Canon LXXXIX. (Greek xcii.)
That bishops who are ordained shall receive letters from
their ordainers bearing the date and the name of the consul.
further seemed good that
whoever thereafter should be ordained by the bishops throughout the
African provinces, should receive from their ordainers letters, written
in their own hands, containing the name of the consul and the date, that no altercation might arise concerning which were ordained first and which afterwards.
Notes.
Whoever is ordained in Africa let him have letters
signed by the proper hand of him that ordained him, containing the date
and the name of the Consul.
This is Canon iij. of Milevis, 402.
It is evident from this canon that the church in this
age followed the date of the civil government, which was in the
consulship of Caius and Titius, as our civil date is in the 1st, 2d, 3d, etc., year of the reign of our King or Queen.