Byzantine Creation Era

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The Byzantine Calendar or "Imperial Creation Era of Constantinople," was the calendar officially used by the Byzantine Empire[1] (Eastern Roman Empire) from at least 692 AD, until it was conquered in 1453.

It placed the date of creation at 5,508 BC, and was characterized by a certain tendency which prevailed in several parts of the empire to number the years from the Etos Kosmou / Apo Kataboles Kosmou- (Greek: Έτος Κόσμου), or Annus Mundi / Ab Origine Mundi- AM (Latin), that is, from the beginning of the world, which had already been a tradition amongst Hebrews and Jews. The era was calculated as starting on September 1st, and Jesus was thought to have been born in the year 5509 of the Eastern Roman system.

After the collapse of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the Byzantine calendar continued to be used by Russia (translated into Slavonic) until 1700, when it was changed to the Julian Calendar by Peter the Great.[2]. It is still used by a number of Orthodox Churches. The year AD 2000 was 7508 AM.

Important Early Calendars

During the period of Late Antiquity in the Mediterranean world there were three highly accredited calendars, namely:

* the Babylonian, descendant of the Sumerian calendar, and basic contributor to the Hebrew Biblical calendar;
* the Egyptian, in use since at least 2550 BC, which institutionalized a year that was 365 days long, being divided into 12 months of 30 days each; and
* the Greek.

Pliny the Elder, the Great Roman erudite scholar, attempted[3] to promote the Roman calendar as modified by Julius Caesar (i.e. the Julian Calendar) at the same level, as a ‘fourth calendar’.[4].

Earliest Christian Sources on the Age of the World

The earliest extant Christian writings on the age of the world according to the Biblical chronology are by Theophilus (AD 115-181), the sixth bishop of Antioch from the Apostles, in his apologetic work To Autolycus,[5] and by Julius Africanus (AD 200-245) in his Five Books of Chronology [6]. Both of these early Christian writers, following the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, determined the age of the world to have been about 5,530 years at the birth of Christ.[7].

Byzantine Calendar

The Byzantine Calendar was identical to the Julian Calendar except that:

  1. the names of the months were transcribed from Latin into Greek,
  2. the first day of the year was September 1,[8] so that both the Ecclesiatical and Civil calendar years ran from 1 September to 31 August, (see Indiction), which to the present day is the Church year, and,
  3. the date of creation, its year one, was September 1, 5508 BC.

It is referred to indirectly in Canon III of the Quinisext Council, which the Orthodox Churches consider as ecumenical, its canons being added to the decrees of the Fifth and Sixth Councils, as follows:

"... as of the fifteenth day of the month of January last past, in the last fourth Indiction, in the year six thousand one hundred and ninety [6190], ..."[9]

The theological date of creation was unified with the administrative system of Indiction cycles, and is referred to commonly amongst Byzantine authors, to whom the indiction was the standard measurement of time. By the late tenth century[10] a unified system was widely recognized (in preference over the Alexandrian), according to which the world was created 5508 years before the Incarnation, so that the date of Christ's birth was in the year 5509 Annus Mundi (AM) - the year since the creation of the world.[11]. Thus historical time was calculated from the creation, and not from Christ's birth, as in the west.

Accounts in Byzantine Authors

St. John Chrysostom

St. John Chrysostom says clearly in his Homily "On the Cross and the Thief", that Christ:

"opened for us today Paradise, which had remained closed for some 5000 years."[12].

St. Isaac the Syrian

St. Isaac the Syrian writes in a Homily that before Christ:

"for five thousand years five hundred and some years God left Adam (i.e. man) to labor on the earth."[13].

Doukas

The historian Doukas, writing circa 1460 AD, makes a detailed account for the year 5508 BC as the date of creation. Although unrefined in style, the history of Doukas is both judicious and trustworthy, and it is the most valuable source for the closing years of the Byzantine empire.

"From Adam, the first man created by God, to Noah, at whose time the flood took place, there were ten generations. The first, which was from God, was that of Adam. The second, after 230 years, was that of Seth begotten of Adam. The third, 205 years after Seth, was that of Enos begotten of Seth. The fourth, 190 years after Enos, was that of Kainan begotten of Enos. The fifth, 170 years after Kainan, was that of Mahaleel begotten of Kainan. The sixth, 165 years after Mahaleel, was that of Jared begotten of Mahaleel. The seventh, 162 years after Jared, was that of Enoch begotten of Jared. The eighth, 165 years after Enoch, was that of Methuselah begotten of Enoch. The ninth, 167 years after Methuselah, was that of Lamech begotten of Methuselah. The tenth, 188 years after Lamech, was that of Noah. Noah was 600 years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. Thus 2242 years may be counted from Adam to the flood.
There are also ten generations from the flood to Abraham numbering 1121 years. Abraham was seventy-five years old when he moved to the land of Canaan from Mesopotamia, and having resided there twenty-five years he begat Isaac. Isaac begat two sons, Esau and Jacob. When Jacob was 130 years old he went to Egypt with his twelve sons and grandchildren, seventy-five in number. And Abraham with his offspring dwelt in the land of Canaan 433 years, and having multiplied they numbered twelve tribes; a multitude of 600,000 were reckoned from the twelve sons of Jacob whose names are as follows: Ruben, Symeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin.
The descendants of Levi were Moses and Aaron; the latter was the first of the priesthood while Moses was appointed to govern. In the eightieth year of his life he walked through the Red Sea and led his people out of Egypt. This Moses flourished in the time of Inachos [son of Oceanus and King of Argos] who was the first [Greek] king to reign. Thus the Jews are more ancient than the Greeks.
Remaining in the wilderness forty years they were governed for twenty-five years by Joshua, son of Nun, and by the Judges for 454 years to the reign of Saul, the first king installed by them. During the first year of his reign the great David was born. Thus from Abraham to David fourteen generations are numbered for a total of 1024 years. From David to the deportation to Babylon [586 BC] there are fourteen generations totalling 609 years. From the Babylonian Captivity to Christ there are fourteen generations totalling 504 years.
By the sequence of Numbers we calculate the number of 5,500 years from the time of the first Adam to Christ."[14].

John Skylitzes

John Skylitzes' (ca.1081-1118) major work is the Synopsis of Histories, which covers the reigns of the Byzantine emperors from the death of Nicephorus I in 811 to the deposition of Michael IV in 1057; it continues the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor. Quoting from him as an example of the common Byzantine dating method, he refers to emperor Basil, writing that:

"In the year 6508 [1000], in the thirteenth indiction, the emperor sent a great force against the Bulgarian fortified positions (kastra) on the far side of the Balkan (Haimos) mountains,..."[15]

Niketas Choniates

Niketas Choniates (ca. 1155–1215), sometimes called Acominatus, was a Byzantine Greek historian. His chief work is his History, in twenty-one books, of the period from 1118 to 1207. Again, an example of the dating method can be seen as he refers to the fall of Constantinople to the fourth crusade as follows:

"The queen of cities fell to the Latins on the twelfth day of the month of April of the seventh indiction in the year 6712 [1204]."[16]

Other Dominant Church Calendars

Comparative List of Dates of Creation

The Byzantine Calendar along with the Alexandrian Calendar were the two dominant systems (among others) in the Eastern Orthodox world. Being finalized in the seventh century, by the late tenth century the Byzantine Calendar had become the widely accepted calendar of choice for Chalcedonian Orthodoxy. The Alexandrian Calendar continued to be used by the Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches from the sixth century up until the present day.

Early Church Writers

  • 5537 BC - Julius Africanus (AD 200-245), Church historian.
  • 5529 BC - Theophilus (AD 115-181), Bishop of Antioch.
  • 5508 BC - Byzantine Calendar or "Creation Era of Constantinople." (finalized in 7th c.).
  • 5500 BC - Hippolytus of Rome. (ca. AD 234), Presbyter, writer, martyr.
  • 5493 BC - Alexandrian Christian Era (AD 412).
  • 5199 BC - Eusebius of Caesarea, Bishop of Caesarea and Church historian (AD 324).

Other Estimates

  • 5199 BC - Mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, published by the authority of Pope Gregory XIII in 1580, later confirmed in 1640 under Pope Urban VIII.
  • 4004 BC - Anglican Archbishop James Ussher (AD 1650).
  • 3952 BC - Venerable Bede (ca. AD 725), English Benedictine monk.
  • 3761 BC - Hebrew Calendar (Judaism).

Alexandrian Christian Era

The "Alexandrian Calendar", or Alexandrian Christian Era was a second dominant system present alongside the Byzantine Calendar until the tenth century. It was adopted by church fathers such as Maximus the Confessor and Theophanes the Confessor, as well as historians such as George Syncellus. It held the date of creation as being 5493 BC, (rather than 5508 BC) and the start of the year as March 25 (rather than September 1). Dionysius of Alexandria emphatically quoted mystical justifications for this choice:

March 25 was considered to be the anniversary of Creation itself. It was the first day of the year in the medieval Julian calendar and the nominal vernal equinox (it had been the actual equinox at the time when the Julian calendar was originally designed). Considering that Christ was conceived at that date turned March 25 into the Feast of the Annunciation which had to be followed, nine months later, by the celebration of the birth of Christ, Christmas, on December 25.

Roman Martyrology

Some Traditionalist Catholics use the year 5199 BC, which is taken from Catholic martyrologies, and referred to as the true date of Creation in the "Mystical City of God," a 17th-century mystical work written by Maria de Agreda concerning creation and the life of the Virgin Mary. This year was also used earlier by the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea in 324.[17]

Anglican and Protestant

In the English-speaking world, one of the most well known estimates in modern times is that of Archbishop James Ussher (1581–1656), who proposed a date of Sunday, October 23, 4004 BC, in the Julian calendar. He placed the beginning of this first day of creation, and hence the exact time of creation, at the previous nightfall. (See the Ussher chronology).

Criticism

  • According to Fr. Stanley Harakas, the Bible's description of creation is not a "scientific account". It is not read for scientific knowledge but for spiritual truth and divine revelation. The physical-scientific side of the origins of mankind, though important, is really quite secondary in significance to the Church's message. The central image of Adam as God's image and likeness, who also represents fallen and sinful humanity, and the new Adam, Jesus Christ, who is the "beginning", the first-born of the dead (Colossians 1:18) and the "first-fruits" of those who were dead, and are now alive (1 Corinthians 15:20-23), is what is really important.[18]
  • According to Professor Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis, the various new dating systems introduced throughout the Christian Roman Empire involved different eras (dates), causing great difficulty in homogenizing Christianity that was progressively torn up by conflicting theoretical systems, until one of them, the Creation Era of Constantinople (or Byzantine Calendar), prevailed through the use of the military machine of the empire, and applied unprecedented terror against the rest, which were characterized as heretical.[19]

Summary

Fr. Seraphim Rose points out that "even the most mystical Fathers" such as St. Isaac the Syrian accepted without question the common understanding of the Church that the world was created "more or less" in 5,500 BC:

"The Holy Fathers (probably unanimously) certainly have no doubt that the chronology of the Old Testament, from Adam onwards, is to be accepted "literally." They did not have the fundamentalist's over-concern for chronological precision, but even the most mystical Fathers (St. Isaac the Syrian, St. Gregory Palamas, etc.) were quite certain that Adam lived literally some 900 years, that there were some 5,500 years ("more or less") between the creation and the Birth of Christ."[20].

Currently the two dominant dates for creation that exist using the Biblical model, are about 5500 BC and about 4000 BC. These are calculated from the genealogies in two versions of the Bible, with most of the difference arising from two versions of Genesis. The older dates in the Byzantine Calendar are based on the Greek Septuagint. The later dates of Archbishop James Ussher are based on the Hebrew Masoretic text.

The Fathers were well aware of the discrepancy of some hundreds of years between the Greek and Hebrew Old Testament chronology, and it did not bother them; they did not quibble over years or worry that the standard calendar was precise "to the very year"; it is sufficient that what is involved is beyond any doubt a matter of some few thousands of years, involving the lifetimes of specific men, and it can in no way be interpreted as millions of years or whole ages and races of men.[21].

To this day, traditional Orthodox Christians will use the Byzantine calculation of the Etos Kosmou in conjunction with the Anno Domini (AD) year. Both dates appear on Orthodox cornerstones, ecclesiastical calendars and formal documents. The ecclesiastical new year is still observed on September 1 (or on the Gregorian Calendar's September 14 for those churches which follow the Julian Calendar).

See also

External Links

Further reading

  • Fr. Seraphim Rose. GENESIS, CREATION and EARLY MAN: The Orthodox Christian Vision. St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, CA, 2000. ISBN 1887904026
  • Dr. Floyd Nolan Jones. Chronology of the Old Testament. Master Books, AZ, 1993. Repr. 2005. (supports Ussher's chronology, i.e. 4004 BC).
  • E.G. Richards. Mapping Time: The Calendar and its History. Oxford University Press, 1998. (Good overall general review of the history and astronomical basis of the principal calendars that have been used throughout history all around the world).
  • Elias J. Bickerman. Chronology of the Ancient World. 2nd edition. Cornell University Press. 1980.
  • Jack Finegan. Handbook of Biblical Chronology: Principles of Time Reckoning in the Ancient World and Problems of Chronology in the Bible. Hendrickson Publishers, 1998.
  • K.A. Worp. Chronological Observations on Later Byzantine Documents. 1985. University of Amsterdam. (PDF format)
  • Roger S. Bagnall, K. A. Worp. The Chronological Systems of Byzantine Egypt. Zutphen, 1978.
  • V. Grumel. La Chronologie. Presses Universitaires France, Paris. 1958.
  • Yiannis E. Meimaris. Chronological Systems in Roman-Byzantine Palestine and Arabia. Athens, 1992.

References

  1. The term Byzantine was invented by the German historian Hieronymus Wolf in 1557 but was popularized by French scholars during the 18th century to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire. The citizens of the empire considered themselves Romaioi ("Romans"), their emperor was the "Roman Emperor", and their empire the Basileia ton Romaion ("Empire of the Romans"). The Latin West designated the empire as "Romania", and the Muslims as "Rum".
  2. Prof. Charles Ellis (University of Bristol). Russian Calendar (988-1917). The Literary Encyclopedia. 25 September, 2008.
  3. Historia Naturalis, XVIII, 210.
  4. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis. Gueze – ‘Ethiopian’: the Counterfeit Millennium. Sept. 8, 2007.
  5. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol.2, pp.118-21.
  6. Ante-Nicene Fathers. vol.6, pp.130-38.
  7. Fr. Seraphim Rose. GENESIS, CREATION and EARLY MAN: The Orthodox Christian Vision. St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, CA, 2000. p.236.
  8. About the year 462 the Byzantine Indiction was moved from September 23 to September 1, where it remained throughout the rest of the Byzantine Empire, representing the present day beginning of the Church year. In 537 Justinian decreed that all dates must include the indiction, so it was officially adopted as one way to identify a Byzantine year, becoming compulsory. Although the successive 15-year indiction cycles are themselves never numbered, each year within the cycle is, and the indiction had become the usual way for the Byzantines to distinguish recent and forthcoming years.
  9. The Rudder (Pedalion): Of the metaphorical ship of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of the Orthodox Christians, or all the sacred and divine canons of the holy and renowned Apostles, of the holy Councils, ecumenical as well as regional, and of individual fathers, as embodied in the original Greek text, for the sake of authenticity, and explained in the vernacular by way of rendering them more intelligible to the less educated. Comp. Agapius a Hieromonk and Nicodemus a Monk. First printed and published A.D.1800. Trans. D. Cummings, from the 5th edition published by John Nicolaides (Kesisoglou the Caesarian) in Athens, Greece in 1908, (Chicago: The Orthodox Christian Educational Society, 1957; Repr., New York, N.Y.: Luna Printing Co., 1983).
  10. i.e. From the reign of Emperor Basil II (Βασίλειος Β' ο Βουλγαροκτόνο), who ruled from 976-1025, a period that saw the highest point of the Byzantine Empire in nearly five centuries. It was during this time (ca. 988) that the Alexandrian System was no longer referred to in Byzantium.
  11. Paul Stephenson. "Translations from Byzantine Sources: The Imperial Centuries, c.700-1204: John Skylitzes, "Synopsis Historion": The Year 6508, in the 13th Indiction: the Byzantine dating system". November 2006.
  12. St. John Chrysostom. Homily "On the Cross and the Thief" 1:2.
  13. St. Isaac the Syrian. Homily 19, Russian edition, pp. 85 [Homily 29, English edition, p.143].
  14. Doukas (ca.1460). Decline and Fall of Byzantium To The Ottoman Turks. An Annotated Translation by Harry J. Magoulias. Wayne State University Press, 1975. pp.57-58.
  15. Paul Stephenson. "Translations from Byzantine Sources: The Imperial Centuries, c.700-1204: John Skylitzes, "Synopsis Historion": The Year 6508, in the 13th Indiction: the Byzantine dating system". November 2006.
  16. Niketas Choniates. O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniates. Transl. by Harry J. Magoulias. Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1984. p.338
  17. V. Grumel. La Chronologie. 1958. pp.24-25.
  18. Fr. Stanley S. Harakas. The Orthodox Church: 455 Questions and Answers. Light & Life Publishing, Minneapolis, 1988. pp.88,91.
  19. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis. Gueze – ‘Ethiopian’: the Counterfeit Millennium. Sept. 8, 2007.
  20. Fr. Seraphim Rose. GENESIS, CREATION and EARLY MAN: The Orthodox Christian Vision. St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, CA, 2000. pp.539-540.
  21. Fr. Seraphim Rose. GENESIS, CREATION and EARLY MAN: The Orthodox Christian Vision. St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, CA, 2000. pp.602-603.

Sources

  • Byzantine Calendar at Wikipedia.
  • Dating Creation at Wikipedia.
  • Doukas (ca.1460). Decline and Fall of Byzantium To The Ottoman Turks. An Annotated Translation by Harry J. Magoulias. Wayne State University Press, 1975. (ISBN 9780814315408)
  • Fr. Seraphim Rose. GENESIS, CREATION and EARLY MAN: The Orthodox Christian Vision. St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, Platina, CA, 2000.
  • Fr. Stanley S. Harakas. The Orthodox Church: 455 Questions and Answers. Light & Life Publishing, Minneapolis, 1988.
  • Niketas Choniates. O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniates. Transl. by Harry J. Magoulias. Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1984.
  • Prof. Charles Ellis (University of Bristol). Russian Calendar (988-1917). The Literary Encyclopedia. 25 September, 2008.
  • Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis. Gueze – ‘Ethiopian’: the Counterfeit Millennium. Sept. 8, 2007.
  • The Rudder (Pedalion): Of the metaphorical ship of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of the Orthodox Christians, or all the sacred and divine canons of the holy and renowned Apostles, of the holy Councils, ecumenical as well as regional, and of individual fathers, as embodied in the original Greek text, for the sake of authenticity, and explained in the vernacular by way of rendering them more intelligible to the less educated. Comp. Agapius a Hieromonk and Nicodemus a Monk. First printed and published A.D.1800. Trans. D. Cummings, from the 5th edition published by John Nicolaides (Kesisoglou the Caesarian) in Athens, Greece in 1908, (Chicago: The Orthodox Christian Educational Society, 1957; Repr., New York, N.Y.: Luna Printing Co., 1983).
  • Paul Stephenson. "Translations from Byzantine Sources: The Imperial Centuries, c.700-1204: John Skylitzes, "Synopsis Historion": The Year 6508, in the 13th Indiction: the Byzantine dating system". November 2006.