Much of what you illustrate forms the basis of my argument. The fact that he
discarded the Alexandrian era of Diocletian, reckoned from AD 284, on the
grounds that he "did not wish to perpetuate the name of the Great
Persecutor, but rather to number the years from the Incarnation of Our Lord
Jesus Christ." is bizarre in itself.
I find it all very arbitrary as somehow Dionysius reckoned the birth of
Christ to have occurred in 753 AUC; but the Gospels state that Christ was
born under Herod the Great - i.e., at the latest in 750 AUC. Dionysius'
dating was questioned by the English saint Bede in the 8th century and
rejected outright by the German monk Regino of Prüm at the end of the 9th.
For some inexpilcable reason it has continued in use to the present day,
and, as a result, the Nativity is reckoned to have taken place before the
start of the Christian Era... Bizarre.
In view of this I think I'm inclined to have more faith in the Mayan
calculation.;)
Simon Matterface
idTo: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 14 May 1999 20:00
Subject: missed the Millenium
> > A colleague and myself have been debating whether the current >
> Millenium does indeed end this year, as seems to be generally >
> accepted, rather than at the end of the year 2000.
> >
> > As I understand it years are reckoned as before or after the
> > Nativity, those before being denoted BC (before Christ) and those
> > after by AD (anno Domini, "in the year of the Lord"). Chronologers
> > admit no year zero between 1 BC and AD 1, meaning that calculation of
> > years is inclusive. Therefore the first decade did indeed end with
> > the tenth year, and it follows that the Millenium will end in the
> > year 2000, not 1999.
> >
> > I believe myself to be correct, but it seems strange that the whole
> > world expresses a different opinion to mine.
> >
> > Any comments?
> >
> > Simon Matterface
>
>
> Hello Simon,
>
> I'm afraid you actually missed the Millenium. In 525 AD Pope John I
> asked the astronomer Dionysius Exiguus (Dennis the Short) to work out
> the dates for Easter. Because no one knows Jesus of Nazareth's birth
> date he just arbitarily calculated Easter from the believed 'Anni
> Domini Nostri Jesu', the years of our Lord Jesus. Some scholars
> have argued the birth year should have been instead 4 or 5 BC. This
> means the Millennium happened in 1996 or 1997. In addition, since
> Dionysius did not have the zero to work with, his base year for his
> calculations started 1 AD. This means the calculation of Millenium is
> still another year out.
>
> According to the Mayan calendar the world will end on 2012 AD as
> their cosmic cycle of 5125 years comes to a completion.
>
> -- Ken
>
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