The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-04-20

only fear is that the manuscripts will be found in a sad state as a result of neglect.
 The fine libraries of the Byzantine empire were taken by the Turks in 1453. The greatest number of books are deposited. not in St. Sophia's, as popularly believed, but in the imperial palace about a quar- ter of mile from the church. Under Turkish rule these libraries were added to from time to time, the most notable acquisition resulting froH1 the defeat by the Turks of the King of Hungary, whose collection of books was brought to Con stantinopIe and placed either in St. Sophia or the palace library.
 "The shelves of the palace library" said Sir Edwin, have been constantly picked over, and the most important manuscripts probably have been stolen or destroyed. At present what is shown to visitors is a room about 30 feet long and 15 wide, nicely fitted up with glass cases contain ing books with well polished bindings. But there is not a book displayed which an archeologist would consider worth having. The cellars, however, contain hundreds of manuscripts which have never yet been satisfactorily examined.
 "The library in St. Sophia's also con tains many unclassified works, and it may be that they Include manuscripts sf inn portance.
 The greatest DfluS Ol EldHuSCflplS Uldue in the vicinity of Constantinople during the last half century were not in the palace or St. Sophia libraries, but in local libraries belonging to the Greek church. One of these, which Sir Edwin terms the most important theological find of the century. was a book containing the teachings of the Twelve Apostles, doc ument frequently quoted in the early centuries of Christian literature. The loy I,o1f of ha a haep cOnied a nd preserved, but the complete copy was lost until about 40 years ago.
 'At that time," Sir Edwin said "the grand old scholar, Bishop Briennius of Nicomedia, the modern Ismid, one of the few Greek scholars who not only knows Greek we'll but is an authority on paleog- ra phy. was looking for the epistles of St. Clement.
 'Tn the library of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Constantipole he came across a small volume entitled simply. Saint Clement It contained not only the epistles of St. Clement, but the teach ings of the Twelve Apostles, lost since about 1050 Some authorities date the book as early as 70, some as late 120.
 Another book of equal value was dis covered in the library of St. Sophia in about 1S75 called The Manuscripts of Critobolus' This is the only record we possess containing an account from the Greek side of the siege of Constantinople. I was the first to take advantage of this find in my writings of the siege. The book unearthed by Critobolus was life Of Mohammed. It revealed how the Greeks turned Romans to save their skins
 Another library which Sir Edwin plans to explore is at Mt Athos, peninsula devoted to the Greek church since HOO. It is situated between Constantinople and Saloniki. About 15 years ago Greek made some interesting discoveries there. Sir Edwin visited it shortly after the discovery of the teachings of the apos- ties and learned from the librarian that ncne of the books were properly clas- sfied.
 St. Athos escaped molestation by the Turks The only time the library was violated was in 1894, when a large num- Der of manuscripts were cut up for haver- sacks for Turkish soldiers.
 Monks only live there nothing feminine being allowed on the place, not even hens. COWS or mares.