know what to say. She understood what had happened to him in two days. In his words, in his tone, and especially in that look—a cold, almost hostile look—one could sense an estrangement from everything worldly that is terrible for a living person. He apparently had difficulty understanding now all living things; but at the same time it was felt that he did not understand the living, not because he was deprived of the power of understanding, but because he understood something else, something that the living did not understand and could not understand and that absorbed him all.
- Yes, that's how strange fate brought us together! he said, breaking the silence and pointing to Natasha. - She keeps following me.
Princess Mary listened and did not understand what he was saying. He, sensitive, gentle Prince Andrei, how could he say this in front of the one he loved and who loved him! If he had thought to live, he would not have said it in such a coldly insulting tone. If he did not know that he was going to die, how could he not feel sorry for her, how could he say this in front of her! There could only be one explanation for this, that it was all the same to him, and all the same because something else, something more important, had been revealed to him.
The conversation was cold, incoherent, and interrupted incessantly.
“Marie passed through Ryazan,” said Natasha. Prince Andrei did not notice that she called his sister Marie. And Natasha, calling her that in his presence, noticed this for the first time.
- Well, what? - he said.
- She was told that Moscow was all burned down, completely, as if ...
Natasha stopped: it was impossible to speak. He obviously made an effort to listen, and yet he couldn't.
“Yes, it burned down, they say,” he said. “It’s very pitiful,” and he began to look ahead, absentmindedly smoothing his mustache with his fingers.