The Many Calendars of Freemasonry
by: Brother Robert Johnson
Waukegan Lodge #78
for
The Celestial Brotherhoodfor
As a lodge education officer, one of the items I am often asked about is the dating system. No, I am not talking about Freemason-dating.com, where Freemasons can find soul mates. All joking aside, there is in fact a dating system which does seem to confuse new brothers. These dating systems are not really explained in any of the degrees. Hence the need for lodge education officers.
So, lets dive in. Let's say you are in lodge, and your secretary reads the minutes of your last stated meeting and he reads the date "AD 2013 AL 6013..." Guys ask me all the time, "What is the abbreviation AL for?" Lets start with an explanation of the AD.
AD or Anno Domini is a medieval Latin phrase which means "In the year of our Lord", referring to the Christian figure of Jesus Christ. This term's opposite is BC which is a short hand for "Before Christ". These terms have largely been replaced in the educated world by the two terms; BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era) which is AD's equivalent. We of course use this date system which originates from the Gregorian calendar.
Going back to the somewhat antiquated term of Anno Domini or AD, we find that we started at the year AD 1 as the world had a sense of starting over. Christ had brought light to the world. However, this is where we lead into what Blue lodge Freemasonry uses for it's date. AL or Anno Lucious.
AL or Anno Lucious also has a Latin translation which is "In the year of Light". Freemasons are said to have received "light" 4,000 years before the rest of the world. So what was that light? The light in this date system is generally regarded as the date that Freemasonry was recognized as a system (in some regards). Let us dive deeper still.
In the Masonic family, there are several different types of calendar systems and dates. For instance the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in many cases uses the date system of Anno Mundi. Which, if you know your latin is "In the year of the world." This particular date system adds 3,760 years to the standard CE or common era date of 2013. This is the Hebrew calendar.
As you are starting to see, each appendant body within Freemasonry seems to have its own date system. The York Rite actually has two different date systems. The first is Anno Inventionis, which is "The year of the discovery". This date you will add 530 years. So instead of 2013 it is actually 2543. This system gets its name from the date which Zerubbabel began to build the second Temple. The other date system used by the York Rite is called Anno Benefacio which means "The year of blessing" referring to the blessing of Abraham by Melchizedek. In this date system you actually add 1,913 to the gregorian year. For instance this year, 2013 is 3926.
The Masonic system of Select Masters uses the calendar Anno Depositonis which is latin for "The year of the deposit". It refers to the date Solomon's Temple was completed. For this system you will simply add 1,000 to our Gregorian calendar. Making this year 3013.
Lastly we can cover the Knight Templar. The Knights use a date system called Anno Ordinis. The Latin translation is "The year of the order". It refers to the date the order of the Knight Templar was created. This is the only date system in which you would subtract. In order to know the Templar Date we subtract 1,118 from the current year. Making 2013 simply the year 895.
I hope you have found this interesting and continue to learn all you can of Freemasonry! We truly are a Celestial Brotherhood. My thanks to Brother Aaron Gardner for the hospitality.
RJ
Brother Robert Johnson, the pleasure is all mine. Thank you for the great words and inspiration. In case my readers didn't know, Bro. Robert Johnson is the man who gave me the idea of starting this blog. It wasn't quite the blog that it is now and has been revamped multiple times but if it wasn't for Brother Johnson the idea to create this blog would never have come about. So thank you! You are welcome to join us and grace us with your knowledge and presence any day. SMIB
Brethren, for more about Sir Knight Robert Johnson's work See his Podcast here. As well as his contributions with Midnight Freemasons.
