Dictionary term
Indiction
Direct answer
Indiction: An Indiction is a recurring fifteen-year numbering cycle used in late Roman, Byzantine, medieval, and ecclesiastical documents.
An Indiction labels a year position within a repeating fifteen-year cycle.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Calendars & Timekeeping
- Also appears in
- Calendars & Timekeeping
- Aliases
- None listed
- Last updated
- 2026-07-16
Quick reference
- Use when
- Use Indiction in manuscript, charter, and church-calendar chronology with the regional starting rule specified.
- Do not use it for
- Do not assign a unique modern year from an indiction number alone.
- Reference category
- Calendars & Timekeeping
- Related terms
- Regnal Year, Anno Domini, Calendar, Julian Date
The story behind Indiction
The cycle developed from Roman fiscal administration and continued long after its original tax function faded.
Indiction in spiritual tradition
Spiritually, the indiction is best treated as documentary context rather than a mystical fifteen-year pattern.
The Great Almanac frames Indiction with educational restraint. Mystical or symbolic language may be meaningful, but it should not be exaggerated into certainty, panic, or permission to ignore ordinary responsibility.
Indiction in the Bible
This is a factual calendar, astronomy, Earth-science, cultural-history, or observational reference. It can support wonder and practical planning without becoming a claim of fate, spiritual causation, or private revelation.
Indiction in numerology
Indiction is not a numerology claim. Any numbers attached to it should retain their ordinary scientific, calendrical, navigational, or historical meaning unless a separate symbolic interpretation is clearly labeled.
Why Indiction matters
Because the cycle repeats, an indiction number helps date a document only when combined with an era, ruler, or other evidence.
Example in a reading: A manuscript saying indiction 7 does not by itself identify which occurrence of year 7 is meant.
Interpretive caution: Do not assign a unique modern year from an indiction number alone.
How Indiction is used in a reading
Use Indiction in manuscript, charter, and church-calendar chronology with the regional starting rule specified.
Where interpretation stops
Indiction is presented as sourced astronomy, calendrical, Earth-science, cultural, or instrument-history reference. Definitions should distinguish measured phenomena from civil convention and historical interpretation, preserve location and time dependencies, and avoid turning factual sky data into a deterministic personal claim.
Sources and editorial method
Research references used for this entry include:
- U.S. Naval Observatory: Introduction to Calendars - Official overview of calendar systems, leap rules, eras, and historical calendar reform.
The page starts with a direct definition, then separates use, example, caution, spiritual meaning, and historical context. For astrology, occult, demonology, curse, and spiritual warfare terms, the editorial rule is to explain the term without making fear-based, fatalistic, medical, legal, financial, or ritual-instruction claims.
Continue learning
Place this timekeeping idea beside the current sky, universal timing, and live celestial positions.
Open Worldwide WatchRelated terms
These related entries help place Indiction inside a wider reference cluster instead of leaving it as a standalone keyword.
