The Ancient Witnesses

Chapter 3: The Beginning of Time

During the break I strolled around our arena, leaving by one of four small gates—these were positioned at 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, 9 o’clock, and 12:00—leading to the surrounding sections where hundreds of ancient witnesses awaited the call to testify. Mentor, I learned, called this place “the Crux,” which makes sense since it was where the overlapping crosses converged at the center. I asked him about the seating arrangement within the Crux. He pointed out two sets of choir stalls—one for the pre-Nicene and the other for Nicene and post-Nicene witnesses 1 —arranged on either side of the threefold lectern, and three high back chairs near the 12:00 o’clock gate. These, he explained, were for the Church Historians. 2

1 Pre-Nicene (more commonly called Ante-Nicene) witnesses were those who lived and wrote before the Nicene Council met in AD 325. Nicene and Post-Nicene were those who live and wrote during or after the Council.

2 For Eusebius of Caesarea, Socrates of Constantinople, and Evagrius of Antioch, the three ancient Church historians.

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