Anno Lucis

Examples of use

Detail from the 1916cornerstoneof aMasonic lodgeinRochester, Minnesota

October 2003 plaque on the wall of thecity hallinSouth Sioux City, Nebraska

Anno Lucis( “in the Year of Light” ) is a dating system used inMasonicceremonial or commemorative proceedings, which is equivalent to theGregorian yearplus 4000. It is similar toAnno Mundi.

Description

For example, a dateAnno Domini(AD) 2024 becomes Anno Lucis (AL) 6024.Thiscalendar era,which would designate 4001 BC as 'year zero', was adopted in the 18th century as a simplification of theAnno Mundiera dating system used in theHebrew calendarand borrowing from other ideas of that time regarding theyear of creation.

After theMasoretictext was published, dating creation around 4000 BC became common, and it was received with wide support.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.Notably,Isaac Newton's calculation pointed at the year 4000 BC.

Among the Masoretic creation estimates or calculations for the date of creation,Archbishop Ussher's specific chronologydating the creation to 4004 BC became the most accepted and popular in Protestant Christendom, mainly because this specific date was attached to theKing James Bible.The Hebrew Calendar has traditionally, since the 4th century AD byHillel II,dated the creation to 3761 BC,in accordance with theSeder Olam Rabbahcompiled byJose ben Halaftain AD 160, and in agreement withThe Remaining Signs of Past Centuries,in which the Muslim chronologistal-Biruniidentifiesanno mundias 3448 years before theSeleucid era,but not withSeder Olam Zutta,which dates it to 4339 BC and was compiled in AD 804.

See also

• 40th century BC
• Holocene calendar– system that adds 10,000 years to the common era.