Aksum, Ethiopia, January 20, 2021
The Chapel of the Tablet at St. Mary of Zion Church in Aksum, believed to house the Ark of the Covenant. Photo: churchtimes.co.uk
According to a report from the Europe External Programme with Africa (EEPA), 750 people were recently killed in an attack on an Ethiopian church in Aksum.
The attack was included among many others in the Belgium-based peacebuilding non-profit’s January 9 “Situation Report.”
The attack occurred at the Ethiopian Tewahedo Church’s Maryma Tsiyon Church in Aksum, also known as the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, where the Ethiopian church claims to house the Ark of the Covenant. It is located in the Northern Tigray region that is home to thousands of churches and monasteries, “but also beset by conflict,” writes Christian Today.
Under the section regarding the military situation in Ethiopia, the EEPA writes:
“Report that Maryam Tsiyon Church has been attacked (local people believe with the aim to take the Ark of Covenant to Addis Ababa). Hundreds of people hiding in the Maryam Tsiyon Church were brought out and shot on the square in front. The number of people killed is reported as 750.”
The organization also said the massacre was carried out by Ethiopian federal troops and Amhara militia.
"The government and the Eritreans want to wipe out the Tigrayan culture. They think they’re better than rest of the people in the country. The looting is about destroying and removing the cultural presence of Tigray,” said Michael Gervers, a professor of history at the University of Toronto.
Fighting broke out in Tigray in November after the Prime Minister sent federal troops, supported by militia and troops from Eritrea, to fight the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which he accused of holding illegitimate elections.
According to Church Times, accounts of the church attack have come from those who survived and fled Aksum, walking more than 125 miles to the regional capital of Mekelle.
“People were worried about the safety of the Ark, and when they heard troops were approaching feared they had come to steal it. All those inside the cathedral were forced out into the square,” said Martin Plaut, the former BBC World Service Africa editor and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies.
The Ethiopian Tewahedo Church believes the Ark was hidden in Aksum by Menelik I, the son of King Solomon of Israel, though Scripture accepted by the Orthodox Church says the Prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark in Mt. Nebo, saying: The place shall remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses, and as Solomon asked that the place should be specially consecrated (2 Macc. 2:4-8).
In October, OrthoChristian reported that the Russian Orthodox Church is raising awareness about attacks on churches, clergy, and the faithful of the Ethiopian Tewahedo church, which have significantly increased since August 2019 and which remain unpunished.
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