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The August Poems in the Chronography of 354
Finally! At last we have more than one manuscript containing an image for August, the first month where this is so since March. Here is the 4-line poem (tetrastich): Fontanos latices et lucida pocula...
View ArticlePetrus Crabbe and an online bibliography of Franciscan authors (13th-18th...
The earliest author of a big collection of the canons of church councils was a Franciscan chap called Pierre Crabbé, or rather Petrus Crabbe, according to the pleasant custom of the time. In 1532 he...
View ArticlePetrus Crabbe (Pierre Crabbé) – first collector of all the church councils?
Church councils tend to issue lists of regulations; or, in the jargon, “canons”. These have been collected since antiquity, in all sorts of forms. Once the era of printing arrived, inevitably the...
View ArticleFrom my diary
I’ve been feeling guilty for not getting the August post out there from the Chronography of 354. I have the draft materials on disk, but I do have to do some work, and I have had no time. At least...
View ArticleSome thoughts about the term “theotokos”, used for Mary the mother of the Lord
In the 5th century an Egyptian priest was disciplined by Nestorius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, for describing Mary the mother of Jesus as Θεοτόκος, “theotokos”. Cyril, the Patriarch of...
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From My Diary
Since late May, I have been beset by an almost farcical number of trivial circumstances, each requiring my full attention, yet of no importance once they are dealt with. Without going into much...
View ArticleSeverus Sebokht, “Letter to Basil of Cyprus” (ca. 662) on ‘Arabic’ numerals
The first reference to what we today call “Arabic” numerals comes in a letter by the Syriac scholar, Severus Sebokht, in about 662 AD. The letter is often referenced in the literature, but has never...
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