Jun 28, 2009

Where is the Holy Ark?

A few days ago it was reported that an Ethiopian Patriarch was considering revealing the secret of the Lost Ark, and the Ark itself, and how his church has been holding it for thousands of years, and would likely do so on Friday in Italy.

Turns out he preferred keeping the secret (or had nothing to show) and said nothing on Friday. He had not even scheduled a press conference.

World Net Daily has the whole story. Nobody knows what is true and what is not, but it is definitely a fascinating story....

The agency had reported an announcement would be made at the Hotel Aldrovandi in Rome, and a hotel spokeswoman told WND Pauolos had been in residence there, but no news conference or event was scheduled.

"The Ark of the Covenant is in Ethiopia for many centuries," said Pauolos in the report. "As a patriarch I have seen it with my own eyes and only few highly qualified persons could do the same, until now."

Bob Cornuke, biblical investigator, international explorer and best-selling author, has participated in more than 27 expeditions around the world searching for lost locations described in the Bible. A man some consider a real-life Indiana Jones, he has written a book titled "Relic Quest" about the Ark of the Covenant and participated in History Channel production called "Digging for Truth."

Next week, Cornuke will travel to Ethiopia for the 13th time since he began his search for the Ark. He told WND he believes it is possible Ethiopia could have the real artifact.

"They either have the Ark of the Covenant or they have a replica that they have believed to be the Ark of the Covenant for 2,000 years," he said.

Cornuke said, if it is genuine, there's a plausible explanation of how the Ark may have come to the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Ethiopia.

"The Ark could have been taken out of the temple during the time of the atrocities of Manasseh," he said. "We have kind of a bread crumb trail that appears to go to Egypt, and it stayed on an island there for a couple hundred years called Elephantine Island. The Ark then was transferred over to Lake Tana in Ethiopia where it stayed on Tana Qirqos Island for 800 years. Then it was taken to Axum, where it is enshrined in a temple today where they don't let anybody see it." Cornuke said he traveled to Tana Qirqos Island and lived with monks who remain there even today.

"They unlocked this big, four-inch thick wood door," he said. "It opened up to a treasure room, and they showed me meat forks and bowls and things that they say are from Solomon's temple. When the History Channel did this show, they said it was one of the largest viewed shows. People were fascinated."

He said Ethiopians consider the Ark to be the ultimate holy object, and the church guards the suspected artifact from the "eyes and pollution of man."

"In Ethiopia, their whole culture is centered around worshipping this object," Cornuke said. "Could they have the actual Ark? I think I could make a case that they actually could."
[...]
Cornuke explained that a special guardian lives inside the church which reportedly holds the Ark and never leaves. Once a guardian is appointed, he stays until he dies and another man replaces him.

"We know for a fact that there have been 30 guardians in history who have never left that enclosure," Cornuke said. "I know the guardian. When CNN and BBC went over there, he wouldn't see anybody but me. So I went and talked to him, and he's getting very aged. He told me they have the real Ark and he worships 13 hours a day in front of it. When he gets through, he is covered in sweat and he's exhausted."

He said he met a 105-year-old man who claimed to have seen the Ark 50 years ago when he was training a replacement guardian.

"It frightened him to death when he got a glimpse of it."

Cornuke said he also met with the president of Ethiopia nearly nine years ago and had a one-on-one conversation with him in his palace. He asked if Ethiopia had the Ark of the Covenant.

According to Cornuke, the president responded: "Yes, we do. I am the president, and I know. It's not a copy. It's the real thing."

6 comments:

  1. Thanks but I've seen the movie.

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  2. No one knows what really happened to the Ark. Its lost in the mists of time as much as the origin of the Jews in Ethiopia is also a mystery.

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  3. Indiana JonesgoldbergsteinJune 28, 2009 9:33 AM

    C'mon Rafi, we know it is in a warehouse in Washington D.C. Didn't you see the movie?

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  4. I agree with you, NormanF, although it's tempting to conflate the mysterious origins of Ethiopian Jewry with the mystery of the missing Aron HaKodesh, especially considering that the Jewish community of Yeb (Elephantine) is (tentatively) dated back to the mid-7th c BCE, same time as Menashe's evil reign. A few weeks ago, I was sitting on the grounds of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant, a convent situated on the highest point in Abu Ghosh, believed to be the site of ancient Kiryat Yearim, listening to a talk on this very subject. what's the kesher? Kiryat Yearim is where the ARon HaKodesh was taken after it was sent back by the Plishtim into Israelite territory. Much later on, the Catholics developed a doctrine conflating Mary with the ARon (due to the belief that both were vessels containing holiness), and so they built a huge church in Kiryat Ye'arim in her honor. You can see the huge statue they erected of her standing on the Aron HaBrit if you glance over into Abu Ghosh from route one J-lem-TA highway. (Rafi, hope I haven't overstepped my bounds or offended anyone's religious sensibilities. I know it's off subject, but I thought it was interesting.)

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  5. sounds like an interesting tour

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  6. dear Tamar, I know you like the word conflate. It makes you sound like you know what you are talking about. After all, someone who uses a fancy word like conflate must be an intelligent, credible and trustworthy person.
    My dearest Tamar, you used conflate improperly and too many times. You sound like an ass :)
    have a great day

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