“So you can fit more people in?”
The custom had at first seemed strange to Benjamin. Bucolus and Polycarp took the meal that had been prepared for the four men into the eating room. Varying numbers of brethren arrived with food to share, placing it on a low table in the centre of the room. They all perched on whatever was available to sit on, with one of an odd assortment of pottery bowls balanced on their knees
During the second week of their visit, the young man seated next to Benjamin spoke to him, asking, “What is Ephesus like?”
Swallowing what he had been eating, Benjamin replied to the unexpected question, “It used to be peaceful.”
“Used to be?”
“The governor was more interested in keeping the peace and sponsoring the arts, but he has been recalled to Rome, and the new governor
