Mahtra matters

This Sunday, June 14th, marks the 79th anniversary of the beginning of the first massive deportation of innocents by the Soviets from the Baltic States. The second took place in March of 1949. Thousands upon thousands of innocents were cruelly ripped from the bosom of families and homes. Toronto area Balts have long marked this awful date with an ecumenical service of mourning and remembering. Not this year. Not allowed by the authorities.

Let us think on the past. For Orthodox Russians, still following the Julian, or old calendar (replaced throughput most of the world by the Gregorian) the 14th of June is the present-day anniversary of the Mahtra uprising of 1858. To clarify the calendar question – the Gregorian one follows the sun’s movement, established to correct the marking of seasons. That happened in Europe in the 16th century. Pope Gregory XIIII called for the marking of days to be moved back to reflect this. The practice was not adopted in Tsarist Russia and Estonia until 1918. As a common rule 12 days separate the two, explaining why old believers celebrated Christmas a dozen days after Western Christians.

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