Many brethren would have noticed that in their Masonic
Diploma, the date, for example 1999, is shown as 5999. Why is that?
James Ussher, an Anglican priest born in Dublin in 1580,
interpreted the time of the Creation in the Bible as being 4,004 BC. This
was generally accepted by the Church as well, and was adopted in
Anderson’s “Constitutions”, the basic text of modern Freemasonry. Hence, a Masonic date adds
4000 years to the currently accepted origins of the Christian era, and is
called “anno
Lucis,” or the year
of light.
However, other Masonic bodies have different interpretations.
For example, the Knight Kadosh of the Scottish Rite use “anno hebraico (a.k.a. anno
mundi)”, taken from
Hebrew months and a calendar based on Jewish chronology. This thinking
begins in September and adds 3,760 years on the Gregorian calendar.
In the
Royal Arch, the date of Creation is “anno inventionis”, or 530 BC, the date when work commences on the
second temple by Zerubbabel.
The Royal and Select Masters degree uses the
time of the dedication of K.S. Temple, or 1,000 BC and is called “anno
depositionis.”
The
Templars (especially in Europe) count the beginning as 1,118 AD, the
founding of the Order and is called “anno ordinis.”
