Note 310 — Chapter I · THE CHURCH’S YEAR (continued 2)

[This refers to the ancient practice of dating the years of an emperor’s reign, not from the actual date of his accession, but from the New Year’s Day either preceding or following his accession. The years of the emperor’s reign were thus brought into artificial agreement with the calendar year. Numbering the years of the emperor’s reign from the actual date of his accession is, in Mommsen’s phrase, taking them as effektiv.—Trans.]