On the Melitians in P. London VI (P. Jews) 1914: The Problem of Papas Heraiscus

Until 1924 our knowledge of the Melitian ^l schism was based exclusively on orthodox sources which include several official ecclesiastical documents and the writings of Athanasius which are often biased. ² Only Epiphanius seems to have used some Melitian material. ³ In 1924, however, H. I. Bell, in collaboration with W. E. Crum, published a series of seven Greek and three Coptic papyri, ⁴ to which Crum later added another Coptic text (JEA 13 [1927] 19–21); all the texts dated from the years 330–40, and they belonged to the archive ⁵ of Aurelius Pageus (Apa Paiêous), ⁶ head of the 448monastery called Hathor in the Upper Cynopolite nome. He is now commonly thought to have been the general superior of all Melitian monks as well. ⁷ For the first time information was available from the Melitian camp.