Ethiopian Orthodox Church to unveil the Ark tomorrow

[jingofever]

Link:

Ethiopian church leader says Friday, June 26, marks the right time to unveil the Biblical Ark of the Covenant, which he says has been hidden in his church for centuries.

Abuna Pauolos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, was in Rome this week to meet with Pope Benedict XVI. While there, he told reporters that the time had come to reveal before the world the Holy Ark. He said that the holy container has been in the custody of his church for hundreds of years.

Paulous said he would make the full announcement this Friday, June 26, 2 PM local time (3 PM Israel time, 8 AM New York time) at a press conference in Rome.

The claim that the Biblical Holy Ark has been kept at the Church, in the city of Axum, is an old one, but this is the first time that the Church plans to actually reveal the actual container, or news of it. It is not known whether the Church claims that the actual Tablets of the Law are inside it.

Copies of the alleged Ark are kept in many other churches in Ethiopia.

The news of the impending announcement was first reported by the Italian news agency Adnkronos. Pauolos told the news outlet, "Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that G-d delivered to Moses, and the center of searches and studies for centuries."

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

Back to Earth
Stuart Munro-Hay, author of “Quest for the Ark of the Covenant: The True History of the Tablets of Moses,” concluded that the object in question is definitely not the original Holy Ark.

The building of the Ark of the Covenant – also known as the Ark of Testimony and the Ark of G-d’s Covenant – in accordance with Divine instructions is recounted in the Book of Exodus. The Ark held the Tablets of the Law, and traveled with the People of Israel, leading the way into the Promised Land. It was placed first in the Tabernacle in Shilo, and centuries later in the Holy Temple built by King Solomon. Since then, its whereabouts have been unknown, though one popular legend says it was brought to Ethiopia. Alternatively, it could be under the Temple Mount, in a cave at Mt. Nevo in Jordan, in the Vatican, a hideaway in Utah, or elsewhere.

This person cites a blogger who says that this unveiling can only mean that Jesus is coming and soon. So look busy and don't look at the ark.

[beeline]

I had an Ethiopian professor in college that told me this, too. He claimed only members of the priesthood were allowed to see it, but they all swore it was the Ark. And, from my recollection, he said they were Coptic Christians. Not sure if that's the same thing.

[Hilda Martinez]

Why now?

[monster]

Sweet!

[Nordic]

It's a year ending in "9".

I swear to God, in my lifetime, years ending in 9 are just crazy.

1989 was a huge year for me personally and for the world. Tianamen Square, the Berlin wall coming down, the revolution in Romania ....

Then 1999 we had, well, 1999 and the whole "end of the millenium" thing.

And now it's another one, 2009. It's just crazy. For me, personally, too, unfortunately it's pretty much all bad for me.

If Jesus returned before the end of the year, I would not be surprised. Nor would I be by pretty much anything else you could think of.

Doesn't Tim Burton have some futuristic movie called "9" coming out?

[Penguin]

Sweet!

I wonder if the jar ful of dried manna mushrooms is still in it, or if the coptic priests did it all already..

[Wilbur Whatley]

Graham Hancock's book The Sign and The Seal: The Search for the Lost Ark of the Covenant (http://www.amazon.com/Sign-Seal-Quest-L ... 0671865412) has a good account of this old legend.

This is really interesting, especially if Pope Benedict is giving his blessing!

I read Hancock's book when it came out, and it sure sounded plausible to me.

[JackRiddler]

.

You fools! You don't know why they're planning to unveil it during a worldwide TV broadcast?



Don't look, Marion! Whatever you do, don't look!

[geogeo]

Jeez. Can't they at least wait until New Year's (9-11, of course)?

The Idea that Black People could actually lay claim to this, is, of course, a travesty! It Can't be the original Ark because they're just a bunch of silly old men who have been illuminating manuscripts and hiding Christians and Jews in their mountain fastnesses for the last 1,500 years! I mean, after all, it's not like these Coptic Ethiopians know how to carve entire churches out of living rock--a feat unequaled on planet earth--or build the world's tallest real obelisks.
not that I truly care whether it's the 'real' ark or not -- but so long, and thanks for all the coffee! THAT is Ethiopia's greatest gift to humankind (along with humanity itself, of course). And thank you so much for Sept. 11, Mr. Selassie.
no jesus, no cry.

[JackRiddler]

.

Black or white, I'm going to risk it:

No, it can't be the original ark.

Because that didn't even exist.

.

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

Why now?

Keep posting, HM.

[Sweejak]

Mystery cult's temple unearthed in northern Iraq

A temple built by followers of Mithraism, a mystery cult that flourished throughout the Roman Empire from the second to third centuries A.D., has been discovered in Iraq's northern Duhok province.

The temple, which consists of three parts, lies in the Badri Mountains in eastern Duhok, and includes a place for prayer facing the sun, the province's antiquities director, Hassan Ahmed Qassim, said in a statement to the website of President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party.

"This discovery is important in helping to understand and learn the region's history, and the important stages it passed through," Qassim was quoted by Aswat al-Iraq newspaper as telling a news conference at Duhok University.

Mithraism focused on Mithra, the god of the sun, contracts and mutual obligation. It spanned most of the Roman Empire from Rome to Turkey to Britain, and died out after the conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity in the fourth century.

More than 400 archeological sites linked to Mithraism have been found, along with about 1,000 inscriptions and 1,150 pieces of sculpture. Many of the temples were built underground. The cult was open only to men.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/s ... enDocument

[AlicetheKurious]

Why now?

Keep posting, HM.

Yeah, she doesn't say much, but it's always remarkably astute.

Jack said:

Black or white, I'm going to risk it:

No, it can't be the original ark.

Because that didn't even exist.

Get with the program, Jack!

''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''

http://www.cs.umass.edu/~immerman/play/ ... Doubt.html


The U.S. empire has big plans for Ethiopia:

"The United States is directly complicit in what the United Nations has called the 'worst humanitarian disaster' in Africa.

"The Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, launched in late 2006 with massive air, naval and logistical support from the Americans, has resulted in the displacement of 3.5 million people, 700,000 from the capital city of Mogadishu, alone.

"More than two-and-a-half million Somalis face starvation – a figure that could rise to three-and-a-half million by the end of this year.

"A recent Amnesty International report on human rights violations in Somalia, said Ethiopian soldiers have begun “slaughtering Somalis like goats” – meaning, killing them by cutting their throats. Amnesty International’s Deputy Africa Director put it this way: 'The people of Somalia are being killed, raped, tortured; looting is widespread and entire neighborhoods are being destroyed.'

"The U.S. has made Ethiopia its hit man in the Horn of Africa, a decision that is guaranteed to destabilize the entire region. That’s part of the American modus operandi: to create chaos – always resulting in mass deaths among the poor – in order to declare Africans unfit to run their own affairs.

http://newsomalia.blogspot.com/2008/07/ ... ngers.html

One could say that Ethiopia is being groomed by the lunatics-in-charge to be the 'zion' of Africa.

[Occult Means Hidden]

As fast ast this is moving, it wouldn't suprise me if the Vatican got around to condemning the move- They always act late in media/pr disasters. The Vat has no authority in Orthodox churches' decisions. Now if someone from the Vatican comes out and endorses this "unveiling", then it should get interesting.

[Stephen Morgan]

The Copts, the Egyptian and Ethiopic Orthodox Christians, are probably the oldest Christian church about. The Falashas, the Ethiopian Jews, have been proven by genetic testing to be Hebrew, hence their mass admission to Israel. And if there was never an original Ark, that would surely make this the original as the only modern contender. Pity only the priest las is allowed to see it so they can't carbon date it. However the Bible records the original's presence in Israel centuries after Solomon's time, which is the date given in the Menelek story for it's removal to Ethiopia.