The Ark of the Covenant at Axum
Ethiopia's church says the Ark of the Covenant is kept in a chapel in Axum. Only one monk is allowed to see it.
What was reported
In the Bible, the Ark of the Covenant is the chest that held the tablets of the Ten Commandments, kept in the Temple in Jerusalem until it vanished from history. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church holds that it is in Axum, in a chapel beside the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion.
The story, told in the medieval book Kebra Nagast, is that Menelik, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, brought it from Jerusalem. One monk is appointed to guard it for life; he never leaves the chapel grounds, and no one else may see it.
Explanations offered
Because no outsider has been allowed to see it, the claim can't be tested, and most historians are doubtful. Every Ethiopian Orthodox church keeps a tabot, a consecrated copy of the tablets, which shows how central the belief is to Ethiopian faith.
- When
- Claimed for centuries
- Where
- Axum, Tigray, Ethiopia
- Witnesses
- A single guardian monk
- Status
- Never shown
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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