Archive 2479

Nothing to do: The ark of the covenant of Ethiopia is false!  Isaac de Karpet, Armenian Patriarch of the library of the monastery of St. James in Jerusalem, along with his brother Dimoteo Sapritchian, undertook a journey diplomat on behalf of the British authorities at a time of ‘ Abyssinia in 1867. In 1869 they reached the city of Aksum, the spiritual center of Ethiopia. The two Armenians had known that there was kept the most important relic of the Ethiopian Church, which consisted of a tabot, or stone tablet, believed to be the original of the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. But to see the tabot, Isaac and Dimoteo had to get permission of the clergy of Aksum, and the priest in charge of the chapel said that they would be allowed only if they first recognized the authenticity of the relic. Dimoteo replied that according to the Bible the Commandments were written on two tables of stone, not one. Thrown then the assumptions of a theological dispute, the priests of Aksum launched into a long and bizarre explanation “historical” in favor of their release. They said to Isaac and Dimoteo that Menelik, son of the legendary King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, had stolen the tabot from the temple of Jerusalem; nine hundred years after an Ethiopian named Ezekiel had reported in the Holy City. Met Jesus, had they shown and asked him: “Do you accept the commandments or not?”. He did not answer, but he turned the tablet and had traced with his finger in golden letters: “Do you accept all that are here.” Ezekiel was back to Aksum with tabot, which over the centuries had become supreme relic of the Christian church of Ethiopia. At the end of the story and Isaac Dimoteo still had not changed his mind, so the priests of Aksum continued to deny access to the relic. After the death of the ruler of abissinia Teodoro, the crown prince of Ethiopia, Kasa, decided to establish friendly relations with the Armenians personally intervening in the affairs of the Church. Hastened to Aksum, and on his arrival broke the deadlock doctrinal and deposed his priests, declaring them uncouth, uneducated and incompetent. Then took Isaac and Dimoteo chapel and showed them the ‘Ark of the Covenant. The relic to what is reported in the story of Isaac, had a very low similarity, not to say anything, with the great ark coated with gold as described in the Bible: it was simply a small wooden box that had been manufactured according Dimoteo in the Indian subcontinent, anything but unlikely, given the position of Ethiopia on the ancient trade route that connected the Middle East and India via the Red Sea. Dall ‘ark Indian was extracted tabot and Dimoteo could keep it in his hands. Reddish in color, 24 cm high, 22 wide and spesso3, the tabot bore carved around the edge a floral pattern and another ornamental motif chain; at the center, in two columns, was engraved with the “Ten Commandments”. The text was written in ancient Hebrew, but in letters in the opinion of Dimoteo were unequivocally Ethiopians, as the “turkish style”. Towards the bottom of the tablet were symbols that neither Dimoteo nor the priests were able to decipher. Judging from the incision reproduced in the book of Dimoteo were probably the letters I and S, which were for the Lord Iesus, a legend that is found on many objects of medieval Christians. Dimoteo and its patriarch were clearly embarrassed and harassed by their guest because pronunciassero a definitive judgment, kindly agreed on the Mosaic origin of the table. Leaving the chapel, to their great relief, they found a guard of honor English waiting for them to escort them to the coastal road that would have brought back home. Arrived safe and sound in San Giacomo, Dimoteo, that living in Jerusalem was to be used to recognize the false antiquities, he admitted that the tablet does not seem at all old and that probably was a rough copy of the original stone tablets delivered by God to Moses; dated it then tabot the thirteenth or fourteenth century AD