Location of ark of the covenant

[Yeshua Pineault]

Peace and God Bless,

I am curious as to the claim by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church at Our Lady Mary of Zion. The Church claims that the Ark of the Covenant is held at that site as the ancestors of the modern church brought it with them. Does anyone have any in depth information on this remarkable phenomena? Also, more importantly, I would greatly appreciate any commentary and/or statements by the Eastern Orthodox on this particular claim.

My pre-emptive gratitude for your responses.

May the Holy Yoldath Aloho Bless and Protect

[Herman Blaydoe]

I have heard about the chapel in Ethiopia, guarded by a priest who is the only person allowed to enter, where the Ark of the Covenent is supposed to rest, brought by the descendents of the Queen of Sheba perhaps? I have not heard anything from an "Orthodox" source of authority on the subject. We have a young man from Ethiopia visiting our parish from time to time, I have been wanting to ask him about it. Perhaps the next time I see him...he seems a rather knowledgeable sort.

[Robert Hegwood]

From what I have read the Ethiopian description of what they hold is a little different than what those outside of them might expect.

When we say ark, we mean the big gold covered box wth angels on top. They do not. They mean a kind of gold tray that holds the tablets of the Law which was once put into the gold covered box with angels on top.

The monk who guards the ark said that the appearance of the tablets makes it difficult to look upon directly...if I recall he spoke of the surface as full of moving/shifting lights. He did not say whether it was "natural" or "spiritual" light he saw...but he was not willing to say much more than that.

[Peter Farrington]

I think it is necessary to distinguish between the 'Tabot' which are in every Church and which represent the Ark, and the Ark itself. The Tabot are indeed rectangular shaped and covered in cloth, but the tradition seems to be clear that the Ark kept in the chapel is exactly the Ark of the Covenant which was taken from the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Ethiopian people are deeply Biblical, and they would not fail to notice that the description of the Ark is not the same as that of the Tabot. But the Tabot are not exact replicas of the Ark, they rather stand for the Ark.

I have found the book - The Sign and the Seal quite good for historical material, though the concluding chapters are too Indiana Jones. Here is a bit of blurb, which from my understanding is accurate:


Zelelew rightly dated the start of construction works on the first Saint Mary's at AD 372 - which meant that this was quite possibly the earliest Christian church in sub-Saharan Africa. A great five-aisled basilica, it was regarded from its inauguration as the most sacred place in all Ethiopia. This was so because it was built to house the Ark of the Covenant - which, if there was any truth to the legends, must have arrived in the country long before the birth of Jesus and must then have been co-opted by the Christian hierarchy at some point after the new religion had been officially adopted by the Axumite state.

When Alvarez visited Saint Mary's in the 1520s - becoming, in the process, the first European to document the Ethiopian version of the legend of the Queen of Sheba and the birth of her only son Menelik - the Ark was still in the Holy of Holies of the ancient church. It did not stay there for very much longer, however. In the early 1530s, with the invading armies of Ahmed Gragn drawing ever closer, the sacred relic was removed 'to some other place of safekeeping' (Zelelew did not know where). It thus escaped the destruction and looting that the Muslims unleashed upon Axum in 1535.

A hundred years later, with peace restored throughout the empire, the Ark was brought back in triumph and installed in the second Saint Mary's - built by Fasilidas beside the razed remains of the first. And there apparently it stayed until 1965 when Haile Selassie had it moved to the new and more secure chapel put up at the same time as his own grandiose cathedral but annexed to the seventeenth-century church.

Personally I have no doubt that the Ark of the Covenant is where the Ethiopian Orthodox have always said it was.

Peter

[Kris]

Does anyone have any in depth information on this remarkable phenomena?

I would recommend you read a book called the Kebre Negest, which details this very important legend, and which has an almost canonical status within the Ethiopian Church.

I have it, but haven't yet read it. But I believe its the primary source of information concerning the origins of the Arks appearance in Ethiopia.

In XC,
Kris

[Peter Farrington]

The Kebra Nagast is online here.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=47161699&blogID=108024568&MyToken=30597df7-8777-44b3-b03f-ffa68f9042de

Peter

[Andrew]

I've read from Rastafarians and some Ethiopian Orthodox that when Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, one of his primary objectives was to steal the Ark and give it to the Pope.

I hope that the Eastern Orthodox and the Orientals can be united soon.

[John Charmley]

I've read from Rastafarians and some Ethiopian Orthodox that when Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, one of his primary objectives was to steal the Ark and give it to the Pope.

I hope that the Eastern Orthodox and the Orientals can be united soon.

Dear Andrew,

I hadn't heard that, but would not be surprised if there had been an Italian attempt to find it - which helps explain why the Ethiopians keep it so quiet.

I do so agree with your final thought - the previous talks have been so fruitful that it would be good to see some movement; still, the time scale of the Church is not that of the individual, and patience, we are told, is a virtue.

In Christ,


John

[Peter Farrington]

For those who are interested in following up the Ethiopian tradition that the Ark of the Covenant is in their care, the Oriental Orthodox Library has just republished E.A. Wallis Budge's translation of the Kebra Negast or the Book of the Glory of Kings.

You can find it here: http://www.lulu.com/orthodoxlibrary

It's an interesting read.

Peter

[Mary]

Been there. Talked to the priest (monk?) who was guarding it. He had never been to the innermost chamber where they say the ark is. We weren't even allowed into the outer chambers, so we could only talk to him. There are several of them who took turns guarding the place. None of them have seen the ark. Being skeptical protestants back then, we didn't believe there was anything in the inner chamber. We asked him if those who had retired from the guarding posts before him had seen the ark - No. They hadn't been allowed to go in there either. We tried to get him to remember as far back as he could to tell us who has been in there, or who has seen it or who had brought it, but he wasn't able to tell us. Perhaps our skeptical attitude turned him off.

I've seen a show - I don't know if it was on the history channel or national geographic - of a guy who tried to find the ark - and his search took him to the exact same spot that we were at. He didn't have any better luck that we did of either getting in, or finding someone who had been in there either.

Oh yeah - I also remember asking him if he wasnt' curious to see what was in there and he just said 'No'. =)

Mary.