The Ancient Witnesses

Chapter 1: A Journey to Nicaea • 39

“You scared the life out of us, that’s why,” said Joseph. “What happened to you?” I asked. “I was just listening to the book,” he explained, though he could see by our expressions we did not understand. “Try it yourself,” he said, “put your head down here, next to the book.” Joseph and I looked at each other: if Cesar was hallucinating, we needed to get him to a doctor quickly. We looked the table over, but there seemed to be nothing unusual about it. None of us dared to try out Cesar’s discovery. “That’s fine,” said Cesar, “bring me another book.” Joseph handed him Justin Martyr’s First Apology . Cesar open the book and placed it face down on the table, then he rested his forehead on the table next to it. In a moment the eerie glow reappeared, and Cesar began reciting the book, word for word. After a while, Cesar lifted his head on his own. Preacher sat down at the table and tried out the “reader” next; then Joseph, and finally me. Soon we were all bringing books from the shelves to the table to read, or rather to have read to us. It’s hard to describe what this experience was like. Cesar called it virtual reality, and with a little practice I too began to see images and to sense impressions which followed the reading. For example, while reading the Martrydom of Polycarp , I could feel the heat and see the flames which, miraculously, did not harm Polycarp. Feeling more drawn into the scene with each page, I lifted my head to stop the reading before Polycarp’s persecutors found another way to put him to death. I next began reading an epic parable called The Shepherd of Hermas . This was a fascinating