Anno Lucis

Examples of use
Detail from the 1916 cornerstone of a Masonic lodge in Rochester, Minnesota
21st century plaque on the wall of the city hall in South Sioux City, Nebraska

Anno Lucis is a dating system used in Freemasonry ceremonial or commemorative proceedings. It adds 4,000 years to the current Anno Domini calendar year and appends Anno Lucis (“Year of Light”) to the Gregorian calendar year. It is similar to Anno Mundi.

Description

For example, 2015 AD is 6015 AL.[1] This calendar era, which would designate 4,001 BC as ‘year zero’, was adopted in the 18th century (58th century AL) as a simplification of the Anno Mundi era dating system used in the Hebrew calendar, and borrowing from other ideas of that time regarding the year of creation.

After the Masoretic text was published dating creation around 4000 BC became common, and was received with wide support.[2] Proposed calculations of the date of creation using the Masoretic from the 10th century to the 18th century, were numerous and fluctuated by many decades.[3] Notably, Isaac Newton's calculation pointed at the year 4000 BC.[3]

Among the Masoretic creation estimates or calculations for the date of creation only Archbishop Ussher's specific chronology dating the creation to 4004 BC became the most accepted and popular in Christendom, mainly because this specific date was attached to the King James Bible.[4] The Hebrew Calendar has traditionally, since the 4th century AD by Hillel II, dated the creation to 3761 BC,[5][6] in accordance with the Seder Olam Rabbah compiled by Jose ben Halafta in 160 AD, and in agreement with The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries, in which the Muslim chronologist al-Biruni idetifies anno mundi as 3448 years before the Seleucid era, though not with Seder Olam Zutta, which dates it to 4339 BC and was compiled in 804 CE.[7]

The Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to correct an error in the Julian calendar by suppressing (omitting) 10 days. It has been suggested that in suppressing 10 days each year from 1 AD through the mid-1500s, when the Julian calendar was updated to the Gregorian calendar, "this could very nearly account for the 39 year difference between the Freemason calendar system and the Hebrew calendar."[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "What is the Masonic Calendar?". Library and Museum Charitable Trust of the United Grand Lodge of England. Retrieved 2006-07-06.
  2. ↑ A Collation of the Sacred Scriptures, Charles Roger Dundee, 1847, pp. 10-24.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Floyd Nolen Jones (2004). Chronology of the Old Testament: Solving the Bible's Most Intriguing Mysteries. New Leaf Publishing Group. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-89051-416-0. Retrieved 2014-06-02.
  4. ↑ "Bishop James Ussher Sets the Date for Creation: October 23, 4004 B.C". Law2.umkc.edu. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  5. ↑ "Definition of Jewish Calendar from". dictionary.net. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  6. ↑ "The Jewish Calendar and Biblical Authority". Askelm.com. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
  7. ↑ Young’s Analytical Concordance of the Holy Bible, 1879, 8th Edition, 1939—entry under ‘Creation’ quoting Dr. William Hales New Analysis of Chronology and Geography, History and Prophecy, Vol. 1, 1830, p. 210.
  8. ↑ "Anno Lucis". Masonic Lodge of Education: Your Guide to Understanding Freemasonry.