Annianus of Alexandria () was a monk and writer who flourished in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

during the pontificate of Theophilus I around the beginning of the 5thcentury. Annianus criticized the world history of his contemporary, the monk Panodorus of Alexandria, for relying too much on secular sources rather than biblical sources for his dates. As a result, he developed his own

chronology Chronology (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , , ; and , ''wikt:-logia, -logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the deter ...

which placed Creation on . This created the Alexandrian era whose first day was the first day of the proleptic Alexandrian civil year in progress, . This year was eleven Paschal cycles of 532 years each before the Alexandrian year beginning , which itself was four 19-year cycles after the

epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided b ...

of the Diocletian Era on . The former is known as the Era of Grace in the

Coptic Church The Coptic Orthodox Church (), also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the Apostolic see, See of Alexandria i ...

, whereas the latter is known as the

Era of Martyrs The Era of the Martyrs (), also known as the ''Diocletian era'' (), is a method of numbering years based on the reign of Roman Emperor Diocletian who instigated the last major persecution against Christians in the Empire. It was used by the C ...

. He was the first computist to recognize the 532-year cycle of

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

s in the

Julian calendar The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...

. This cycle is often attributed to

Victorius of Aquitaine Victorius of Aquitaine (), a countryman of Prosper of Aquitaine and also working in Rome, produced in AD 457 an Easter Cycle, which was based on the consular list provided by Prosper's Chronicle. This dependency caused scholars to think that Pros ...

in 457, the first to recognize such a cycle in the West. None of Annianus's writings have survived. He is principally known from the discussion of his works by

George Syncellus George Syncellus (, ''Georgios Synkellos''; died after 810) was a Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastical official. He lived many years in Palestine (probably in the Old Lavra of Saint Chariton or Souka, near Tekoa) as a monk, before coming to Cons ...

during the 9th century, though lesser fragments appear elsewhere.

Elijah of Nisibis Elijah, Eliya, or Elias of Nisibis (, 11February 975– 18July 1046) was an Assyrian people, Assyrian cleric of the Church of the East, who served as bishop of Beth Nuhadra (1002–1008) and archbishop of Nisibis (1008–1046). He has been called ...

cites him in his 11th-century ''Chronography''. However, Annianus’ Paschal table of 532 years, containing a 532-year Paschal cycle based on a Metonic 19-year lunar cycle, has survived. Its Metonic 19-year lunar cycle was adopted by bishop

Cyril of Alexandria Cyril of Alexandria (; or ⲡⲓ̀ⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲕⲓⲣⲓⲗⲗⲟⲥ; 376–444) was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444. He was enthroned when the city was at the height of its influence and power within the Roman Empire ...

, who used it in his own (Greek language and Alexandrian calendar) Paschal table of 114 years. Shortly before Cyril's death (AD444), a beginning was made with a Latin language and Julian calendar Paschal table probably intended for use in the Latin part of Europe; this resulted in a similar Paschal table of 95 years, referred to as ‘the Paschal table attributed to Cyril’, which covered time interval . A century later this Paschal table was continued by

Dionysius Exiguus Dionysius Exiguus (Latin for "Dionysius the Humble"; Greek: Διονύσιος; – ) was a 6th-century Eastern Roman monk born in Scythia Minor. He was a member of a community of Scythian monks concentrated in Tomis (present-day Constanț ...

to a Paschal table covering time interval , two centuries hereafter his Paschal table was extended to

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

’s Easter table covering time interval and containing a 532-year Paschal cycle. We conclude that it is precisely Annianus’ variant of the Metonic 19-year lunar cycle (invented by Anatolius) which from the sixth to the sixteenth century has been the core of the computus paschalis in the Latin Christian world, because it was not earlier than in the year 1582 that the

was replaced with the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

. As far as

is concerned, Jan Zuidhoek, pretending to mention explicitly all relevant Metonic 19-year lunar cycles, has missed an opportunity to mention Victorius’ one. However, Alden Mosshammer has mentioned it explicitly. In principle, each date of the 532-year Paschal cycle of Victorius’ Paschal table can be calculated by applying the old Roman rule “Paschal Sunday is the first Sunday after the first day after the Paschal full moon” to the corresponding date of the Paschal full moon of its lunar cycle (if desired with the help of the number indicating the weekday of ).Declercq (2000) 86−87

References

Bibliography

* William Adler. ''Time immemorial: archaic history and its sources in Christian chronography from Julius Africanus to George Syncellus''. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1989 (). * William Adler, Paul Tuffin, translators. ''The chronography of George Synkellos: a Byzantine chronicle of universal history from the creation''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, (). Synkellos copied large blocks of text written by Annianus. * Georges Declercq (2000) ''Anno Domini (The Origins of the Christian Era)'': Turnhout () * * Otto Neugebauer (1979) ''Ethiopic Astronomy and Computus'': Wien () * Jan Zuidhoek (2019) ''Reconstructing Metonic 19-year Lunar Cycles (on the basis of NASA’s Six Millennium Catalog of Phases of the Moon)'': Zwolle ()

External links

Five Metonic 19-year lunar cycles
{{Authority control Byzantine theologians 5th-century Byzantine historians 5th-century Byzantine monks Egyptian Christian monks Ancient Egyptian historians Historians of Christianity 5th-century Byzantine writers 5th-century Christian theologians Chronologists 5th-century Egyptian people