caption canonized_by death_place canonized_date birth_place imagesize venerated_in article_title name canonized_place
dionysius calculating the date of easter . exiguus invented '' anno domini '' years while the synod of the romanian orthodox church rome , italia , byzantine empire 8 july 2008 scythia minor , byzantine empire 200 romanian orthodox church dionysius exiguus
 st. liturgical year -rrb- dionysius exiguus -lrb- first day of the byzantine bucharest
dionysius exiguus

dionysius exiguus -lrb- dennis the small , dennis the dwarf , dennis the little or dennis the short , meaning humble -rrb- -lrb- -- -rrb- was a 6th-century monk born in scythia minor -lrb- probably modern dobruja , which is in romania and bulgaria -rrb- .
he was a member of the scythian monks community concentrated in tomis , the major city of scythia minor .
dionysius is best known as the `` inventor '' of the anno domini -lrb- ad -rrb- era , which is used to number the years of both the gregorian calendar and the -lrb- christianized -rrb- julian calendar .
from about 500 he lived in rome , where , as a learned member of the roman curia , he translated from greek into latin 401 ecclesiastical canons , including the apostolical canons and the decrees of the councils of nicaea , constantinople , chalcedon and sardis , and also a collection of the decretals of the popes from siricius to anastasius ii .
these collections had great authority in the west and still guide church administrations .
dionysius also wrote a treatise on elementary mathematics .
the author of a continuation of dionysius 's `` computus '' , writing in 616 , described dionysius as a `` most learned abbot of the city of rome '' , and the venerable bede accorded him the honorific `` abbas '' , which could be applied to any monk , especially a senior and respected monk , and does not necessarily imply that dionysius ever headed a monastery ; indeed , dionysius 's friend cassiodorus stated in `` institutiones '' that he was still a monk late in life .
