5 Why Is the New

Continued 👇🏾 5,Why is the New Year Called in the Name of Saint John? The holy Fathers decreed that the first day of Meskerem should be consecrated in memory of Saint John the Baptist. Why? Because John stands as the bridge between the Old and the New he is the voice crying in the wilderness, the herald of Christ, the one who says, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight” (Isa. 40:3; Mark 1:1-4). John’s ministry was the beginning of the Gospel. As the year begins, so the Gospel began with John, calling the world to repentance. Thus, the Ethiopian New Year bears his name, to remind us that with every cycle of time we are summoned to conversion, to the baptism of tears, and to the renewal of life in Christ. 6. Why is the Ethiopian Calendar Different? The calendars of the nations are many, for each people set their measure of time according to their own history. The Romans began their reckoning from the year their city of Rome was founded. The Greeks counted from the time of Alexander the Great. The Syrians, borrowing from the Romans, counted their year by the course of the sun, dividing it, and first setting their New Year by that measure. Later, in 460 A.D., they moved their New Year to "Meskerem" 1 to honor the martyrs. The Egyptians, too, held their beginning in Meskerem. In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar established what is called the Julian Calendar. He divided the year into 365 days and 6 hours, giving some months 30 days, others 31, and 28 days, 29 days with a leap day added every four years. This became the foundation of the European system. Later, the Roman monk Dionysius Exiguus calculated the years from what he believed to be the birth of Christ, turning the calendar into one marked “Before Christ” and “After Christ.” This historical event became the source of the Western calendar. But the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewaḥedo Church did not follow the Romans, nor the Greeks, nor the Syrians. Instead, she held fast to the divine measure of the Fathers. Our Church teaches that from Adam to Christ there were 5,500 years, and upon this foundation she adds the years since the Incarnation. This makes our calendar distinct, and it appears seven years “behind” the West, not because of error, but because of fidelity. As Chief Kidane Weld Kifle bears witness: “When Ethiopia counts the Old Testament as 5,500 years, the era of Christ becomes unique and does not match the calendars of other nations. For this reason, we are always seven years behind, both East and West, because we have abandoned the historians and taken the translators of the Gospel as our starting point.” Therefore, the Ethiopian calendar is not man-made history, but a theological witness. It proclaims that time itself is measured not by earthly empires, but by the mystery of salvation from Adam to Christ, and from Christ to the present day. Continues 👇🏾