Topic:  What do the abbreviations B.C. and A.D. mean?

Source of this posting: Moderator response

Date originally posted: December 29, 2003

Moderator who originally posted this source: Fr. John

Question:  I understand that B.C. stands for before Christ. I also understand that A.D. is for anno Domini which, according to the dictionary, is in a specified year of the Christian era.However, what my husband, my parents, and I have all been trying to figure out is when A.D. began.My husband and my mother are under the impression that A.D. means after death and, therefore, began upon Christ's death. (My mother has gone so far as to cite that she learned in school that there were 33 years which had no designation of B.C. or A.D. following them.)However, my father and I believe that A.D. began when Christ was born (e.g. the year of our Lord), since we have found references that when Christ went to the temple, he was 12 years old and it was in the year 12 A.D.Therefore, would you be so kind as to clarify when the year A.D. began?Thank you very much.

Answer: 

Dear Marlene,

Good question! A.D. is the abbreviation for the Latin “anno Domini”, “in the year of the Lord”, a designation for the Christian era, based on the calculation of the date of the birth of Jesus by the 6th Century Russian monk Dionysius Exiguus. The Russian monk’s calculation was off by some years as Jesus was born before the death of Herod the Great, who died in 4 B.C. (“before Christ”)! So, if we figure (for example) that Jesus was born in 4 B.C. (sounds funny doesn’t it), A.D. would have started when Jesus turns 4 years old. Then, Jesus would have been in the Temple at 12 years old in the year 8 A.D. using these figures.

In today’s writings many authors prefer B.C.E. (“before common era”) and C.E. (“common era”) in deference to peoples of other faiths.

I hope this sheds some light on your family discussion there.

Merry Christmas to you, and many blessings for our new year, supposedly 2004 A.D. or C.E. whichever you prefer.

Father John