One eighth century English monk found out that the birthday of the world falls on March 18th.
The first Christians had a hard time reckoning. No "BC" existed. In the Roman Empire, time was measured by the eras of the reign of emperors. Or from the last Olympics. People were confused and did not always know when to hold religious celebrations.
Scientists and theologians argued.
"World creation". Jan Bruegel.
When Christ was born, the monk Dionysius the Small found out in the 6th century. His reasoning was based on an analysis of the Gospel. He assumed that Mary suffered from the Holy Spirit on March 25, then added the gestational age and received on December 25. We are also obliged to him by the time calculation system "from the birth of Christ".
Until the 6th century, the “era of Diocletian” was widely used. The calculation began in 284, when Diocletian became emperor. According to this system, the believers counted the holidays. Diocletian was one of the bloodiest persecutors, and his period of reign began to be called the "era of martyrs."
Dionysius presented his chronology based on the Gospel of Luke. The text of the book said that Christ went to teach the people when he was 30 years old. The crucifixion took place under the Emperor Tiberius at the end of the Jewish Passover. Dionysius calculated that this happened on March 25, 31.
But not all theologians agree with this dating. Pope John Paul II believed that it was not possible to correctly establish the time of Christ's birth. Pope Benedict VI believes that Christ was born 4 years earlier than Dionysius suggested.
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Pope John Paul II.
Another monk, the Englishman Bede the Venerable in the 8th century, calculated the date when the world appeared. Before him, it was believed that the universe was created on March 25, 5211 BC. e. This is the day of the vernal equinox. Bede noticed that there could be no equinox when God created "a great daylight and a small one at night." He divided the history of the world into six periods and related it to the biblical days of creation. Thus, Bede calculated that the world was created on March 18, 3952 BC.
The next day, God created the land and sky.
Holy Misfortune Venerable.
Bede the Venerable, in addition to these calculations, is known for having created one of the first "Histories of England", wrote about forty theological works in Latin for his school. He expressed many interesting ideas in the field of rhetoric, versification, grammar. He translated the Gospels into English. He told us that the names of the three wise men who brought their gifts to Jesus were Melchior, Balthazar and Caspar.
Disputes over the birthday of the world were serious and could end in disaster for the monk. Bishop Wilfried of York accused him of heresy.
The Western Church was dominated by the idea of Isidore of Seville, who insisted on 5211 BC. The Orthodox Church indicated its year - 5508 BC. However, the Worshipful Bede is considered a common saint among all denominations.
Pavel Romanutenko