For One Million Dollars? 
Posted on 01/25/2012 9:26:36 AM PST by marshmallow
There are many worthy pilgrimage sites all over the world, but none can boast of anything approaching the Church of Ethiopia’s singular claim to fame: the Ark of the Covenant. Ethiopian Christians maintain that the Ark, the portable shrine holding the stone tablets of the original Ten Commandments that were written atop Mount Sinai by the Finger of God, and bearing (according to numerous Old Testament accounts) the Presence and Power of God, was brought to Ethiopia in 950 B.C. Menelik, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, is said to have taken it there, and it is now housed in a modest chapel next door to the Church of St. Mary of Zion in Axum, a city in northern Ethiopia.
However, before you book a flight to Addis Ababa and flag down the next land rover for a lift to Axum, be aware that while Ethiopians insist that the Ark is there, no one is actually allowed to see it. No one, that is, except the High Priest of Axum, an aged monk who is charged with protecting the Ark and is expected to spend his days doing nothing else. Indeed, he can’t do anything else, for he is confined to the chapel that houses the Ark, and a small yard outside.
On his deathbed he is charged with designating his own successor, who may be forgiven for taking the duty as a dubious blessing: the Ethiopians remember and take very seriously all the Old Testament prohibitions on touching the Ark, and the accounts of its fearsome holy power. One British explorer who tried to get permission to see the Ark recounted what the monks told him, sounding as if he were reading from the script of the next Indiana Jones movie:
If I approached the Ark.........
(Excerpt) Read more at crisismagazine.com ...
If it’s really there, we ought to simply go and take it.
There aren’t too many places outside the USA that I would like to see, let alone in Africa but Ethiopia is an interesting place.
“Today this Church, and the people who have so lovingly protected and preserved it for so many centuries, is – like all the strains of Eastern Christianity – increasingly endangered. Muslims make up only one-third of the Ethiopian population, but they are in in recent years in Ethiopia (as in many other parts of the world) growing markedly more assertive and aggressive. In March 2011, a Muslim mob in Ethiopia burned down 69 churches and displaced thousands of people in riots triggered by rumors that a Christian had desecrated a copy of the Qur’an. Then last April, four Muslims went to Kale Hiwot church, a Protestant church in Worabe (a predominantly Muslim area of Ethiopia) and told the pastor, Abraham Abera, that one of his closest friends was seriously ill and that he should visit him immediately. Once they had convinced Abera to go with them, they turned on him and beat him to death. When his pregnant wife ran up to try to save him, they began beating her as well. One of the attackers made their motive clear, saying: “You (Christians) are growing in number in our area. You are spreading your message (the gospel). We will destroy you.” And in November, a mob of 500 Muslims, including policemen, shouted “Allahu akbar” (Allah is greatest) as they burnt down a church that they claimed had been built without the proper permits, although it had been standing on that spot for over sixty years.”
-—There are many worthy pilgrimage sites all over the world, but none can boast of anything approaching the Church of Ethiopia’s singular claim to fame: the Ark of the Covenant...-—
Really? How about Jesus’ burial cloth? Juan Diego’s tilma? The Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano? God’s not exactly holding out on us.
And this is a Catholic mag?
-—There are many worthy pilgrimage sites all over the world, but none can boast of anything approaching the Church of Ethiopia’s singular claim to fame: the Ark of the Covenant...-—
Really? How about Jesus’ burial cloth? Juan Diego’s tilma? The Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano? God’s not exactly holding out on us.
And this is a Catholic mag?
“Thou shalt not steal”: that’s written on the Tablets of the Law, plausibly still to be found within the Ark.
So if it were the real Ark of the Covenant I can’t think of anything more ill-judged than seizing it by force.
I read on another thread that the hovel where they keep it has a leaky roof.
Think of it as a preservation measure. Plus, we’ll send ‘em a check.
Bad plan. Not even half baked.
Very bad plan.
Seems to me that if God wanted us to have the Ark we would have it now.
Indiana Jones pulled it off without too much repercussion.
Ironically, the only ancient liturgical church that shares Fundamentalist Protestantism’s enthusiasm for Judaeo-chrstian syncretism and “Hebrew roots” is the Ethiopian Church. The Ethiopians also claim to be the only chrstian church totally free of the heresy of Marcionism.
For One Million Dollars?
Since the author has access to Maccabees (part of the Catholic canon), he should know that the Ark is hidden until Christ gathers his flock at the end.
—Seems to me that if God wanted us to have the Ark we would have it now.—
Why?
You have chosen...wisely. But the Grail cannot pass beyond the great seal. That is the boundary, and the price of immortality.
Ah, but it only looked like Indie got away with it.
Just look what happened to him. He was forced to star in the “Crystal Skull” (shudder)
Relax, its in a warehouse in Nevada.
No way. Such an honor should be reserved for the president.
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