Some years ago mysteries were a favorite subject of research in the religion of the Hellenistic and Roman age. Scholars were almost exclusively concerned with the mysteries originating in the Near East and Egypt and the mysteries of Dionysos were mentioned only in passing. This is understandable, for the literary sources are scarce and widely scattered, the monuments are, though numerous, dispersed and very often difficult to interpret. Father Festugière included in his paper on the Dionysiac mysteries a lengthy treatment of the later ones, especially their organization, and Cumont appended to the last edition of his book on the Oriental religions in Roman paganism a discussion of the Bacchic mysteries, in which his chief purpose was to show that they were influenced by the Orient.

The circumstances and the proceedings of the Council of Jerusalem, as they are presented in the Acts of the Apostles, will come readily to every reader's mind. Gentile converts at Antioch had been disturbed by Judaeo-Christians who insisted on the rite of circumcision; so that a delegation was sent from the Syrian community to consult the apostles and presbyters of the mother church. Paul and Barnabas, veteran missionaries now, were chosen to lead the band. The session in the Holy City opened with a general discussion, which subsided when St. Peter rose to speak:

Brethren, you know that in former days God made choice among you that the Gentiles should hear from my lips the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, the Knower of hearts, bore them witness, giving to them the Holy Spirit, just as to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, having purified their hearts with the faith.…

These six short papers should be taken as notes supplementary to my book The Monks of Athos; after each title I give the reference to the page of the book, except for the last paper, Learning on Mount Athos, as this stands rather apart. The material for it is drawn almost entirely from the published catalogues of the Athos libraries.

I am indebted to Mr. Neil Ker for first drawing my attention to the presence of these small papyrus fragments in the Library of Magdalen College, Oxford, to the Librarian, Dr. C. T. Onions, for enabling me to study them, and to the President and Fellows of the College for permitting their publication.

The fragments were purchased by the Reverend Charles B. Huleatt in Luxor in 1901 and presented by him to his old College through the then Librarian, the Reverend H. A. Wilson. It is probable that there were further fragments of the same leaf since a letter by Mr. Huleatt to the Librarian refers to purchases of fragments from the same manuscript in successive years, but nothing beyond what is published below is now extant in the Library. The fragments were correctly identified by their purchaser, and assigned by him to the third century A.D.; a note in the Librarian's report for 1901 reads: “Mr. Huleatt supposes them to be of the third century; but Dr. Hunt who recently examined the fragments thinks they may be assigned with more probability to the fourth century.”

Between 456 and 466, we are told by Cyril of Scythopolis (Vita S. Sabae, 9), S. Saba, sent on a mission from Palestine to Alexandria, was surprised to meet his father John, from whom he had been parted at the age of five in 444. In that year John had been conscripted and drafted into the numerus Isaurorum at Alexandria; now, under the name of Conon, he had risen to command of the unit. He was overjoyed at being reunited to his son, and suggested that he στρατεύεσθαι καὶ πρεσβύτερον τοῦ νουμέρου γενέσθαι.

The study on the “crown of thorns” by H. St.J. Hart has presented a large body of interesting material, with elaborate documentation from previous studies, to show that the crown was made from the long spikes that grow on the base of the rachis, or axis, of the date palm frond. He has illustrated many such crowns from pagan coins, and pointed out that the long spikes were used to represent the radiations which were common for the crown of, primarily, Helios. He concludes that the crown made for Jesus was not one of torture but of mockery, to go with the other appurtenances of royalty put on Jesus by the soldiers. To this Bonner has published an additional note which, quoting from Apuleius, attests the use of such a crown at Lucius' initiation into the mysteries of Isis.