The Ancient Witnesses

50 • The Ancient Witnesses: A Journey to Discover Our Sacred Roots

the Nicene Creed. As we talked, Ephrem pulled one of his Midrasha or hymn books from the shelf to explain a passage in Hymns of Paradise where he describes the Serpent as if it were a dog! “I thought you didn’t like books,” I said. “The written Midrasha —has its place,” he admitted. Then he sang a little song that described his writings as “footprints left behind by an author no longer present.” I wish I could remember all of the words. Reading Reflections At this point I closed the book by Ephrem the Syrian in order to ponder the wondrous experience of “reading” in this place. The four of us were, of course, from a modern, literate society where reading is most often a silent and solitary act. 12 In elementary school we had “silent reading time.” In this library, however, reading was an auditory experience—you literally heard the words being read aloud. More than that, with a little practice, the books on the shelves became living characters, and the more you “read” them the better you knew them. I had heard the names of Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian and Origen before, but here they were becoming familiar friends. As my fellow students lifted their heads, we shared our impressions of the ancient fathers we had met. “They’re like children,” said Preacher. “If that’s true, then they’re very smart children!” replied Joseph. “They seemed naïve to me,” I agreed, “but now I’m thinking that they just think differently than we do.”

12 Ancient cultures were “oral” in that they prized the spoken word above writing, and read aloud.