With the 5th chapter of the book of
Genesis is connected the problem of the Biblical chronology. It is well known
that in Byzantium and in Russia, before the rule of Peter the Great they
counted years "since the creation of the world," not beginning with the
Navity of Christ. Such chronology is accepted in the contemporary church
calendars, though it is more and more subjected to criticism, for it is known
that our earth appeared several billions of years ago.
We can give two answers for solving this problem.
First: what exactly should we take for the date of "the creation of the
world"? On the words of prophet Moses, Ap. Peter and the greatest church
interpreter of the Holy Scripture St. Basil the Great, the époque of the
world’s creation should be understood as very prolonged periods, for as the 7th
day, which finished the course of the 6 days of creation, the Church calls the
entire, lasting at present period, till the end of the world, when to change
the 7th day there will come the 8th day, without a night,
which will be infinite.
Consequently, when did the 6th day
finish and when did the 7th day start? According to the sense of the
corresponding narration of the book of Genesis we can say: then, when the
creation of the man in the present spirit-bearing state was over. But when this
moment took part in the historical process, we do not know. It is important to
note here that none of the historical testimonies about the religious life of
the man, anything like writings, steps beyond the limits of what it is said in
the Bible.
Secondly, the unchangeable word of God, the holy
Bible, does not give any chronological schemes to us. It gives only the years
of lives of the Patriarchs — the descendents of Adam till the Flood and then
after the Flood till Abraham. Calculating these years, some pious monk of the
Middle Ages, Dionysius Exiguus (the same, who calculated the year of the Navity
of Christ), had counted the years since the Creation of the World, and this
era, exclusively in the terms of its convenience, was accepted in
Byzantium, and borrowed from Byzantium by Russia.
Though if we look attentively at the Biblical
text, we shall see that it does not give the precise chronology. In reality,
what does the Bible say? "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years,
and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name
Seth: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years:
and he begat sons and daughters: And all the days that Adam lived were nine
hundred and thirty years." And like this it is said about every
descendant of Adam: the years of their lives are given, before the birth of the
mentioned children and after it.
But the matter is in the fact that the Biblical
expression "X. the son of Y." and "Y. begat X." do not
always mean that this X. was his son directly. In the Old Testament we see that
about almost all the kings of Judea it is said "he did as David, his
son," or "he did not do as David, his father." And in
the New Testament Christ the Savior is called the son of David, Son of Abraham
and Son of Adam. In the pedigree of the Lord, given by Ap. Mathew, we see that
when the Evangelist says: "And Ozias begat Joatham," then he
omits 4 generations (compare math. 1:9 and 4 Kings chap. 11 and 15, and 1 Kings
3:10).
Consequently, when the Bible says that Y. Has son
X., we should understand that X is the direct descendent of Y, and how many
generations are between them — it cannot be asserted. Ozias begat Joatham, but
between them they have four generations! Christ the Savior is the son of Davis,
but between them there are around 30 generations, Christ the Savior is the son
of Abraham, but they have almost 50 generations in between, Christ the Savior
is the Son of Adam, but between them is a huge, impossible to count even
approximately, multitude of generations. But only one thing is immutable and
absolutely authentic for us: if someone is called in the Holy Bible the son of
X., then he is his direct descendant. Christ the Savior is the son of David,
son of Abraham, son of Adam, for He is their direct descendant. This is what is
asserted and emphasized by the Holy Scripture, because it is exactly what we
need to know, to see in Christ the authentic Savior of the world, proclaimed to
the first people by God.
Thus, the calculations concerning chronology
are not the aim of the Bible. This, like all the scientific or historical
researches, the Lord leaves to the people, who feel the calling to do such
laborious but non-essential for salvation occupations.
In order to understand why such chronology was
convenient for Byzantium, one needs to recall that Byzantium was a cultural and
political heiress both of Rome and eastern monarchies, and before the Byzantium
chronologists there was a hard to resolve task: for their historical labors
they needed to combine the various methods of chronology: the Roman — from the
foundation of Rome, the Greek — concerning the Olympiads, and besides the
Hellenic-Syrian Era of Seleucids (since 312 AD, look, chap. 1, Mac.) and the
most compound calendar systems — the Alexandrian and Babylonian.
The religious motives even then dictated the
preference of the era of the Navity of Christ. According to the church
understanding, since the time of the Coming of Christ into the world, He Alone
really, in the full meaning of the word, reigns and rules, and the terrestrial
kings only rule temporarily. "The One is the King and Lord," says
about the Savior the church chant. "Christ is our King" — exclaimed
holy martyrs, denying subduing to the terrestrial kings-tormentors. That was
why it was so natural for the Christian consciousness in the countries, where
the chronology was according to the number of years of rule of this or that
leader, to enter the chronology according to the years of rule of Christ the
Lord — since the day of His Navity.
But in practice, for the Byzantine historians the
era of the Navity of Christ was not convenient, for the Navity of Christ was
then a very proximate date. Narrating the story of Alexander of Macedonia, of
ancient Rome, Pompeii, Caesar, it was needed to tell the year before the Navity
of Christ. This inconvenience can be felt by us, but for us it is rather
diminished by the fact that the date of the Navity of Christ now is rather far
from us in time, and this inconvenience becomes notable only while narrating
the history of the centuries, close to it.
Due to all these reasons, the calculated by
Dionysius Exiguus era, since the creation of the world was willingly accepted
by the Byzantine historians and taken from them by the state. Though very often
in the Byzantine documents we find both the dates: since the creation of the
world, and starting with the Navity of Christ.
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