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April 16, 2004

On April 7 this year, the Macedonian Orthodox Christian celebrated the holliday of Blagoec (literaly: the sweet day), the day when Virgin Mary heard the good news: that she is pregnant with Jesus. This 11th century fresco from the church of St. George in Kurbinovo (Prespa region) depicts Virgin Mary and her mother, St. Ana, rejoycing on that day.

By Jason Miko

In Rome in the sixth century, there lived a little-known abbot called Dionysius Exiguus, also known as "Little Dennis." He was described as Scythian and was known as a brilliant scholar. He was also an accomplished mathematician and astronomer. Beyond that, not too much is known of him.

However, in 525 he was asked by Pope John I to calculate the Easter date for the following year (this in itself is a much larger story which we won't delve into here). Using astronomy and math to make his calculations, he not only calculated the date for Easter for the following year, but he also did so for the next seven before creating tables calculating it for the next 95 years.

But Little Dennis did something far more important than calculate Easter dates.

In 531, in a letter to a bishop named Petronius, Dionysius noted that calendars of the day used as a base year the year that Emperor Diocletian ascended to the throne (he ascended to the throne in 284 according to our current calendar). Years at that time were designed as anno Diocletiani, the year of Diocletian. So, when Dionysius wrote his letter to bishop Petronius, the calendar year used by officialdom was actually 247 anno Diocletiani, or, in our current calendar, 531 (284 plus 247).

Dionysius noted that Diocletian was a notorious prosecutor of the Christians and Dionysius "preferred to count and denote the years from the incarnation of our Lord, in order to make the foundation of our hope better known and the cause of the redemption of man more conspicuous." Using his knowledge and math, Dionysius calculated that Jesus Christ was born exactly 531 years before he wrote his letter to bishop Petronius, which, we know today was probably off by a few years (Christ was probably born in what we would now call 4 or 5 B.C.)

So when Dionysius wrote his Easter tables for the next 95 years, he wrote "anni Domini nostri Jesu Christi (the years of our Lord Jesus Christ) 532-627."

And this is why the world now finds itself in 2004, anno Domini, the year of our Lord

There is more to the story including how the anno Domini designation became widespread but the central fact here is that this little-known abbot wished to acknowledge his Lord, "in order to make the foundation of our hope better known and the cause of the redemption of man more conspicuous." And his Lord was acknowledged by having the distinction of being the only man ever to live who has literally split time in two.

This brings me to the greatest story ever told.

Despite all of the differences between mankind in the world ? differences between the countries, the races, the ethnicities, the cultures, the sexes, and the ages ? despite all of these differences, there is one commonality we all share. We are all a part of the same great statistic which is this: 10 out of 10 people die.

Because of this statistic, mankind, through the ages, has been in search of either a way to extend his age or to vanquish death. If you have any doubts, just observe the vanity around you when it comes to beauty and health products.

And because of this desire, mankind has looked to himself, to false gods, to outer space and to inner space as well as a way of beating death or at least, finding meaning for his short and miserable time here on earth.

As we celebrate this Easter, which for the different Christian faiths is on the same day this year, we should respectfully and quietly reflect on the whole meaning of the season and the central figure in this story ? Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ, after all, who actually did conquer death and gives us that promise as well. This is the greatest story ever told. Jesus the Christ, the Son of God and the Messiah, literally, the Anointed One, was handed over to his enemies, persecuted, tortured and put to death by crucifixion on a Roman cross. But the story didn't end with his death because he conquered death and rose from the dead on the third day. That symbol of death ? the Roman cross ? has now become a symbol of life eternal. This is the greatest story ever told.

As we celebrate Easter this year, let us remember who really killed Jesus Christ and why he died. It was not the Jews, as some critics of "The Passion of the Christ" contend nor was it the Romans who did the actual killing. As a matter of fact, it was all of us, you and me ? those who have lived, those who are now living and those who have yet to be born. We nailed Christ to the cross because we rebelled against God. And yet he gave himself as a living sacrifice for us, as payment for our sins, that we too might forgo death and have eternal life by accepting his free gift of salvation.

This is the greatest story ever told.