africa is a continent full of beauty its beauty can be seen through its places and its people
welcome to the amazing people of africa series where we take a look at some of
the indigenous people of africa we'll be taking a look at their lifestyle
culture and getting to learn about life through their knowledge and experiences
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today we take a look at one of africa's most
mysterious people the monk of the ark of the covenant
who are they and what do they do to understand this we have to go back to where it all started
the queen of sheba intrigued by solomon's wealth and wisdom traveled to jerusalem to see king
solomon so intrigued and captured was she by the king that she ended up staying six months
and when it was time to return she lay with the king and bore a son called menelik
menelik the first was made king by his father thus found in the royal solomonic dynasty of ethiopia
it is believed that after several years when menelik was around the age of 22
he returned to see his father and solomon anointed him as the king of ethiopia
and instructed the elders of israel to send their own sons to ethiopia to serve him as councillors
because the young israelites were desperately unhappy that they would never see jerusalem
and its temple again they decided to take the ark of the covenant for themselves back to ethiopia
since none of them were killed while taking it they believed that this was permitted by god
so what really is the ark of the covenant the ark of the covenant is a chest that is
supposed to have tablets engraved with the ten commandments made by god for moses on mount sinai
according to the hebrew bible the ark was constructed by the israelites while they were
camping out in the desert of sinai after they fled egypt the bible gives so much detail about
the ark of the covenant down to its dimensions which were 52 by 31 by 31 inches the wooden
container is covered in gold and decorated with two winged cherubims facing each other
the job of a cherubian angel has always been to guard things so these two angels represent
god's protection of the contents of the ark it is believed to be so powerful that anyone who
looks at it will be plagued even the patriarch of the ethopian orthodox church is forbidden
from looking at it so how did it end up in axum after being kept for several hundreds of years
on the island of tana carcos in ethopia an island home to devout monks were absolutely
certain that the ark was there for centuries the ark was eventually brought to the town of axum
where it has remained to this day shielded from the eyes of anyone except an appointed guardian
axum is a city with a rich history and a history of riches it is dated back to the 10th century bc
it was in axum that king ezna declared in the early 4th century that christianity would be
the official state religion now let's look at the great men who guard this precious ark
only one monk is allowed to guard it and see it and anyone else who would look at
it would burst into flames he appoints a successor shortly before he dies
and his duties include burning incense and reciting the book of psalms to the ark
he is forbidden from ever leaving the chapel grounds and worships there until his dying day
for seven days a month before the sun rises the monks of saint mary of zion take a copy of the
arc out in procession where almost a thousand faithfuls attend the procession every month
intrigued by the ark of the covenant and the guardian of the ark
you too can visit this holy city the best time to visit this small town is during
the timakat festival the ethopian christmas which is on 7th january
or at the end of november during the festival of maryam zion a celebration of saint mary and
the honoring of the belief of the existence of the ark of the covenant in saint mary church over zoom
if you are looking for something magical to happen to you well it might just visit the town after a
heavy rain and look under your feet the rich civilization of the axumite empire resurfaces
and buried hordes of gold silva and bronze coins are brought to the surface for you to see
the tablets are replicas of the tablets in the ark and every church in ethiopia has a
set kept in its holies of holies every january 19th on team cut or the feast of the epiphany
the tabots from churches all over ethiopia are paraded through the streets
so why is it important to take care of the ark of the covenant well in israel's earliest history
the ark served as a palladium a sacred object guaranteeing the safety of the people of israel
especially during war the ark symbolized god's presence in the midst of his people
when they went to battle the ark of the covenant in present day would be lying in a western museum
with people charging exuberant fees to the public for just a glance thank god for the
sacrifice of these virgin monks they get little to no recognition for a lifetime of sacrifice
what are your thoughts about today's video would you love to visit axzoom
and feel the presence of the ark of the covenant let us know in the comments below thank you
for watching and if you haven't subscribed please do so and hit the notification bell
if you've enjoyed today's video be sure to give it a thumbs up also make sure to watch our other
videos which celebrate our mama africa we have the mysteries of africa series and the amazing people
of africa series it's been me linda from tuna travel be sure to check out my youtube channel
and until the next video stay safe and remember africa is watching