Ever since its disappearance from Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, the Ark is kept in Aksum. Tradition has it that Solomon and Sheba fell in love with each other. As a result, Menelik I was born, heralding the beginning of the Solomonic Dynasty in Ethiopia. When he had become an adult, Menelik 1, Impatient to see his father, went to Jerusalem, where he was accorded a royal reception. Despite Solomon's entreaty to persuade his son to stay In his kingdom, the prince from Aksum declined to accept his father's offer and, instead, chose to return to his beloved Aksum.
Most significant is the journey back to his homeland. As was the custom or perhaps royal protocol then in Israel, any journey of a king's son included the sons of the chief priests of Jerusalem. Accordingly, the Aksumite kingdoms prince was accompanied by Zadok's son, Azarias - who actually stole the original Ark of the Covenant of God from Solomon's temple In Jerusalem. After a long and arduous journey through Egypt and the Sudan across the Sahara Desert, the holy object arrived in Aksum, where It is safely kept ever since. The possession of this sacred object makes Aksum the holiest city of our universe.
As is known, the Ark contains the stone tablets in which God inscribed the Ten Commandments. As described In the Bible, Moses received detailed instructions from the Almighty regarding the size, design, construction and content of the Ark. Hence, the Ark is referred to in Tigray as "Tslate Muse" (hose's Ark).
For many historians, the mysterious disappearance of the original Ark of the Covenant of God from Solomon's temple in Jerusalem has remained inexplicable, if not enigmatic. Such a murky historical cleavage has driven the entire world Into a historical wilderness. No other single ecclesiastical object has ever attracted so much interest and triggered so much debate In modern history. Often, the unconventional debate has been between Western scholars and ordinary Tigrayans, who remained stubborn advocates of their history. Although no other country in the world has claimed ownership of the sacred relic, it took Tigrayans millennia to convince the enlightened world that they are the God-chosen guardians of the one-of-a-kind relic. In recent times, apparently, the world has reluctantly recognized Aksum's persistent and unequivocal claim as the final resting place of the 'lost' Ark of the Covenant of God.
Of course, one side of the Issue has to do with proof. But the flip side of it is faith. And in Aksum, faith overrides all other considerations. As the former Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, Abune Poulos, proclaimed, "...faith does not go well with scientific proof. We don't doubt it, that it Is here, in our place. We don't have to prove it to anyone. You want to believe, it's your privilege. If you don't want to believe, it's your own privilege again... it is here and we believe it" (Munro Hay 2016:39).
- The chapel: final resting place of the Arc of Covenant