The Orthodox Church

This past weekend, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrated Epiphany. Inside every Orthodox church there are a set of tabots, which are replicas of the tablets found in the ark of the covenant. The Ark of the Covenant holds special meaning in Ethiopia because it is believed that the original ark rests in a small town in northern Ethiopia called Aksum, where it has been for 3,000 years! It is guarded by virgin monks who are forbidden from leaving the chapel grounds until they die once they've been anointed! This is a responsibility that is taken VERY seriously! No one other than these monks is permitted to see the original Ark.

The tabot replicas serve to consecrate the church building, and are kept in the holy of holies, where only senior priests are permitted. On the day of Epiphany, every January 19th, the replica tabots from each church are paraded through the streets.

This is the only day of the year that they leave the inner sanctum of the church. It's a very joyful march, which I witnessed from the Project Mercy compound this past weekend. Everyone was singing, with both men and women wrapped in white nutelas, or scarves. The priests are under the fancy, colorful umbrellas, adorned in very ornate robes and head coverings. The main priest carried the tabots in his hands as the crowd surrounded them in their pilgrimage about 5 kilometers from somewhere in a field to their church up in the mountain. In one of the pictures, you can see that they had quite a distance to go when they passed by the Project Mercy compound.

One of these days, I hope to visit northern Ethiopia and see more of the rich history that this land possesses.