أنا لا أرى أنه عناد يا أبو السام...
ممكن تقول أنه ليس من أولويات الكنيسة لأن من يتأثر بهذا الفرق فى التقويم هم أقباط المهجر فقط وهم عدد صغير بالمقارنة لتعداد الأقباط الكلى وبالتالى أعتقد أن الكنيسة لن تغير التوقيت إلا إذا فقدت الجيل الثانى والثالث من أقباط المهجر وساعتها لن ينفع الندم ...
الموقع التالى يشرح فروق التقويم باللغة الإنجليزية ...
Why there is a difference in celebrating Christmas
Egypt used the Coptic Calendar till the Khedive of Egypt, Khedive Ismael adopted the Western Gregorian Calendar in the nineteenth century and applied it in Egypt's government departments.
Originally, the Coptic (Egyptian) Calendar was in use in Egypt for 7000 years. In the year 283 AD, Emperor Dioclatian started a severe persecution wave, killing the Christians. The number of martyrs in Egypt far exceeded the number of those who were killed in the whole Roman Empire. The Copts (Egyptians) restarted the Calendar in memorization of the martyrs and became known as the year of martyrs. The Church celebrated the New Year in September 1998 as 1715 AM.
Up till today, agriculture and farmers follow the Coptic calendar.
St. Gregory XIII established the Gregorian Calendar, finding that there was calculation error, of a fraction of a second in the solar calendar, per day and dropped 10 days from the calendar in 1582 AD to correct the miscalculation. Also one day to be dropped for every century.
This resulted in a gap between the Western Gregorian Calendar and the Coptic Calendar, which was not corrected for the error. Earlier and till the year1583, Christmas was celebrated on December 25th on the same day with the Coptic Orthodox Church, which coincided with the Coptic Calendar to Kiyahk 29th. However when the Gregorian calendar dropped the 10 days, December 25th and Kiyahk 29th- when the Copts celebrate Christmas became equivalent to January 4th . It failed to coincide. The gap is increasing by one day for every century. At this time the Coptic Church and some other Orthodox Churches celebrate Christmas on January 7th. The difference will increase gradually.
The difference is not caused by any theological or religious factors. It is from miscalculation and will continue to cause confusion. There are many churches that changed to the Gregorian calculation. Early this year news from Moscow mentioned that the Russian Orthodox Church is seriously considering a change.
Hopefully, the Coptic Orthodox Church would correct this mathematical error and join the rest of the world in celebrating the birth of the One Christ on December 25th.
SM