Christian era

The Christian era is the era that the Scythian monk Dionysius Exiguus was introduced as an aid in preparing his Easter table and he, incidentally, at that time without success, or shortly after the year 525 presented by official representatives of Pope John I . the Christian era in many countries, especially in the western world, the common era.

The Christian era, also Anno Domini called -jaartelling was by Dionysius Exiguus meant starting with the incarnation of Jesus . He had his table being based on the indicties of Diocletian, but wrote to the bishop Petronius, "We did not want our cycles to connect with the memory of a wicked and persecutor (ie Diocletian), but we have been chosen as the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ (ab incarnatione Domini nostri Jesu Christi) mark the year periods, since here the beginning of our notion of our hope would turn, and the reason for the restoration of humanity, this is, the suffering of our Savior, clear would come to light. " [1]According to modern historians, however, Jesus was several years before the year 1 born. The Christian era does not therefore exactly how many years have passed since the time that Jesus was born (the difference is about four years).

Another era, which in reality did not exist in Roman antiquity, the Anno Urbis Conditae era . This era was only about the year 400 (AD). For the first time systematically used by the Iberian historian Orosius . Although Dionysius Exiguus knew this era probably (but not used), hit Pope Boniface IV (about AD 600) to have been the first that the link between this era and the Christian Era (AD 1 AUC = 754) identified. The actual opening of the Christian era as a complete system for dating historical events, only to pass in the eighth century because of the famous English chronologist (= practitioner of chronology ) and historian Bede the Venerable . [2] It was not until the tenth century before the Christian era was first used for dating a papal document (ie AD 967), and only in the second half of the eleventh century, the Church of Rome to the Christian era final use.

A distinction should be made ​​between the two complementary concepts era and calendar . During all this time the Christian era is already in use (ie the eighth century to the present day) is the corresponding (Roman) calendar, since the Council of Nicaea (in 325) the official calendar of the church, changed only once, in the year 1582. The Roman calendar has since the founding of Rome in the eighth century BC. in many successive forms exist to this day. The final form of the Roman calendar was the Julian calendar (-46 to 1582), the last of the Gregorian calendar (from the year 1582). The Christian calendar, ie the calendar belonging to the Christian era, was thus from 325 to 1582 identical to the Julian calendar, then the Gregorian.

We can not speak of the Roman era, or it could be the Anno Urbis Conditae era should be. When it was put to use, however, there was more than a millennium of history of Rome over. On the other hand we speak of the Christian era is justified by the fact that it was intended by Dionysius Exiguus to have begun with Jesus' incarnation. That Jesus actually already half decade before the year 1 was born does not alter this conclusion.