Back in the ancient time,

"2001: A Space Odyssey" had just been released

to theaters nationwide. The movie was high-tech, for its

day, weird, and unsatisfying. Yet, it did get my friends

and me thinking and talking about the next century.

During all this musing, I calculated how old I would be

when the year 2000 rolled around. In horror, I told my

friend Steve, "Gosh, I'll be nearly 49 years old!

I'll be nearly dead!"

Well, 2000 is here and I'm still kicking, though not as

fast or as high as I'd like to.

But why 2000? Why not the

year 5935, or some other collection of digits. Why not

"the seventh year (or is it the eighth?) of the

reign of William Jefferson Clinton? Or even "the

year after the Falcons made the Super Bowl and hell froze

over?"

Where do we get the number

of years? Most people (well, a few at least) know that

the "A.D." placed after the year stands for

"anno domini," that is "the year of the

Lord." So our modern years are numbered according to

the single most important event in the history of

mankind: the Incarnation of God. God coming to earth, in

the flesh, in Jesus Christ. Every event in our world is

measured by either how long before or how long after this

single event occurred. But who came up with it? Who

calculated the year of the Lord's Incarnation?

Enter a remarkable Monk by

the name of Dionysius, called "Exiguus" or

"the Small." Originally from Russia, Dionysius

moved to Rome in 496 and became known as one of the most

learned men of his day. Dionysius became famous as a

mathematician, an astronomer, a translator, and a

canonist. Therfe had been controversy in the Church about

how to calculate the day of Easter (Pascha). In the year

525, Pope John I asked the Russian Monk to help solve the

problem. In order to accurately calculate the date of

Easter for years to come, Dionysius would need a simple

and reliable way to number the passing years.

Prior to Dionysius, the

years were named according to important historical events

(such as the founding of the city of Rome) or the number

of years a particular king had been ruling. One of the

most widely used methods was the so-called "Era of

Diocletian," inaugrated by the Roman emperor

Diocletian (245-315 A.D.). Though he was an able

administrator, Diocletian is remembered as the fiercest

persecutor of Christians in the first millennium of the

Church's existence. Dionysius, in his words, "did

not wish to perpetuate the name of the great persecutor

of the Christians, but rather to number the years from

the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Using references found in

the Gospels, Dionysius calculated, to the best of his

ability, the year of the Incarnation of Christ and called

this the "year 1 anno domini," or "the

first year of the Lord." Those years that were prior

to this time were calculated backwards and styled

"ante christo" (A. C.) or, in English,

"Before Christ" (B. C.). This way of numbering

the years slowly made its way into Europe and from there

to the rest of the world.

Since the time of

Dionysius, scholars have determined that he was about 4

to 8 years off in his calculations. In Matthew 2:1, it is

recorded that Jesus was born during the rfeign of Herod

the Great, who ruled from 37-4 B. C. So Chrfist would

have had to have been born no later than 4 B. C. Luke 2:2

mentions a census by Caesar Augustus (30 B. C. to 14 A.

D.) "while Quirinius was governor of Syria." (4

- 1 B. C.). Dionysius made his mistake by misinterpreting

Luke 3:23: "And Jesus Himself, when He began His

work, was about thirty years of age...". Dionysius

interpreted this as meaning exactly thirty years and

counted backwards to arrive at 1 A. D.

Incidently, the Incarnation

began when Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin

Mary, not when he was born. So, Dionysius calculated the

beginning of Year 1 to be March 25, the Feast of the

Annunciation - nine months before December 25.

It is in vogue these days, in some circles, to bow to

political correctness and discard the B. C. and the A. D.

for the secular terms "before the common era,"

(B.C.E.) and "the common era," (C. E.).

Whatever.

Thanks to the Monk

Dionysius, I can take pleasure in welcoming you to Y2K-

"Year 2000 of the King!"

Father David Epps is Rector

of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church,

Peachtree City, GA. He may be contacted online at [email protected]

(Much of the material for

this article was gleaned from "Chronicle," the

newsletter of Christ of the Hills Monastery, Blanco, TX)