Senator Aurelius Cassiodorus (490-583) was not so much a celebrated politician as the eminent abbot of the monastery of Vivarium, which he founded after leaving his secular career. As a former disciple of Dionysius Exiguus, for whom he had the greatest admiration, Cassiodorus dedicated the most part of his work Institutiones Divinarum et Saecularium Litterarum to him, knowing too well that he was writing about “the father of the Christian era”. It is also evident that Dionysius was included, ipso scripto, in Saint Andrew’s apostolic tradition, as it was underlined that he was “of Scythian origin”.
